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AirBnB Property Manager Files Constitutional Challenge To Pa. Real Estate Licensing Regime

July 18, 2017

Statement Responding to DOJ’s Announced Policy Change Increasing Use of Civil Forfeiture

July 19, 2017

Less than 1% of 8,000 charities rated have received at least 15 consecutive 4-star ratings

Coalition Calls on Congress to Quickly Pass Civil Forfeiture Reform

July 20, 2017 Chairman Bob Goodlatte Committee on the Judiciary United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Chairman Chuck Grassley Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 RE: Call to Pass Civil Forfeiture Reform Quickly and Independently Dear Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Grassley: On behalf of the undersigned organizations dedicated to…

Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Unconstitutional Searches of Renters’ Homes

St. Paul, Minn.—In a blow to the constitutional rights of Minnesotan renters, the state Supreme Court ruled today that cities do not need to provide evidence of a suspected housing code violation in order to obtain an administrative search warrant to inspect renters’ homes without their permission. Today’s decision denies Minnesota’s renters—and the landlords who…

Civil Forfeiture Is Inherently Abusive

Statement Responding to DOJ’s Announced Policy Change Increasing Use of Civil Forfeiture

Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would repeal reforms intended to curb federal law enforcement agencies’ use of civil forfeiture. In response, Institute for Justice Senior Attorney and Director of its Nationwide Initiative to End Forfeiture Darpana Sheth issued the following statement: Civil forfeiture is inherently abusive. No one should…

AirBnB Property Manager Files Constitutional Challenge To Pa. Real Estate Licensing Regime

Pennsylvania’s protectionist law requires a real estate license, a brick-and-mortar office, passing two exams and working for a broker for three years, just to help manage AirBnB rentals

Sally Ladd has always had a knack for technology. So as she started to near retirement a few years ago, she saw an opportunity to make some extra money by starting her own business helping fellow Pocono Mountain property owners list and manage their vacation rentals on websites like AirBnB and others. After three years…

Statement Responding To Attorney General’s Plans to “Increase Forfeitures”

Today, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department “plan[s] to develop policies to increase forfeitures.” Sessions also declared that “adoptive forfeitures are appropriate as is sharing with our partners,” which suggests plans to undo a widely praised ban on “adoptive” seizures, implemented by then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in January 2015. Following…

To Restrain Civil Forfeiture by the IRS, House Advances Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act

Named for IJ clients, the act is a welcome first step for forfeiture reform

“The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act is a much needed reform of federal forfeiture laws that will protect small-business owners across the country from IRS abuses.”

Nutmeggers Crack Open Occupational Licensing Laws

Children in grade school are used to asking for a permission slip to do anything outside the classroom—use the restroom, see a counselor, or start a club. It might seem like a no-brainer that working adults shouldn’t need similar permission slips to repair swimming pools—under pain of, not afterschool detention, but arrest and imprisonment. But…

When the government gets in your way, have you ever stopped and asked why?

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Our Issues

School Choice

School choice is simply the idea that all parents, regardless of means, should enjoy the freedom to choose what schools their children attend.
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Economic Liberty

The right to earn a living in the occupation of your choice without unnecessary government interference is at the heart of the American Dream.
more on this issue »
First Amendment

We seek to defend the free flow of information—information that is indispensable to our democratic form of government and to our free enterprise economy.
more on this issue »
Private Property

Respecting the right of private property is essential to a just and prosperous society. But government at all levels—local, state and federal—routinely infringe on these rights.
more on this issue »

Jeffrey, Richard and Mitch Hirsch

Brothers Jeffrey, Richard and Mitch Hirsch owned Bi-County Distributors Inc., a small distribution business in Long Island, N.Y. The IRS used a legal process called civil forfeiture to seize their entire bank account—more than $446,000—even though they had done nothing wrong. After the brothers filed a lawsuit, the IRS returned their hard-earned cash.

Aimee and Heath Hairr

Aimee and Heath Hairr have five adopted children. Their oldest, Nolan, was floundering in his public school and endured intense bullying. The Hairrs just want Nolan to have a safe learning environment and for their other children to have the same.

