Featured Cases
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
US Citizen and Army Veteran Submits Claims for Unconstitutional Immigration Detention
Ventura, California
George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran, was detained for three days after encountering an ICE roadblock on his way to work.
4th Amendment Project | License Plate Readers | Private Property
San Jose residents file federal lawsuit challenging city’s use of nearly 500 license plate reader cameras
San Jose residents file federal class action lawsuit challenging city’s use of nearly 500 license plate read cameras.
Fines and Fees | Private Property
Family Farm Facing Ruinous Fines Sues Agency that Acts as Prosecutor, Judge and Jury
In 2016, the Department of Labor demanded $550,000 from a family farm in southern New Jersey. In their case, the agency served as prosecutor, judge, and jury, and the agency won every time. The brothers…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Stiffed by a Pipeline Company Wielding Eminent Domain, Plains Ranchers Appeal to U.S. Supreme Court
North Dakota ranchers fought a pipeline company with eminent domain power for the fair value of their land. But an appeals court said the company did not have to pay the ranchers’ attorney fees. That…
IJ Protects COnstitutional Rights
The Institute for Justice litigates to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans. IJ defends ordinary people who want to earn an honest living, own and enjoy their property, speak freely, and give their children a good education but find that the government is standing in their way.
We fight to hold government officials accountable when they violate constitutional rights and to prevent governments at all levels from bending the rules to expand their power or advance illegitimate ends.
See IJ’s Supreme Court Cases
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Long Island Man Fights for His Day in Court
When a federal employee makes a mistake that injures an innocent person, the federal government—not the victim—should bear the costs of the harm. Congress made this clear in 1946, when it passed the Federal Tort…
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Washington Physical Therapist Sues Leavenworth for the Right to Run a Small In-home Practice in Her Own Home
The town of Leavenworth, Wa. banned Nicole Bulow’s quiet, home-based physical therapy practice — while permitting nearly identical home businesses like massage therapy and salons. Now she's fighting back.
Texas Entrepreneur Fights a City’s Unconstitutional Dumpster Monopoly
Josh Roman built his small business from nothing. He started with a single trailer-hitched dumpster and an ad on Craigslist back in 2020. Today, American AF Dumpster Rentals, based in Waxahachie, Texas, has four…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Private School, Teacher, and Parent Fight for Integrity, Innovation, and the Century-Old Promise of Freedom
When Capstone Classical Academy opened in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2022, its goal was simple: hire the best teachers possible. At first, the school focused on finding talented educators committed to the school’s mission and…
Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
Retiree’s Construction of Dream Home Blocked by Nonsensical Zoning from City After Decades of Planning
Art Yatsko has been working towards a dream for the last 20 years. Bust as Art was ready to begin construction, he was told he could no longer build a modest single-family home in his…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
Pennsylvania real estate broker files lawsuit challenging law requiring brokers to have brick-and-mortar offices
Pennsylvania real estate broker Kevin Gaughen has filed a lawsuit alongside the Institute for Justice challenging a law requiring brokers in Pennsylvania to have brick-and-mortar offices.
Fines and Fees | Private Property
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether the government’s fining a retiree out of his life’s savings for a paperwork violation is an “excessive fine.”
Eighty-eight-year-old retiree Tuncay Saydam is at risk of losing his life’s savings. Not because of a bad investment or a fraudulent scheme. Rather, the federal government is trying to fine Tuncay over $437,000—because he unintentionally…
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Sign Codes
Institute for Justice joins lawsuit defending family bar threatened with fines and even jail time for using “barbershop” theme to honor owners’ late father
Institute for Justice joins lawsuit defending family bar threatened with fines and even jail time for using “barber shop” theme to honor owners’ late father When Mike DiGiacomo and his siblings wanted to remodel…
Commercial Speech | First Amendment
Equine Body Work Teachers Sue Wisconsin for Violation of First Amendment Right to Occupational Speech
Jim Masterson has been working with animals for almost 30 years. But Wisconsin said he can’t teach without subjecting Jim’s school to an all-encompassing review of everything from Jim’s curriculum to intrusive inquiries into his…
4th Amendment Project | License Plate Readers | Private Property
San Jose residents file federal lawsuit challenging city's use of nearly 500 license plate reader cameras
San Jose residents file federal class action lawsuit challenging city's use of nearly 500 license plate read cameras.
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Atlanta Woman Sues Officers, U.S. Government for Wrongly Raiding Her Home in Search of Man Already in Jail
More than a dozen heavily armed law enforcement officers stormed Cathy George's apartment, looking for a fugitive who had no connection to Cathy and who was already in custody.
Fines and Fees | Private Property
Small Kentucky Farm Fights Federal Government for a Fair Trial
David and Debbie Ross of Triple R Farms are fighting for their constitutional right to a real court and jury trial.