The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) General Counsel and Director of the Center for the American Future Robert Henneke issued the following statement on the Amicus Curiae filed by the Texas Attorney General in a lawsuit seeking delisting of the Bone Cave Harvestman from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). TPPF’s Center for the American Future is representing Williamson County resident John Yearwood and Williamson County, Texas in American Stewards of Liberty, et al. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, et al., which challenges the authority of the federal government to use the Interstate Commerce Clause to regulate non-commercial interactions with the Bone Cave Harvestman arachnid, which only exists in two central Texas counties, is not bought nor traded in interstate commerce, and does not otherwise affect interstate commerce.
“Encroachment of private property rights by the federal government injures many more than the Center’s Clients Williamson County and John Yearwood,” said Henneke. “I commend the Texas Attorney General’s office for its leadership in filing an amicus brief to preserve the constitutional limits and prevent the federal government from regulating purely intrastate, noneconomic activity. The States’ brief strongly argues how ESA regulation of a tiny cave-spider species that only exists within two counties in Texas does not fall within interstate commerce powers.”
For more information, visit www.LoneStarPropertyRights.com.
To schedule an interview with Mr. Henneke, please contact Caroline Espinosa at [email protected] or 512-472-2700.
The Honorable Robert Henneke is General Counsel and Director of the Foundation’s Center for the American Future.
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The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.
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