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Nevada Supreme Court Upholds the Nation’s Most Inclusive School Choice Program

September 29, 2016

Less than 1% of 8,000 charities rated have received at least 14 consecutive 4-star ratings

Chicago Police Department Hiding Millions of Dollars in Secret Forfeiture Fund

A recent investigation by the Chicago Reader revealed that millions of dollars were seized and spent by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) as part of a secret forfeiture fund. The Reader reports: Since 2009, the year CPD began keeping electronic records of its forfeiture accounts, the department has brought in nearly $72 million in cash…

California Governor Signs Major Civil Forfeiture Reform

Arlington, VA– Today, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 443, a major overhaul of the state’s civil forfeiture laws. The bill marks one of the nation’s most significant reforms of its kind. “Civil forfeiture is one of the most serious assaults on due process and private property rights in America today,” said Institute for Justice…

Civil Forfeiture is Inherently an Abuse of Government Power

In an op-ed for The Columbus Dispatch, president of the Ohio police union Jay McDonald has taken a stand against bipartisan efforts to reform the practice of civil forfeiture, where law enforcement can seize and keep your property without ever convicting you of a crime. McDonald says: “Some suggest that law enforcement abuses civil forfeiture,…

Nevada Supreme Court Upholds the Nation’s Most Inclusive School Choice Program

But Says Technical Fix Required Before Program Can Be Funded

Nevada School Choice Elizabeth Robbins NV SC_5237

Arlington, Va.— Nevada’s sweeping school choice program may be constitutional, but families will still have to wait. This morning, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a consolidated decision in two landmark cases challenging the constitutionality of the nation’s first nearly-universal education savings account (ESA) program, and declared that the program passes constitutional muster. However, the Court…

First Round Victory: Judge Clears Way for Food Truck Lawsuit

Arlington, Va.—Today, a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge denied the city’s motion to dismiss a constitutional challenge to a law that makes it illegal for mobile vendors to operate within 300 feet of any brick-and-mortar business that sells primarily the same product or service. This law has made it nearly impossible for the city’s mobile…

Connecticut Retiree Fights to Keep Family Home from Being Bulldozed

Arlington, Va.—Can government officials throw you out of your home just because a private developer tells them to? That is the question asked by a major constitutional lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice (IJ) on behalf of West Haven resident Bob McGinnity and his family. The McGinnity family has been in West Haven for…

Seizure vs. Forfeiture: A Crucial Distinction

IJ Amicus Brief Alerts High Court to Abuse of Civil Forfeiture Using Drug Dogs

Although related, seizure and forfeiture are not interchangeable. This difference is important. Law enforcement lobbyists routinely conflate the two in their attempts to oppose forfeiture reform. For instance, in 2015, the president of the California Police Chiefs Association argued that a reform bill considered by the California Legislature would affect the ability of police “to seize…

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.
more on this issue »
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 »

Elmer Kilian

IJ client Elmer Kilian has been preparing taxes for the past 30 years on his dining room table. He fought and successfully defended his right to earn an honest living without getting permission from the IRS.

Michael Cristofaro

The Cristofaros were plaintiffs in the infamous Kelo v. New London lawsuit, when the city tried to take their house again. Since the ruling, Mike has become a national spokesperson for property owners fighting eminent domain abuse.

Lissette Waugh

Nevada is trying to force makeup artistry instructors, like IJ client Lissette Waugh, to get a license they don’t need.

Dan Leger

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.

Archdiocese of Newark

The Archdiocese of Newark is one of the largest in terms of population in the U.S., with nearly 1.3 million Catholics and 219 parishes. The Archdiocese is fighting a New Jersey law that makes it a crime to sell monuments, such as headstones, to their parishioners.

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.

Ron Hines

The First Amendment should apply to licensed professionals who give advice over the Internet.

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.

Lara Allen

Lara Allen’s four children, all of whom are gifted and/or have special needs, need more than what the public schools can offer.

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.

Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto

Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto, a Democrat representing Bernalillo County, carried the Forfeiture Reform bill on the floor of the Senate.

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.

Lisa Kivirist

Lisa Kivirist is a mother, farmer, business owner and avid baker. Lisa typically serves muffins and other baked goods at her B&B for breakfast, but the baked-good ban prohibits her from selling these same exact goods to guests.

Central Radio Company

Bob Wilson is blocked by the city of Norfolk, Va., from displaying a banner protesting eminent domain abuse outside his business, Central Radio Company.

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.

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.

Abdikadir “Abdi” Abdisalan and Abdullahi Hassan

Abdi immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, after fleeing the civil war in his native Somalia. He is a longtime taxi driver who want to go into business for himself.

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.

Thomas Halsnik

IJ client Thomas Halsnick is a limousine driver and entrepreneur who is required to charge consumers $50 a ride—no matter how short the ride—even though he want to charge less.

Vincent Blount

Vincent Blount has accumulated $2,800 in fines,and even served jail time, due to Pagedale, Missouri’s system of excessive municipal fines.

Christos and Markela Sourovelis

Chris and Markela Sourovelis worked their whole lives to build a home for their family. Officials in Philadelphia then tried to use civil forfeiture to take it all away, even though Chris and Markela did nothing wrong.

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.

Ted and Lauren Dzierzbicki

IJ clients Ted and Lauren Dzierzbicki wonder if the government can arbitrarily restrict the property rights of some individuals but not others.

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.

Michelle and Steven Freenor

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.

