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- South Side Pitch Crowns Winner in Annual Business Competition
- First Round Victory in Challenge to Compulsory-Eviction Law
- Food Fight Turns into Major Privacy Battle In U.S. Supreme Court Appeal
- Washington Homeowner Sues for Right to Renovate Her Home
- Friends of the Court Submit U.S. Supreme Court Briefs To Support Religious Options in School Choice Programs
- U.S. Supreme Court Will Soon Hear Landmark Education Case
- Nashville Court Dismisses Music Producer’s Lawsuit Challenging Ban On Home-Based Businesses
Andrew Wimer | Press Release | October 11, 2019
South Side Pitch Crowns Winner in Annual Business Competition
All-natural detergent company Dinobi Detergent rises above 120 competitors
CHICAGO—Six South Side entrepreneurs took the stage last night with three crowned winners and all the contestants gaining valuable experience in promoting their unique business ideas. For six years running, the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship (IJ Clinic) has hosted South Side Pitch. Dinobi Detergent, which makes an all natural detergent, took first place…
J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | October 10, 2019
First Round Victory in Challenge to Compulsory-Eviction Law
Federal court issues two emergency injunctions against Granite City, Illinois’ “crime free housing” law
Yesterday, Judge Staci M. Yandle of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois issued temporary restraining orders protecting two Granite City families from eviction under the city’s compulsory-eviction law. Represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), the two families had filed civil-rights lawsuits against the city, the first in August and the…
John Kramer | Press Release | October 9, 2019
Food Fight Turns into Major Privacy Battle In U.S. Supreme Court Appeal
Chicago Demands Food Trucks Install GPS Tracking Systems To Prevent Them from Competing with Politically Powerful Restaurants; Illinois Supreme Court Ruled GPS Tracking Doesn’t Constitute a Search
Arlington, Va.—“If the government forces you to install a GPS device and can track your whereabouts, that is a search. But the Illinois Supreme Court ruled otherwise. That is why we are appealing this case to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Robert Frommer, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice (IJ). IJ recently filed…
J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | October 8, 2019
Washington Homeowner Sues for Right to Renovate Her Home
Lawsuit challenges city law requiring homeowners to pay exorbitant fees to fix up city streets before they can renovate their homes
After living in her one-bedroom, one-bathroom house for nearly 40 years, Richland, Wash. resident Linda Cameron decided it was time for a renovation. Between visits from her friends and family, her modest home was proving to be too cramped, so she worked with a local builder to draw up plans to add a second bedroom…
John Kramer | Press Release | October 2, 2019
Arlington, Virginia—More than 30 amicus (or “friend-of-the-court”) briefs have been filed in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue calling for greater educational choice for parents and their children. Espinoza, which is being litigated by the Institute for Justice (IJ), is expected to set a landmark precedent when it comes to education reform and will decide…
John Kramer | Press Release | October 2, 2019
U.S. Supreme Court Will Soon Hear Landmark Education Case
IJ Brief Makes Constitutional Case For Including Religious Options In School Choice Programs
Arlington, Virginia—Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court returns for another term and among the cases it will hear is Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case expected to set a landmark precedent when it comes to education reform. Espinoza, which is being litigated by the Institute for Justice (IJ), will decide whether states may…
Conor Beck | Press Release | October 1, 2019
Nashville Court Dismisses Music Producer’s Lawsuit Challenging Ban On Home-Based Businesses
Plaintiffs vow to appeal the ruling
Today, Nashville’s Chancery Court of Davidson County upheld Nashville’s client prohibition for home-based businesses, preventing music producer Lij Shaw from recording musicians at his in-home studio and hair stylist Pat Raynor from cutting the hair of her long-time clients in a state-approved single-chair salon she built in her house. The lawsuit against Nashville’s home business…
Our Issues
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Educational 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.
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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.
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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.
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Our Research
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June 7, 2019 | Strategic Research
Fighting Crime or Raising Revenue?
Testing Opposing Views of Forfeiture
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November 15, 2018 | Strategic Research
Ready to Roll
Nine Lessons from Ending Wisconsin's Home-Baking Ban
Martha Rabello
Martha is a stay-at-home mom with two sons, a 5-year old and a 2-year old. She has baked her whole life and is professionally trained. Martha is Brazilian and lived in Brazil for 25 years, and she would like to start a home business focusing on Brazilian-inspired cookies.
Shelia Champion
Shelia Champion lives in Hazel Green, Alabama and operates a cemetery, The Good Earth Burial Ground.
Lisa Howard
Lisa is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.
Samantha Harris
Samantha Harris hired Sally Ladd, a New Jersey-based entrepreneur, to manager her short-term vacation rental in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. But when Pennsylvania wanted Ladd to obtain a real-estate broker’s license, which requires her to spend three years working for an established broker, Sally felt forced to shut down her business.
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.
Tammy Holland
In September 2015, Tammy Holland took out two ads in her local Colorado newspaper to alert readers to upcoming school-board elections. For that simple act of civic engagement, Tammy was sued—twice—by incumbent school board members who didn’t appreciate the publicity. Tammy teamed up with IJ to challenge Colorado’s abuse-prone system of enforcing private campaign-finance complaints. In June 2018, a federal court sided with Tammy and declared Colorado’s system unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
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.
