Matt Miller
Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter
mmiller@ij.org
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Matt Miller is the executive director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, where he fights to secure property rights, economic liberty, freedom of speech and school choice.
Matt represents individuals and small business owners in Texas state and federal courts. Matt is currently defending an author and publisher of a book about eminent domain abuse after they were sued for defamation by a powerful developer, and represented Dallas small business owners in a First Amendment challenge to that city’s sign ordinance. Matt successfully litigated against the city of El Paso, Texas and forced the city to repeal a law that prohibited street vendors from operating near brick-and-mortar restaurants. His litigation also won a legislative repeal of a law requiring computer repair technicians to obtain private investigator’s licenses. He has worked on cases before the Texas Supreme Court, and has co-authored friend-of-the-court briefs for the U.S. and Ohio supreme courts.
In 2009, Matt helped lead the effort to reform the Texas Constitution to better strengthen protections for property owners against eminent domain abuse.
After earning his law degree from the University of Chicago, Matt—a lifelong Texan—worked in Dallas as a land use attorney at a large national law firm. Matt grew up in Fort Worth and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds a Master of Arts degree from St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M. While in New Mexico, he worked for the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee and, later, with local communities and Native American tribes on development issues.
The Texas Chapter’s work has been featured in dozens of newspapers, websites and blogs. Matt’s cases have been featured in The Atlantic Monthly’s blog, CNN Money, Instapundit, AOL News and newspapers, television and radio stations, and blogs across Texas. He has been a guest on Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano and is a contributor to the Daily Caller and BigGovernment.com. He has testified by invitation before the Texas House Efficiency and Government Reform Committee and the Texas House Agriculture and Livestock Committee. While in Dallas, Matt served as vice president of the Dallas Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. He has also been a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Philosophy.
Matt lives in Austin with his family.
