Federal Government to Return Nearly $20,000 Seized from Man Never Charged with a Crime
FIRST AMENDMENT
U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Lower Court Ruling That Government Could Suppress Protest Banner
ECONOMIC LIBERTY
Texas Supreme Court Strikes Down Useless Eyebrow Threading License
PROPERTY RIGHTS
Lawsuit Challenges Civil Forfeiture at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport
IJ NEWS
For the 13th consecutive year, IJ earned a coveted 4-star rating with the nation's largest evaluator of charities.
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July 10, 2015
The Economist
Is lemonade legal?
Zoey and Andria Green, who are seven and eight respectively, only look innocent...   More

July 10, 2015
Forbes
Florida Cops Laundered Millions For Drug Cartels, Failed To Make A Single Arrest
Posing as money launderers, police in Bal Harbour and Glades County, Fla. laundered...   More

July 9, 2015
Huffington Post
Slate Writer: Freedom to Thread Eyebrows Will Turn Texas Into 'Dangerous' Place
It's a tremendous victory for individual rights and for the politically powerless...   More

July 8, 2015
Vox
These states let police take and keep your stuff even if you haven't committed a crime
Only five states prevent police from taking and keeping your stuff without charging you for a crime...   More

July 7, 2015
Yale Law Journal
Looking Back Ten Years After Kelo
For many years, states and municipalities throughout the country routinely used eminent domain for essentially private projects...   More

July 7, 2015
Huffington Post
Don't Be Fooled By 'Taste' - New Flavors Are Frowned Upon in Chicago
Chicago likes to shackle food-truck operators...   More

July 6, 2015
The Daily Signal
How Michigan Lawmakers Want to Make It Harder for Law Enforcement to Take Your Stuff
Last year, two Michigan self-described “soccer moms” were the victims of raids conducted by...   More

July 6, 2015
.Mic
New Mexico Police Are Mad They Just Can't Take Your Stuff and Sell It for Profit Anymore
It's been less than a week since New Mexico's House Bill 560 went into effect, and law enforcement officials are already mad...   More

July 6, 2015
Philadelphia Inquirer
Dirty money
District Attorney Seth Williams has agreed to stop seizing homes and cars from people who...   More

July 5, 2015
Wall Street Journal
Asset-Forfeiture Laws Raise Concerns
Joseph Rivers was traveling aboard an Amtrak train to California in April when he was approached by...   More

Activist News - Get Active with IJ's Human Action Network

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The Forfeiture Machine Turns Cops into Robbers

The most terrifying place in Philadelphia is Courtroom 478 in City Hall. This is where property owners enter Philadelphia’s Civil Forfeiture Machine. Civil forfeiture is a little-known legal device that allows law enforcement officials to take your property, sell it and pocket the proceeds—even if you have done nothing wrong.

Philadelphia’s automated, machine-like forfeiture scheme is unprecedented in size. From 2002 to 2012, Philadelphia took in over $64 million in forfeiture funds—or almost $6 million per year. In 2011 alone, the city’s prosecutors filed 6,560 forfeiture petitions to take cash, cars, homes and other property. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office used over $25 million of that $64 million to pay salaries, including the salaries of the very prosecutors who brought the forfeiture actions. This is almost twice as much as what all other Pennsylvania counties spent on salaries combined.

This is how the city’s forfeiture machine works: Property owners who have their cash, cars or homes seized must go to Courtroom 478. But Courtroom 478 isn’t a courtroom at all: there is no judge or jury, just a scheduler and the prosecutors who run the show. Owners who ask for a lawyer are frequently told their case isn’t complicated and a lawyer isn’t necessary, but are then given a stack of complicated legal documents to fill out under oath. Time and time again, property owners must return to Courtroom 478—up to ten or more times in some cases. If they miss a single appearance, they can lose their property forever.

Philadelphia’s forfeiture machine stacks the deck against property owners and leads city officials to police for profit instead of justice. To end these unconscionable and unconstitutional practices, the Institute for Justice and a group of property owners have brought a major, class-action lawsuit in federal court. The lawsuit will take the profit incentive out of civil forfeiture and protect innocent people who are caught in an upside-down legal process that treats them like cash machines while violating their constitutional rights.