Brian Berube
Brian Berube, owner of the Lonesome Dove saloon in Mandan, North Dakota, started his business with August “Augie” Kersten 28 years ago. The two commissioned a mural, which the city wants to take down.
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.
Lynn Schofield
Growing up in the Ivory Coast, Lynn Schofield learned to braid from her family. When Lynn moved to Louisiana, she opened her own braiding salon that once had more than 20 employees. But that all changed in 2003, when the Board began requiring braiders to obtain a license.
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.
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.
Carter Walker
Carter Walker is a reporter covering the county government for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania newspaper. To shine a light on forfeiture spending by the Lancaster County DA, he filed a request, which was denied. Carter appealed to Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records and won, but now the DA is fighting in court to keep this information secret.
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.
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.
Keysha Newell
Keysha Newell is the mother of two children: One in a private elementary school, using using a scholarship from Nevada’s Scholarship Program, with the other in preschool. Newell plans to enroll her youngest child—who has a learning disability—in a private school. But without additional funding, the Scholarship Program may not have the funds to provide her youngest with a scholarship.
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.
Kevin Howard
Kevin is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.
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.
Jameelah El-Shabazz
In 2011, police raided Jameelah El-Shabazz’s apartment in New York City and found several cups filled with crushed eggshells, which Jameelah uses for religious purposes. Believing the cups were filled with drugs, police arrested Jameelah and her son Akin and held them in jail for a week. They also had her apartment closed . City attorneys, relying on those same discredited allegations about the cups of crushed eggshells, claimed the apartment had been the site of drug crimes, and had her apartment closed under the city’s no-fault eviction ordinance. Unable to fight back in court, Jameelah had to agree to permanently bar her son from her home in order to regain access to her own apartment.
Jessica Hadraba
Jessica is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.
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.
Dr. Michael Garrett
Dr. Michael Garrett is a family doctor in Austin, Texas, who has been practicing medicine for over two decades. But unlike 45 states, in Texas, many patients can’t purchase medication directly from the doctor prescribing it.
Spencer Byrd
Spencer Byrd, a Chicago resident and part-time auto mechanic, who had his car impounded after he gave a client ride who got arrested for drugs. A Cook County Circuit Court judge ordered that his car be returned, but Chicago will not release Spencer’s car until he pays all of the towing and storage fees—more than $17,000.
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.
Tracy McGlothian
Tracy is an experienced sewer who teaches students how to sew as a hobby, but under Virginia law, she’s not allowed to teach students how to earn a living with sewing.
Jeana and Jack Horner
Jeana and Jack Horner are among the hundreds of people each year who find themselves caught in Indianapolis’s forfeiture machine.
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.
Chris Hadraba
Chris is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.
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.
Arlene Harjo
Arlene Harjo entered the world of civil forfeiture in April 2016, when her son, Tino, was arrested while driving her two-year-old Nissan Versa.
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.
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.
Terry and Ria Platt
Soon after Terry and Ria’s car was seized, they found themselves lost in Arizona’s forfeiture maze.
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.
Doug and Mary Ketchum
Doug and Mary Ketchum moved to Tennessee to purchase an historic liquor store that would let them take care of their 32-year-old daughter, Stacie, who suffers from cerebral palsy. But they can’t get a liquor license, thanks to the state’s strict residency requirements.
Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, Inc
Founded in 2011, ROSE is an Atlanta-based, nonprofit organization that works to increase access to breastfeeding support and improve healthcare equity among African-American communities in Georgia and around the country.
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.
Ilumi Sanchez
Ilumi has worked with children since she came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1995. Although she has a Child Development Associate credential (“CDA”) and was trained as a lawyer in her home country, Ilumi does not have the associate’s degree now required under District of Columbia’s new regulations.
Jon McGlothian
After completing his military service as an Army Ranger, Jon McGlothian of Virginia Beach, Va., became a PMP-certified project manager. But Jon can’t advertise to the public or take on individual students because his school isn’t licensed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Troy and Angela Nelson
Troy and Angela Nelson operate a small family farm in Palermo, Maine. They have two children, Alicia, who attends a nonreligious school, and Royce, who attends Temple Academy, a private, Christian school. Palermo won’t pay for Royce’s tuition, simply because he attends a religious school, even though its pays tuition for Alicia.
Laura Pekarik
IJ client Laura Pekarik is an entrepreneurial dynamo who owns and operates the Cupcakes for Courage food truck.
Michael Jensen
Michael Jensen would like Dr. Birchansky to perform his next needed eye surgery at the outpatient center next to Dr. Birchansky’s office because it is a safe, less costly, convenient, and familiar environment. Unfortunately Iowa’s CON law is denying him that choice.
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.
Troy King
After working in the food service industry for several years, Troy King purchased his first food truck in 2014—a gourmet chicken food truck called Pollo. But in September 2016, Troy was operating Pollo in downtown Louisville when a city inspector threatened to issue a citation and tow his truck simply because Troy was serving customers within 150 feet a restaurant that also serves chicken. Troy was forced to abandon his vending location and his customers.
Next Chapter Winery
Next Chapter Winery is a family-run winery in New Prague, Minnesota built by Timothy and Therese Tulloch. To grow Next Chapter’s business, they would like to offer more varieties of wine, which would require using more grapes from other regions.
Dan Burgess
IJ client Dan Burgess drives for ridesharing companies uberX, Sidecar and Lyft and is fighting to defend his economic liberty.
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