Regino Soriano

Regino Soriano owns a popular food truck named El Bandolero, but his plans to expand have been significantly restricted by San Antonio’s city’s 300-foot rule.

Achan Agit

Achan works in fear that Iowa will punish her for providing her services without a license. If she could braid without a license, she would reopen her salon, grow her business and better provide for her family.

Robert and Rebecca McCaughtry

Under Red Wing, Minn.’s rental inspection ordinance, it is easier for the government to force its way into the homes of law-abiding citizens than it is to search the home of a suspected criminal. Robert and Rebecca joined a lawsuit to stop these unreasonable and intrusive inspections of their private residential properties.

Isis Brantley

For decades, Isis Brantley has fought for her right to braid hair and to pass on her knowledge to others. She successfully sued the state of Texas after it attempted to force her to turn her braiding school into a barber college.

Hinga Mbogo

For more than 30 years, Hinga Mbogo has been fixing the cars of Dallas residents at his shop on Ross Avenue. But the city is trying to shut him down by using an oppressive and little-known zoning process called “amortization.”

Wendy Robin

Wendy trained as a makeup artist in Hollywood and has over 20 years of experience working with celebrities. But in Nevada, teaching others how to apply makeup without a government-issued license can subject you to up to $2,000 in fines.

Nikki McGowan

Nikki McGowan owns and operates the Madame BBQ food truck. She is challenging Baltimore’s 300-foot rule because it prevents her from successfully operating in the city.

Charlie Birnbaum

Charlie Birnbaum is fighting to keep his family home in Atlantic City, N.J., which has been in his family for 50 years. But New Jersey wants to take it for the benefit of a bankrupt casino.

Carl and Joy Gamble

Norwood, Ohio wanted to bulldoze Carl and Joy’s home of more than three decades to make way for a private developer.

Aurora Espinoza

Aurora Espinoza is a single mom who works a full‑time job to make ends meet, has two daughters who are trapped by their zip code in some of the worst public schools in the state.

Colon Health Centers for America

Dr. Mark Baumel, of Colon Health Centers for America, wants to increase the rate of screening for colon cancers. But when Dr. Baumel and his partners sought Virginia’s permission to buy new CT scanners, it denied them a “certificate of need.”

Jeanette Strohm-Anderson and Mark Anderson

IJ school choice parents Mark and Jeanette Anderson plan to send their son, Max, to a school with a math and science curriculum that better fits his interests and needs.

Ricardo Quintanilla

Ricardo Quintanilla operates Tacos el Regio but San Antonio’s vending restrictions make it difficult to operate.

Susette Kelo

Susette is the Kelo in Kelo v. New London. She led her neighbors in a seven-year battle to save their homes from being taken by the government for private development, culminating in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005.

Charles Clarke

Charles Clarke is a college student, who spent over 5 years to save up $11,000—only to have it seized by law enforcement officials before he was scheduled to board a flight at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport.

Keith Westphal

IJ clients Keith Westphal and Joyce Osborn Wilson are banned from offering Alabamians a comfortable and clean place to use the prepackaged, teeth-whitening products they sell to customers.

Norys Hernandez

Norys Hernandez co-owns a home in North Philadelphia with her sister, who resides there. Norys has never been in trouble with the law. But her home was seized after her nephew was caught selling a small amount of drugs outside the home.

Robert Martin

Steve Camburn

Steve is a model landlord who deeply cares about his tenants and their comfort and security. However, he is unwilling to allow the Borough to intrude into his tenants’ homes without their consent.

Grace Granatelli

After obtaining her private certifications in canine massage therapy, Grace started volunteering with rescue agencies and adoption events to provide canine massage for ailing and neglected dogs. She later turned her volunteer hobby into a business, which she named Pawsitive Touch.

Laura Pekarik

IJ client Laura Pekarik is an entrepreneurial dynamo who owns and operates the Cupcakes for Courage food truck.

David Vocatura

Vocatura’s Bakery was founded in 1919, almost one hundred years ago, and has been owned and operated by three generations of the Vocatura family. Claiming the owners violated so-called “structuring” laws by depositing cash in the bakery’s bank account in amounts less than $10,000, the IRS seized more than $68,000 from the family.

