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Short Circuit Special: Interview with Family Raided By SWAT Team for Tea Leaves in Trash

August 16, 2017

Occupational Licensing Blocks American's Right to Earn an Honest Living

August 7, 2017

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

Pennsylvania’s Poor, Huddled Braiders

Refugees come to America with a mix of fear and hope—fear of new challenges in new surroundings and hope for new opportunities in the greatest country on Earth. Although the U.S. government provides some initial financial support to help them resettle, refugees are ultimately required to fend for themselves, without the benefit of social welfare…

Short Circuit Special: Interview with Family Raided By SWAT Team for Tea Leaves in Trash

In a special episode, the Short Circuit team interviews the Harte family, who were subjected to an early morning SWAT raid after police found tea leaves in their trash. Listen to podcast below to hear about the raid and about their legal battle for police accountability. Click here if you prefer iTunes.

Washington City Rains on Yard Sales

Proponents of the age-old American tradition of yard or garage sales are under siege. Last month, Arlington, Texas residents came out to protest a city council proposal to impose broad new restrictions on yard sales. But city lawmakers in Aberdeen, Washington are moving forward with their efforts to severely limit the practice. On July 26,…

Baltimore Food Truck Case Over 300-Foot Ban Headed to Trial

Trial Will Show Ban Violates Maryland Constitutional Right to Earn a Living

Baltimore, Maryland—Hungry Baltimoreans will have to wait a little bit longer for food trucks to serve their favorite locations after a City Circuit Court judge ruled the case should go to trial. The city bans mobile vendors from operating within 300 feet of any brick-and-mortar business that primarily sells the same product or service. At the trial—which…

Smiling Faces, Beautiful Food Trucks

Beachgoers flocking to Myrtle Beach’s palm trees, sunny shores, and Southern hospitality might soon have another reason to enjoy the resort city’s sandy beaches: food trucks. A proposed zoning code amendment to the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission could allow food trucks to operate in certain districts around the city where they are currently banned. The…

In Victory for Cancer Patients & Their Families, HHS Withdraws Controversial Rule That Would Have Banned Compensating Bone Marrow Donors

Researchers & Entrepreneurs May Now Create Compensated Donor Programs That Could Save Thousands of Cancer Patients’ Lives; Institute for Justice Declares Final Victory 4 Years After Court Victory, But Thousands of Americans May Have Needlessly Lost Their Lives in Those 4 Years Because of the Government-Imposed Delay

Arlington, Va.—On Tuesday, August 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withdrew an unpopular rule proposed by the Obama Administration that would have barred compensation for donors of blood stem cells, commonly known as bone marrow. This action now clears the way for researchers and entrepreneurs to create programs to determine whether…

Dirt Cert?

Case Appealed to U.S. Supreme Court Whether Gov’t Must Pay for Loss of Business In Eminent Domain Case?

Arlington, Va.—If the government destroys your business through eminent domain, must it pay you for what you lost? That is the question raised by a cert petition filed by the Institute for Justice (IJ) with the U.S. Supreme Court today (July 31, 2017) on behalf of a small Louisiana entrepreneur who is fighting a battle…

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

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

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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 »

Lissette Waugh

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

Next Chapter Winery

Alexis Bailly Vineyard

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.

Dottie and Omar Rivera

Dottie and Omar Rivera are Steve Camburn’s tenants. They have lived in Pottstown their entire lives and have rented their home from Steve for the last five years.

Larry Miller

Larry Miller has been fighting for the rights of Atlanta’s vendors for the past twenty-five years.

Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto

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

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.

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.

Progressive Radiology

Dr. Mark Monteferrante wants to build a new, top-notch medical facility in Virginia. But under the commonwealth’s certificate of need (CON) program, he first has to persuade government officials that his facility would be “needed.”

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.

Ash Patel

Shelia Champion

Shelia Champion lives in Hazel Green, Alabama and operates a cemetery, The Good Earth Burial Ground.

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.

Mark Zaniewski

Mark owns the Metro Marathon service station in Sterling Heights, Mich., which has been in the family for 40 years. But in 2013, the IRS seized over $70,000, even though Mark violated no law.

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.

Josh Craven

Josh grew up in Pleasant Ridge and he cannot realistically afford to own a home anywhere else.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sung Cho

Sung Cho owns and operates Super Laundromat and Drycleaners, one of the largest laundromats in Manhattan. Sung could be evicted, and his business closed, simply because his business was the site of a crime. The identity of the criminals was beside the point.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

Jeff Hirsch

Jeff has spent almost 30 years building a successful small business with his brothers, distributing candy, snacks and other goods to convenience stores throughout Long Island. But the government raided the business’s bank account using civil forfeiture—taking $446,000 and nearly destroying the family business. T

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.

Jane Astramecki

IJ client Jane Astramecki, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, runs a home baking business. But Minnesota’s restrictive cottage food law bans her from earning more than $5,000 a year and from selling her treats at venues other than farmers’ markets and community events.

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.

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.

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.

Steve Cooksey

This caveman blogger fought for free speech and Internet freedom.

Mats Järlström

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.

Bill Von Winkle

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.

Mike Warfield

Fed up with Charleston’s endless series of trivial questions, Mike is standing up for his First Amendment right to talk to paying customers without first getting the government’s permission.

Jim Roos

St. Louis tried to take Jim Roos’ property through eminent domain. Jim protested by painting a giant sign on one of his buildings. The city then tried to censor him.

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.

Samantha Harris

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.

John Rosemond

John Rosemond’s lawsuit defends freedom of speech and freedom of the press from government officials who believe that it can be a crime in America to express an opinion in a newspaper.

Randy Sowers

Randy Sowers has run a dairy farm in Frederick County, Md. since 1981. But in 2012, the IRS seized the farm’s bank account because the Sowers deposited the cash in amounts under $10,000.

Rafael Lopez

San Antonio shut down Rafael’s food truck and threatened him with daily fines of up to $2,000 per day if he continued to vend.

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.

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.

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

1189 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

Major Hearing in Charm City

Today we appeared before the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to find the city’s 300-foot ban for food trucks unconstitutional. PHOTO: IJ attorneys Greg Reed (left) and Robert Frommer (right) addressing the media after the hearing.
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.

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Baltimore Food Truck Case Over 300-Foot Ban Headed to Trial

Institute for Justice

Homepage

Short Circuit Special: Interview with Family Raided By SWAT Team for Tea Leaves in Trash

Occupational Licensing Blocks American's Right to Earn an Honest Living

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

Rek LeCounte | Update | August 16, 2017

Matt Powers | Update | August 16, 2017

Rek LeCounte | Update | August 14, 2017

Shira Rawlinson | Press Release | August 14, 2017

Trial Will Show Ban Violates Maryland Constitutional Right to Earn a Living

Rek LeCounte | Update | August 7, 2017

John Kramer | Press Release | August 7, 2017

John Kramer | Press Release | July 31, 2017

Case Appealed to U.S. Supreme Court Whether Gov’t Must Pay for Loss of Business In Eminent Domain Case?

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

1189 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

Major Hearing in Charm City

Victory in Chicago!

Testifying before the Louisiana Senate

Victory in Little Rock!

Victory in Chicago!

JOIN THE FIGHT! Sign up for newsletters:

Footer Signup

Litigating for Liberty.

JOIN THE FIGHT!