4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property

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 | Private Property

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.

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

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.

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

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.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Dallas Bar Owner Asks Supreme Court to Let His Suit Over Bogus Prosecution Move Forward

A Dallas bar owner asks the Supreme Court to deny immunity to the police detective who led a bogus investigation against him.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

US Citizen and Army Veteran George Retes Sues Over Unconstitutional Immigration Detention

George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran, was detained for three days after encountering an ICE roadblock on his way to work.

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

U.S. Citizen Demands End to Unconstitutional Raids and Detentions

A U.S. citizen, who was wrongly detained twice, is suing to stop unconstitutional raids on private construction sites.

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Woman Traumatized by False Arrest Sues US Marshals

Penny McCarthy was mistaken for another woman and violently arrested by armed U.S. Marshals. She is suing over the violation of her Fourth Amendment rights.

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

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…

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

Innocent Family Seeks to Hold SWAT Team Accountable for Raiding the Wrong Home

A North Carolina family is seeking to hold SWAT teams accountable for raiding the wrong home in April 2024.

First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability

Smalltown Newspaper Punished for its Reporting Fights for the First Amendment

Four residents of a small Alabama county were targeted for retaliation by a district attorney and sheriff. Now, they are suing with IJ to protect their constitutional rights.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

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 | Private Property

Woman Seeks to Hold Police Accountable for Mistaken Identity Arrest

An innocent Texas woman was arrested in a case of mistaken identity while getting off a cruise in 2022. Now, she's suing Broward County for the unconstitutional arrest.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

New petition asks Supreme Court to let woman’s suit against her abuser’s enabler move forward after nearly a decade in court.

Desiree Martinez bravely reported to the police the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her boyfriend, Kyle Pennington. But Pennington was a police officer, and came from a family of officers. Instead…

Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property

Courts Say City Owes Her Over $200,000; But Now She Has to Sue Again to Get Paid

Courts say Okay, Oklahoma owes Melisa Robinson for damaging her property. But the city won't pay. That violates her Fifth Amendment right to just compensation.

First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Murphy v. Schmitt

Have you ever heard of someone being arrested and sent to jail for walking on the wrong side of the road? Probably not — because police officers never, or almost never, arrest people for…

First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability

Lawsuit Seeks Accountability for Unconstitutional Raid of a Political Opponent’s Home

Kansas police raided the home of a city councilwoman and seized her phone and computer in retaliation for her criticism of local officials.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

Family seeks to hold officer accountable after he led SWAT raid at wrong house

Everyone who visits a home for the first time—including delivery drivers, plumbers, and Girl Scouts—knows that you have to make sure you have the right address before barging in. Somehow, Waxahachie Police Department (WPD) Lieutenant…

Economic Liberty | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property

Virginia food truck owners file federal lawsuit after raging town councilmember damaged truck, town council repeatedly harassed them

Theslet Benoir and Clemene Bastien are a married couple that immigrated to the United States from Haiti in 2005. They received asylum, settled in Parksley, Virginia, and opened a brick-and-mortar store that caters to the…

Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

A Police Raid Wrecked Her Home; Now a South Bend Mom Fights for Compensation

In South Bend, a SWAT team raided the wrong home, leaving a single mom with thousands of dollars in damage not covered by insurance. She is suing for compensation.

Immunity and Accountability | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

Tennessee Couple Fights for Compensation After SWAT Team Destroys Their Home

Who pays when the government destroys private property for a public purpose, such as getting a fugitive off the streets? The answer should be clear: if the government breaks it, the government buys it.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Mother asks Supreme Court to hear case challenging immunity for school officials who abused her daughter

A New Orleans-area mother of a young girl is asking the United States Supreme Court to hear her case challenging a lower court’s decision to shield all violence by public-school officials from constitutional review. In…

First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability

Lawsuit Seeks Accountability for Unconstitutional Silencing and Arrest During City Council Meeting

A Newton, Iowa, man was arrested twice at city council meetings for criticizing local officials, so he sued to vindicate his First Amendment rights.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Task-Force Immunity and Accountability

Can a local police officer launder her lies and deceit through a state-federal task force to hide behind absolute federal immunity? IJ doesn’t think so, but with the help of the federal government, St.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Louisiana Inmate Held 525 Days Past His Release Seeks Justice

Percy Taylor was kept in a Louisiana prison 525 days past his release date. He is not alone in being held beyond his sentence in a Louisiana detention facility. In January 2023, the U.S.

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property | SWAT Destruction

Innocent Small Business Owner Seeks Compensation After Shop Destroyed by SWAT Team

For thirty years, Carlos Pena ran a print shop in North Hollywood. His world was turned upside down, however, in August 2022, when a fugitive forced his way into Carlos’s shop and barricaded himself inside…

4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

Texas Sheriff’s Deputy Falsifies Traffic Offense to Justify Unwarranted Truck Search

Alek Schott partnered with IJ for a federal lawsuit against Bexar County deputies for illegally stopping him for a traffic violation that he didn’t commit, and then using the stop to detain him and search…

Immunity and Accountability | Private Property

DeVillier v. Texas

Victory! In April 2024, the Supreme Court vacated the Fifth Circuit decision and ruled the DeVillier family can sue Texas for flooding caused by the state. Richie DeVillier lives on the same patch of…

First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability

Wayne County Seized His Car Without Evidence. When He Spoke Out, They Filed Criminal Charges to Silence Him.

Wayne County prosecutors retaliated against Robert Reeves for joining a lawsuit challenging the county's civil forfeiture program.

First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability

Group of immigrant nurses ask Supreme Court to hear case against prosecutor who brought bogus claims against them

A group of immigrant nurses whom rogue prosecutors tried to subject to indentured servitude, and their attorney who was criminally charged for providing legal advice, asked the United States Supreme Court to hear their…