Marfil v. City of New Braunfels, Texas

IJ filed an amicus brief in the case of Marfil v. City of New Braunfels, Texas in which it asks the court to reaffirm Texans’ long-standing and historical right to offer their properties to others on a short-term basis. The town banned short-term rentals despite the absence of any evidence indicating that short-term rentals caused any problems whatsoever.

IJ’s brief argues that courts must weigh actual evidence, as opposed to blindly crediting speculation and conjecture, when considering restrictions on the exercise of private property rights. That remains true even in the context of zoning. The government simply does not have a free hand, immune from any constitutional scrutiny, to decide how every parcel of private property may be used.