IJ's Cases
Featured Cases
Alaska Pilot Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Stop State from Taking His $95,000 Airplane for Passenger’s Beer
The Case April 3rd, 2012, began like any other day for Ken Jouppi, a longtime bush pilot in Alaska. He was scheduled to fly a passenger and her groceries from Fairbanks to the village of Beaver. Hidden in the passenger’s luggage, though, were two cases of Budweiser, along with four additional six-packs. They were intended as a gift to…
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U.S. Supreme Court Cases
IJ has argued 13 cases before the United States Supreme Court, winning 11. These landmark cases have expanded constitutional protections for all Americans.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
The FBI Raided the Wrong Home—the Government Refuses to Pay for the Damage
FBI agents raided the wrong home in suburban Atlanta. Now the federal government refuses to compensate the victims even though Congress passed a law permitting suits for damages caused by federal employees.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Taking on The Shell Games That Allow Federal/State Task Force Members To Violate Your Rights
After misidentifying him as a non-violent fugitive, police brutally beat James King, choked him unconscious, and then prosecuted him to hide their mistake.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Federal lawsuit seeks to revive the Fourth Amendment’s requirements for warrants
The Fourth Amendment requires that warrants be supported by “oath or affirmation” but that requirement means almost nothing today because of a decades old Supreme Court decision. Michael Mendenhall’s case could revive the original meaning and protect people from unreasonable searches.
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Economic Liberty | Education Entrepreneurship
Education Entrepreneur Fights for Her Innovative Hybrid School
Katy Duckstein runs a hybrid homeschool program in Pennsylvania, but the state wants to bury her in red tape.
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty
South Carolina Mobile Beauty
The Case Brandi Rosemond wants to run a mobile beauty salon. And she’s done everything you’d expect to get her business off the ground. She went to beauty school and learned…
Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
Connecticut family takes legal action after town threatens to ban them from having hikers on property
Connecticut family takes legal action after town threatens to ban them from having hikers on property.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Chicago Homeowner Sues After Warrantless Raid by Federal Agents
When federal agents ransack an innocent homeowner’s private property without a warrant, it’s a clear violation of the Constitution, and there must be a way to hold them accountable.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Long Island Man Fights for His Day in Court
An experienced electrician was badly shocked due to a government employee's mistake. Now, he's fighting for his day in court.
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Washington Physical Therapist Sues Leavenworth for the Right to Run a Small In-home Practice in Her Own Home
The town of Leavenworth, Wa. banned Nicole Bulow’s quiet, home-based physical therapy practice — while permitting nearly identical home businesses like massage therapy and salons. Now she's fighting back.
Economic Liberty
Texas Entrepreneur Fights a City’s Unconstitutional Dumpster Monopoly
The Texas Constitution forbids monopolies. So, a Waxahachie dumpster rental company is suing after the city granted a monopoly to a single national waste company.
Economic Liberty | Education Entrepreneurship | Occupational Licensing
Private School, Teacher, and Parent Fight for Integrity, Innovation, and the Century-Old Promise of Freedom
The Case When Capstone Classical Academy opened in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2022, its goal was simple: hire the best teachers possible. At first, the school focused on finding talented educators…
Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
Retiree’s Construction of Dream Home Blocked by Nonsensical Zoning from City After Decades of Planning
Art Yatsko has been working towards a dream for the last 20 years. But as Art was ready to begin construction, he was told he could no longer build a modest single-family home in his neighborhood—it had been rezoned, along with every other open lot of land in his neighborhood.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
Pennsylvania real estate broker files lawsuit challenging law requiring brokers to have brick-and-mortar offices
Pennsylvania real estate broker Kevin Gaughen has filed a lawsuit alongside the Institute for Justice challenging a law requiring brokers in Pennsylvania to have brick-and-mortar offices.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether the government’s fining a retiree out of his life’s savings for a paperwork violation is an “excessive fine.”
Eighty-eight-year-old retiree Tuncay Saydam is at risk of losing his life’s savings. Not because of a bad investment or a fraudulent scheme. Rather, the federal government is trying to fine Tuncay…
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Sign Codes
Institute for Justice joins lawsuit defending family bar threatened with fines and even jail time for using “barbershop” theme to honor owners’ late father
Institute for Justice joins lawsuit defending family bar threatened with fines and even jail time for using “barber shop” theme to honor owners’ late father When Mike DiGiacomo and…
Commercial Speech | First Amendment
Equine Body Work Teachers Sue Wisconsin for Violation of First Amendment Right to Occupational Speech
Jim Masterson has been working with animals for almost 30 years. But Wisconsin said he can’t teach without subjecting Jim’s school to an all-encompassing review of everything from Jim’s curriculum to intrusive inquiries into his business model.
4th Amendment Project | License Plate Readers | Rule of Law | Warrantless Surveillance
San Jose residents file federal lawsuit challenging city's use of nearly 500 license plate reader cameras
San Jose residents file federal class action lawsuit challenging city's use of nearly 500 license plate read cameras.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Atlanta Woman Sues Officers, U.S. Government for Wrongly Raiding Her Home in Search of Man Already in Jail
More than a dozen heavily armed law enforcement officers stormed Cathy George's apartment, looking for a fugitive who had no connection to Cathy and who was already in custody.
Rule of Law | Unjust Proceedings
Small Kentucky Farm Fights Federal Government for a Fair Trial
David and Debbie Ross of Triple R Farms are fighting for their constitutional right to a real court and jury trial.
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation
Arizona Educator Sues County Attorney Whose Hired Thugs Bullied Him Out of Election Campaign
Fernie Madrid ran for school superintendent in Apache, but he was running against the wife of the County Attorney, Michael Whiting. Whiting used his employees to retaliate against Fernie and bully him out of the race. Now, Fernie is suing over the violation of his First Amendment rights.
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing
Small Business Challenges Oklahoma's Unconstitutional Restrictions on Casket Sales
Small business challenges Oklahoma's unconstitutional restrictions on casket sales
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Portland Family Files Lawsuit After SWAT Team Arrested Innocent 16-Year-Old at Gunpoint
Parents sue after a SWAT team detained their innocent 16-year-old son at gunpoint as he walked to lunch.
Private Property | Private Solutions to Public Problems | Zoning Justice Project
Lighthouse Sues Wenatchee for Shuttering Soup Kitchen to Satisfy Politically Connected Complainers
Lighthouse Christian Ministries is suing after Wenatchee officials revoked the soup kitchen's permit without warning, shutting down a vital resource that served 75-100 people daily.