Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals
Nicholas Gadola Holmes graduated summa cum laude from Michigan Law School in 2024. He received the school's Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship Award and 1908 Memorial Scholarship Award. Nicholas was a co-chair of the speaker committee and a member of the executive board for Michigan's Federalist Society chapter. He currently serves as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and following that, will clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Nicholas attended the University of Notre Dame for undergrad, where he graduated with a degree in history & political science.
Senior Legal Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation
Before becoming an attorney, James had been a productive member of society working as an exploration geologist in the late 1970s throughout the southwestern United States. However, after several years of dealing with irrational government bureaucrats and environmental policies untethered from reality, James decided that what the world needs is more lawyers — if they are willing to fight for rationality in regulatory regimes, property rights, and liberty.
James attended the University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson, where he served as an editor for the Law Review and received a J.D. degree in 1983. He had previously received a Masters degree in geological sciences from Brown University and an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in New York. James received the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Arizona Alumni Association in 2018.
James has worked with Pacific Legal Foundation since 1983, litigating cases from Alaska to Florida. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group’s Executive Committee, a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and an honorary member of Owners Counsel of America, an organization comprised of eminent domain attorneys who represent property owners. The Owners Counsel awarded James its Crystal Eagle award in 2013. In 2022, James was awarded the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the William & Mary College of Law. The prize is awarded annually to an individual whose work has advanced the cause of property rights and has contributed to the overall awareness of the important role property rights occupy in the broader scheme of individual liberty.
In 2001, James successfully argued a major property rights case, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, before the United States Supreme Court, a case which affirmed that rights in regulated property do not disappear when land is bought and sold. He has written extensively on all aspects of property rights and environmental law and frequently speaks on these subjects throughout the nation.
When James is not suing the government he enjoys skiing faster than he should, bicycling, hiking, swimming, and spending quality time with his wife, family, and grandchild.
Mr. Burling’s book Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis is available now on Amazon.
James is a member of the bar only in the states of Alaska and California.
Michigan Supreme Court Rules on Distinction Between Rules and Informal Policy Statements
Nicholas Holmes
When does an agency’s action carry the force of law and bind both the...
Topics
Schadenfreude at the Supreme Court: San Francisco takes on the EPA
San Francisco is the Josef K. of the modern era of the administrative state. In...
Luncheon with Alabama's Solicitor General
Birmingham, AlabamaFinal Agency Actions and Judicial Review: United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co.
James S. Burling
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States Army...
Topics
Supreme Court Preview: American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA
At its February 19th conference, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear American Farm...