The Case of the Florida Scrub Jay Challenges the ESAâs Tyranny

The Florida scrub jay is one of 15 bird species native to the continental U.S. It is protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 .

Michael Colosi , a tech entrepreneur, wants to build a house on a five-acre plot he recently bought in Punta Gorda , Florida .

Colosi believes his land, thick with pine and saw palmetto, is unsuited to the bird.

He refuses to pay the hefty $ 120,000 fee for allowing him to build on his plot.

The PLF 's salients, or points of attack, are the infringement of property rights, the rational nexus test, and the proportionality principle.

John A. Baden and Douglas S. Noonan write that the “command-and-control approach” of the ESA is counterproductive, for it pits landowners against endangered species.