Institute for Justice

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School Choice and State Constitutions: Second Edition

September 20, 2016

Seizure vs. Forfeiture: A Crucial Distinction

September 22, 2016

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

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…

Taxi Companies Cannot Block Competition, but They Could Compete

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

Taxi companies that have been trying to limit competition from ridesharing services are being presented with a much better alternative. As it turns out, deregulating the traditional cabs is a more effective (and constitutional) way to compete with increasingly popular ridesharing names like Uber and Lyft. The taxi companies have made it clear that being…

Taxi Day at 7th Circuit in Chicago

Taxi cab fleet Freedom Ride 10-30-12 034 Modified

The rise of Uber and other ridesharing services shined a light on how the taxicab industry has created artificial barriers to entry into the market. Those barriers to entry were the focus of two court cases heard by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. One case challenged Milwaukee’s repeal of the cap on…

NYPD Has No Idea How Much Cash It Seized, Claims Transparency Would Lead to “System Crashes”

The New York City Council’s Public Safety Committee considered a bill on Thursday that would shine a light on the NYPD’s seizure activity. Under legislation proposed by Councilmember Ritchie Torres, and co-sponsored by 37 councilmembers, the NYPD would have to submit reports each year disclosing the amount of cash, vehicles, wallets, phones and other types…

Maryland Homeowners Fighting Back Against City Land Grab

The city of Cumberland, Maryland, appears to be peaceful and thriving to drivers passing through on I-68. But, a dozen homeowners in the Rolling Mill neighborhood are locked in a battle with the city. The fight began more than a year ago when the city chose the neighborhood as an ideal location for redevelopment. ABC7…

Listen Up Feds: Get Out of the Way and Save Lives

Paying bone marrow donors for their time and money has the potential to save thousands of lives every year. What’s more, compensation has virtually no downsides. Yet the federal government is still fighting to stop it. Proposed federal regulations would prohibit Hemeos, a health care startup, from using compensation to help people in desperate need of a marrow transport. This…

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.

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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 »

Terry Dehko and Sandy Thomas

Terry Dehko and his family have owned and operated the Schott’s Market in Fraser, Mich., for 35 years. The Dehkos had $35,000 taken from them by federal law enforcement officials through a process known as civil forfeiture.

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.

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.

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.

Susette Kelo

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Ken Leininger

After eight years of working as a driver for Yellow Cab, Ken Leininger decided to start his own business. But when Ken tried to get permits for his new business early last year, Little Rock denied his applications.

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.

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.”

Larry Miller

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

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.

Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto

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

Bob McGinnity

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.

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.

Florence and Derrick Doyle

Florence and Derrick would like their children to attend a Catholic high school in Aurora, Colo. But paying tuition for both children to attend Regis would be a substantial financial burden, so scholarships by Douglas County’s school choice program would help defray costs.

Steve Cooksey

This caveman blogger fought for free speech and Internet freedom.

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.

Laura Pekarik

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

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.

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.

Dela Ends

Dela Ends owns and runs a small, USDA-certified organic farm in Green County, Wisconsin. Selling her home-baked goods would let Dela help support her family, but is illegal under state law.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lissette Waugh

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

Heather Coffy

Heather is a single mom and has three children she wants to participate in Indiana’s school choice program.

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.

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.

Shelia Champion

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

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.

Lata Jagtiani

Lata has been threading since she was a teenager in India and saw a need for threading services in the New Orleans metropolitan area. But in June 2016, state regulators fined her business for employing unlicensed threaders, and ordered Lata to fire her unlicensed employees.

Ron Hines

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

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.

Dan Burgess

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

Dina Galassini

Arizona wants to bar people from joining together to protest local ballot measures without first registering with the government.

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.

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.

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.

Liz Robbins

Liz has seven children, three of whom have a severe tissue disorder called EDS which requires constant medical attention. Liz needs Nevada’s ESA so she can design a quality education for her youngest EDS child, Dallin, who will likely miss a lot of school in the future.

Kim Billups

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

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

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.
Liberty in Action

IJ Attorney Rob Pecolla teaching a crowd of concerned homeowners and tenants about their 4th Amendment right to refuse unconstitutional city inspections.

Connecticut Retiree Fights to Keep Family Home from Being Bulldozed

Institute for Justice

Homepage

School Choice and State Constitutions: Second Edition

Seizure vs. Forfeiture: A Crucial Distinction

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

Shira Rawlinson | Press Release | September 28, 2016

Institute for Justice | Update | September 22, 2016

Chris Dobrogosz | Update | September 22, 2016

Matt Powers | Update | September 21, 2016

Nick Sibilla | Update | September 20, 2016

Matt Powers | Update | September 19, 2016

Chris Dobrogosz | Update | September 19, 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

Let Them Bake!

Livestream

Eminent Domain Fight

Victory for Entrepreneurs!

Liberty in Action

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Litigating for Liberty.

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