Teresa Quinones

Teresa Quinones, of Lawrenceville, Ga., is a mother of three young children. Her two oldest children, Audri and Christopher, attend Notre Dame Academy, thanks to Georgia’s Scholarship Tax-Credit Program.

Jason and Jacki Wiebesick

Jason and Jacki have owned their property in Golden Valley, a suburb of Minneapolis, for decades. But the city hasn’t respected their tenants’ wishes and instead has tried to obtain unconstitutional “administrative” warrants to force its way inside.

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.

Celeste Kelly

IJ client Celeste Kelly spent hundreds of hours learning about horses in order to obtain private certifications in animal massage. But now the state of Arizona is forcing her to become a licensed veterinarian to continue practicing her craft.

Robin Farris

Robin Farris beat Washington state’s Public Disclosure Commission with IJ’s help. She fought for the right to sue the government to protect our constitutional rights.

Silvio Membreno

IJ client Silvio Membreno built his business by selling flowers to consumers where they want to buy them. But the city of Hialeah, Fla., is unconstitutionally restricting his business.

Ken Quran

Khalid (“Ken”) Quran moved to America in 1997, and now runs a convenience store in Greenville, N.C. But the government seized his entire bank account—more than $150,000—even though he was never charged with a crime.

Kim Billups

Kim has everything she needs to run her tour guide business in Charleston—except the government’s permission to talk.

Markela Sourovelis

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.

Lyndon McLellan

Lyndon McLellan has spent more than a decade running L&M Convenience Mart in rural North Carolina. Then, without any warning, agents from the IRS seized his entire bank account, totaling more than $107,000.

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.

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.”

Jim and Cliff Courtney

Jim and Cliff Courtney have a plan to bring economic prosperity to their small community. Unfortunately, the state of Washington has sunk their plan with a law that requires them to obtain a certificate of “public convenience and necessity” from the state in order to pick up and drop off passengers.

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.”

Ben Burris

IJ client Dr. Ben Burris is an Arkansas orthodontist who wants to offer low-cost teeth cleanings to people who cannot otherwise afford them. But it is illegal for him to perform basic dental services, even though he is a licensed dentist.

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.

Rhett Keisler

Rett owns Revolver Brewing, south of Fort Worth. He is fighting a Texas law that forces brewers to give up their distribution rights to distributors for free. Even worse, distributors can then sell those rights to other distributors and pocket the money.

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.

Joyce Osborn Wilson

Joyce is banned from offering Alabamians a comfortable and clean place to use the prepackaged, teeth-whitening products she sells to customers.

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.

Ushaben Chudasama

Ushaben used to thread part-time at the Threading Studio & Spa near New Orleans, often filling in for licensed estheticians when they were unable to work. But after state regulators ordered the business to terminate its unlicensed threaders, Ushaben is no longer permitted to thread in the studio.

IJ By the Numbers

4 Litigation Pillars

Economic Liberty
Property Rights
School Choice
Free Speech

Support

92% from individuals
8% from foundations

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

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

Active Cases |

Closed Cases

7 offices

95 employees, including 43 attorneys

Attorneys

Staff

1040 Partners giving $1,000 or more each year

Over 8,000 individual donors

= 25 donors

$20 million budget in FY16

FY15 Budget Breakdown

83%: Programs

10%: Management

7%: Development

75 legislative reforms secured

40 national awards for communications

70%

Success Rate

Through litigation and legislation

IJ strategic research cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and in 162 articles in scholarly, law, and policy publications.

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

Behind the Scenes at IJ

New Eminent Domain Lawsuit

Behind the scenes at our West Haven Eminent Domain case launch.
Let Them Bake!

Home bakers (along with IJ’s activism team) rallying at the New Jersey State House for the right to sell their delicious baked goods.
Livestream

Behind the scenes at our Facebook livestream for the premiere of our film, “Everything.”
Eminent Domain Fight

Taken at today’s press conference in Ogden, UT. The city is trying to say this home (and others in the neighborhood) is “blighted.”
Victory for Entrepreneurs!

Governor Matt Bevin signing S.B. 269, which exempts natural hair braiders in Kentucky from needing to obtain a cosmetology license. IJ’s activism team helped Kentucky hair braiders organize to demand reforms to the state’s cosmetology licensing laws.

Connecticut Retiree Fights to Keep Family Home from Being Bulldozed

Institute for Justice

Homepage

Nevada Supreme Court Upholds the Nation’s Most Inclusive School Choice Program

Less than 1% of 8,000 charities rated have received at least 14 consecutive 4-star ratings

Matt Powers | Update | September 30, 2016

Nick Sibilla | Press Release | September 29, 2016

Chris Dobrogosz | Update | September 29, 2016

Chris Dobrogosz | Press Release | September 29, 2016

But Says Technical Fix Required Before Program Can Be Funded

Shira Rawlinson | Press Release | September 29, 2016

Shira Rawlinson | Press Release | September 28, 2016

Institute for Justice | Update | September 22, 2016

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

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

95 employees, including 43 attorneys

Attorneys

Staff

1040 Partners giving $1,000 or more each year

Over 8,000 individual donors

FY15 Budget Breakdown

83%: Programs

10%: Management

7%: Development

75 legislative reforms secured

40 national awards for communications

70%

Success Rate

Through litigation and legislation

IJ strategic research cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and in 162 articles in scholarly, law, and policy publications.

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

Behind the Scenes at IJ

New Eminent Domain Lawsuit

Let Them Bake!

Livestream

Eminent Domain Fight

Victory for Entrepreneurs!

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Litigating for Liberty.

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