Freedom Flix

The Institute for Justice is always looking for new ways to promote the message of freedom. To that end, IJ produced the following videos in-house to tell the stories of our clients and their fight for individual liberty.

None of this — the cases or these videos — would be possible without the continued generosity of our donors. We hope you enjoy them and share them with those who need a little inspiration.

Subscribe to our videos via iTunes or YouTube.

Censored in Florida: Creamery Owner Sues to End Labeling Censorship (2:43)
Mary Lou just wants to tell the truth, but government orders her to mislead her own customers.
The Fight for Braiding Freedom (5:35)
Since the advent of hair braiding more than 5,000 years ago, it has been a simple and safe practice that government has no business regulating. African-style hair braiding uses no dyes or chemicals, and it is safe for braiders to perform.
Food Trucks and Carts Are Just as Clean as Restaurants (1:07)
Research compares food-safety inspection scores of food trucks, food carts and restaurants in seven major American cities—and finds that street eats are safe eats. www.ij.org/vending
Licensed Dentist Attacked for Charging Too Little (2:23)
When is it illegal for a licensed dentist in Arkansas to clean teeth? When he also happens to be a licensed orthodontist.
Gov't grabs elderly man's home; won't give reason (4:10)
New Jersey’s CRDA is trying to use eminent domain to seize Charlie Birnbaum's property as part of a “mixed-use development” project. The trouble is that CRDA has no concrete plans to do anything in particular with it.

More videos: Economic Liberty, Private Property, School Choice, First Amendment, All Videos

Institute for Justice The National Law Firm for Liberty

“A merry band of libertarian litigators.”
—Columnist George F. Will

Institute Profile: Who We Are

IJ's Merry Band of Litigators

Founded in 1991, the Institute for Justice is what a civil liberties law firm should be. As the national law firm for liberty, we stick to a clear mission engaging in cutting-edge litigation and advocacy both in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion on behalf of individuals whose most basic rights are denied by the government.  Our four pillars of litigation are private property, economic liberty, free speech and school choice. Simply put, we seek a rule of law under which individuals can control their destinies as free and responsible members of society.

The Institute for Justice is a 501(c)(3) organization; donations are tax-deductible.


 

More About IJ:

Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview with Chip Mellor

The Quest For Justice - the Inaugural Speech Launching the Institute for Justice

The IJ Way - While so many factors contribute to our success—the talents of the people involved, the commitment of our donors, and the pursuit of a strategic litigation plan—nothing is more central to our success than the culture of IJ, which determines the way we do business.

Litigating for Liberty: The Institute for Justice's Chip Mellor on campaign-finance reform, eminent-domain abuse, and licensing laws gone wild - an Interview with Chip Mellor by Reason Magazine's Nick Gillespie.

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Our Record of Success

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- 191 cases litigated in four core mission areas:  economic liberty, property rights, political and commercial speech, and school choice

- 5 U.S. Supreme Court cases since 2002 (four victories)

- 70 percent victory rate (through litigation and legislation)

- In FY14 alone, IJ litigated 54 cases, including 15 case victories and 22 new cases

- 47 states protected property rights from eminent domain through legislative reform or state supreme court rulings after sole U.S. Supreme Court loss in Kelo v. City of New London 

- Over 16,000 homes and businesses saved since Kelo

- First favorable U.S. appeals court ruling for economic liberty since the New Deal

- More than 300,000 children nationwide benefiting from school choice

- 40 national awards for our media relations work, publications, and production

- Strategic research cited by U.S. Supreme Court and Indiana Supreme Court; used in 12 IJ briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, three successful cert. petitions, and 15 articles published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals; also cited in 145 articles by other authors in law, public policy, and scholarly journals

- Only law school clinic in the nation focusing exclusively on assisting low-income entrepreneurs start exclusively private-sector businesses

READ MORE IJ AT A GLANCE

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We change the world, and have fun doing it!

 

 IJ Overview Video from the Giving Library

 

Watch more videos from each of our four pillars of litigation: Economic Liberty, Private Property, School Choice, First Amendment. View All Videos