Mildred Bryant

Mildred Bryant is 84 years old and living out her golden years in the home she’s owned for 46 years in Pagedale, Missouri. But she faces a real threat of tickets, fines, and imprisonment from the town.

Dr. Lee Birchansky

Recognized as one of the top ophthalmologists in the country, Dr. Lee Birchansky seeks to offer the kind of medical innovation Iowans need.

Bernardo Soriano

Bernardo has plans to grow his food truck business, but San Antonio’s 300-foot rule is making it very difficult for him to realize his goals.

Russ Caswell

Russ Caswell and his family have owned and operated the Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, Mass., for two generations. The Caswells nearly had their property taken from them by local and federal law enforcement officials through a process known as civil forfeiture.

Sally Ladd

The Slatic Family

James Slatic is a consummate entrepreneur who has started more than ten businesses and has been active in the medical marijuana movement. Annette works as a radiology technician for the local Veterans Administration Hospital. Lily is a sophomore at San Jose State University and her sister Penny is in high school.

Bob McGinnity

Bob and Michael do not know where they will go if they lose their homes. But they do know they have a right to stay and to keep what they have worked all their lives for.

Aicheria Bell

Aicheria Bell lives in Des Moines. She is passionate about natural hair care and has been braiding hair since she was three years old.

Joey Vanoni

The owner and operator of the Pizza di Joey food truck, Joey is challenging Baltimore’s 300-foot rule because it threatens his lifelong dream of owning his own pizza business. He also believes that the city shouldn’t be limiting hungry Baltimoreans’ dining choices.

John Rinaldi

When John tried to expand his cab business to Bowling Green, he was stymied by a city law that limited the number of taxis allowed in the city to only 16. Less than two months after he filed a lawsuit, Bowling Green repealed the cap.

Susette Kelo

Kriss Marion

Kriss Marion is the founder of her local farmers’ market in Blanchardville, Wisconsin. But under the state’s ban on selling home-baked goods, Kriss must instead give her extra baked goods away or feed them to her pigs and chickens.

Cynthia Perry

IJ client Cynthia Perry wants to send her daughter, Faith, to a private school in North Carolina, but she cannot afford the tuition on her own. She needs the financial lifeline of an Opportunity Scholarship.

Jean Soderlind

Tour guides are storytellers, and the government can’t be in the business of deciding who is (or who is not) allowed to tell stories.

Chip McElroy

Chip owns Live Oak Brewing, based in Austin, Texas. Established in 1997, Live Oak has been brewing craft beer long before its current surge in popularity. Now he is fighting a Texas law that forces craft brewers to give up millions of dollars of valuable property to politically connected beer distributors.

Panna Shah

Panna Shah came to the United States from India in 2006 in search of a better life. She has been threading for more than 30 years but would be unable to thread full-time because she can’t afford to complete Louisiana’s irrelevant training requirements.

Dan Burgess

IJ client Dan Burgess drives for ridesharing companies uberX, Sidecar and Lyft and is fighting to defend his economic liberty.

David and Ellen Keith

David and Ellen Keith have lived in Pleasant Ridge since the 1970s, and a daughter, a granddaughter and even two great-grandchildren live next door. But if forced out, they will be left nearly destitute in their retirement.

Ocheesee Creamery

Mary Lou Wesselhoeft and her husband Paul Wesselhoeft own Ocheesee Creamery, a small creamery in the Florida Panhandle. Because of the all-natural dairy philosophy that Mary Lou follows, she added nothing to the creamery’s skim milk. But a state agency wants her to use a confusing and misleading label that labels the milk something it is not: “Non-Grade ‘A’ Milk Product, Natural Milk Vitamins Removed.”

IJ By the Numbers

4 Litigation Pillars

Economic Liberty
Property Rights
School Choice
Free Speech

Support

80% from individuals
20% from foundations

IJ litigated 5 U.S. Supreme Court cases since 2002, including 4 victories

IJ is currently litigating 43 cases in 26 states and Washington, D.C.

