Washington Legal Foundation v. Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation

In Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation,1 the Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs in the instant case had a property right in the interest income from their funds deposited in IOLTA accounts. In dissent, Justice Souter criticized the majority’s decision to determine that a property right existed in isolation from the questions (1) whether a “taking” had occurred, and (2) if so, what compensation, if any, might be owed. Justice Souter wrote that “if it should turn out that the ‘just compensation’ for any taking was zero, then there would be no practical consequence for purposes of the…