Occupational Speech Cases
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Speech
North Carolina Legal Advice
The First Amendment’s protection for free speech isn’t limited to political advocacy or expressions of personal opinion—it extends to speech on all topics. That includes expert advice that people earn a living providing, an area…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
California PI License
Jay Fink has a simple business. If you’re a Californian getting too much spam, he’ll look through your junk folder and pull out the emails that might violate California’s anti-spam law. Then you can decide…
First Amendment | Occupational Speech
Minnesota Horse Teaching
The freedom of speech is a cherished Constitutional protection, framed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. It is a right many Americans take for granted and exercise on a daily basis as…
First Amendment | Occupational Speech
Indiana End-of-Life Guidance
To many, death is a taboo subject. But not to Lauren Richwine, founder of Death Done Differently, a consultant who specializes in helping those with a terminal diagnosis and their families plan for the final…
First Amendment | Occupational Speech
Right to Provide Legal Advice
Right to Provide Legal Advice Rev. John S. Udo-Okon at Word of Life International Church in the Bronx When wealthy Americans face legal troubles, they have a lot of sources of advice. Legions of…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
California Mapping
Do you need a government license to trace a map from publicly available data? It might sound ridiculous, but in California the answer is “yes.” An entrepreneur joined with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Gray v. Maine Dept. of Public Safety
Joshua Gray, a private investigator, wanted to expand his business into his home state of Maine. In violation of his First Amendment rights, the state denied his request for a license, because he has criticized…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
North Carolina Engineering Speech
Wayne Nutt is a retired engineer who still talks about engineering and wanted to testify as an expert witness in a case that involved engineering issues. The state of North Carolina argued Wayne’s testimony was…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Brokamp v. James — New York Teletherapy
Elizabeth Brokamp uses talk therapy to help people improve their lives. When one of her clients relocated to New York she was able to continue speaking with the client online. She’s licensed in Virginia, where…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
D.C. Teletherapy
Elizabeth Brokamp uses talk therapy to help people improve their lives. She’s licensed in Virginia, where she lives, near the border with D.C. But D.C. will not let her see clients online who she could…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Speech
Virginia Teaching
Jon and Tracy McGlothian wanted to teach job skills to adults in Virginia, but the state told them they could not do so without a license. With IJ’s help, Jon and Tracy were able to…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Health | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Texas Veterinary Speech II
Ron Hines is a veterinarian who offers advice online to customers all over the country, but Texas said his speech was illegal. Now his case can move ahead on First Amendment grounds.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Mississippi Mapping
An overly-broad statute defined a small mapping company in Mississippi as an “unlicensed surveying” company. This statute would have shut down Vizaline, but with help from IJ, Vizaline fought back to protect its First Amendment…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Speech
California Trade Schools
California used to require individuals to get a high school degree or equivalent if they wanted to enroll in a trade school, like Bob Smith’s horseshoeing school. After IJ stepped in on Bob’s behalf, the…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Florida Diet Coaching
Florida requires a license in order to provide dietary advice to a customer. Diet advice is simply a type of speech that should be protected by the First Amendment, and that’s why Heather Kokesch Del…
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
North Carolina Makeup Schools
Jasna Bukvic-Bhayani is a North Carolina-based professional makeup artist who wanted to open up a school to teach others how to apply makeup like her. But the state wanted her to open a full-fledged esthetics…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Oregon Engineering Speech
Mats Järlström is an engineer, and he used those skills to criticize the formula used on red lights, suggesting the yellow lights should last a little longer. He was hit with a $500 fine from…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech | Tour Guides
Savannah Tour Guides
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.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Kentucky Psychology Speech
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.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Health | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Texas Veterinary Speech
The First Amendment should apply to licensed professionals who give advice over the Internet.
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Nevada Makeup
The government cannot require teachers to spend hundreds of hours in a classroom to learn skills that have nothing to do with what they teach.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
North Carolina Free Speech
This caveman blogger fought for free speech and Internet freedom.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech | Tour Guides
D.C. Tour Guides
The First Amendment protects everyone who talks for a living, whether they’re journalists, professors or tour guides.