7 offices

103 employees, including 44 attorneys

Attorneys

Staff

1080 Partners giving $1,000 or more each year

Over 8,000 individual donors

= 25 donors

$25 million budget in FY18

FY17 Budget Breakdown

81%: Programs

11%: Administration

8%: Development

91 legislative reforms secured

48 national awards for communications

70%

Success Rate

Through litigation and legislation

IJ strategic research cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and in 192 articles in scholarly, law, and policy publications.

64 eminent domain projects and blight designations defeated by IJ activism.

Behind the Scenes at IJ

Victory in Chicago!

Victory! The Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneur has been providing legal support and legislative advocacy for Chicago’s street vendors for more than 8 years. Yesterday was the ribbon cutting for their shared kitchen space and it is a day that marks their ability to come out of the shadow economy, comply with the law, and serve delicious treats on Chicago’s streets without fear of harassment, fines or arrest.
Testifying before the Louisiana Senate

14 braiders joined IJ at the Louisiana Senate on May 31 for a hearing on our 2 braiding freedom bills. IJ’s Lee McGrath and Michelle, a Shreveport braider, testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and International Affairs.
Victory in Little Rock!

IJ client Ken Leininger won his lawsuit against the city of Little Rock and now has his new taxi permits!
Victory in Chicago!

Vicky Lugo, leader of the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship client Street Vendors Association of Chicago(SVAC), is proud to present the business license for the SVAC commercial shared kitchen space! Lugo and SVAC have been working since 2015, when the Chicago ordinance legalizing street food was passed, to create a shared kitchen space for SVAC’s vendors who sell delicious, traditional Mexican treats on Chicago’s streets.
Case launch in Minnesota

Today IJ and small farm wineries filed suit to challenge MN’s restrictions on wine making. This photo is from the press conference.

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Coalition Calls on Congress to Quickly Pass Civil Forfeiture Reform

Institute for Justice

Homepage

AirBnB Property Manager Files Constitutional Challenge To Pa. Real Estate Licensing Regime

Statement Responding to DOJ’s Announced Policy Change Increasing Use of Civil Forfeiture

Less than 1% of 8,000 charities rated have received at least 15 consecutive 4-star ratings

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | July 20, 2017

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | July 19, 2017

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | July 19, 2017

Statement Responding to DOJ’s Announced Policy Change Increasing Use of Civil Forfeiture

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | July 18, 2017

Pennsylvania’s protectionist law requires a real estate license, a brick-and-mortar office, passing two exams and working for a broker for three years, just to help manage AirBnB rentals

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | July 17, 2017

Nick Sibilla | Press Release | July 14, 2017

Named for IJ clients, the act is a welcome first step for forfeiture reform

Rek LeCounte | Update | July 14, 2017

When the government gets in your way, have you ever stopped and asked why?

EVERYTHING

Watch the Institute for Justice’s award-winning short film spotlighting the importance of compensating bone marrow donors.

SUPPORT OUR WORK

The National Law Firm for Liberty

Our Issues

School Choice

Economic Liberty

First Amendment

Private Property

IJ By the Numbers

4 Litigation Pillars

Support

IJ litigated 5 U.S. Supreme Court cases since 2002, including 4 victories

IJ is currently litigating 43 cases in 26 states and Washington, D.C.

7 offices

103 employees, including 44 attorneys

Attorneys

Staff

1080 Partners giving $1,000 or more each year

Over 8,000 individual donors

FY17 Budget Breakdown

81%: Programs

11%: Administration

8%: Development

91 legislative reforms secured

48 national awards for communications

70%

Success Rate

Through litigation and legislation

IJ strategic research cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and in 192 articles in scholarly, law, and policy publications.

64 eminent domain projects and blight designations defeated by IJ activism.

Behind the Scenes at IJ

Victory in Chicago!

Testifying before the Louisiana Senate

Victory in Little Rock!

Victory in Chicago!

Case launch in Minnesota

JOIN THE FIGHT! Sign up for newsletters:

Footer Signup

Litigating for Liberty.

JOIN THE FIGHT!