The reference to some imaginary enemy that we are fighting couldn’t be further from the truth.

Imagine purchasing beachfront property in fee simple as a hard-earned investment, only to receive letters from some “imaginary” official that they are now on the public beach simply because a storm made the plants grow on the landward side of your homes. The letters say state officials may remove your home at any time. And the officials read state law to say, that because the vegetation moved, you have no right to exclude trespassers from your doorstep and no right to build or repair because a public easement supposedly now controls the land. There is no compensation or even a mechanism to seek it.

There is nothing imaginary about this scenario — it was all very real to me — because that’s what happened.

Before receiving those letters from officials at the Texas General Land Office, I had never heard of PLF. I knew I had to do something to protect my property rights. After researching other cases in Galveston, I contacted PLF. They did not contact me. I am grateful that they exist and agreed to help as litigating this type of case against the government’s tax payer funded attorneys for years is far too expensive for any one person.

For a very technical procedural issue, standing seems to inspire remarkably strong feelings. It’s a perfect storm — a deep and fundamental question about the role of courts, judges, and citizens in our democracy that is answered with a fuzzy doctrinal analysis that leaves lots of room for disagreement.