Economic Liberty Cases
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 | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
North Carolina Amortization
Dennis and Peg Schroeder have invested substantial money in their home and chose to rent it out as part of their retirement plan. The city of Wilmington is trying to deprive them of their right…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment
California End-of-Life Doulas
Akhila Murphy and Donna Peizer are end of life doulas – they offer families assistance during at-home funerals. They don’t direct funerals, but California has argued they are acting as unlicensed funeral directors. With the…
Economic Liberty | Fresh Start | Occupational Licensing
California Firefighter Fresh Start
Dario Gurrola is a part-time firefighter who wants to turn his passion into a full-time job. But California prevents him from getting an EMT license because of a prior criminal conviction for which he’s already…
Montana Doctor Dispensing
The vast majority of states allow patients to purchase medications directly from their prescribing doctor. For years, this practice was banned in Montana, until IJ stepped in to challenge the law and lawmakers immediately moved…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom
Lincoln, NE Cottage Foods
Lincoln, Nebraska imposed restrictions on home bakers that the state itself decided to get rid of. One home baker named Cindy Baker teamed up with IJ to successfully challenge Lincoln’s foolish restriction.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Utah Private Investigators
Jeremy Barnes is a former police officer who runs his own private investigator company in Idaho, near the Utah border. Utah has prevented Jeremy from earning an honest living because he lives three minutes across…
Nebraska CON
Marc is allowed to drive customers to the grocery store, but if he wants to drive them to the pharmacy or a routine doctor’s appointment, he needs permission from his competitors. This nonsensical rule hurts…
North Carolina CON II
The government should never prevent doctors from safely providing affordable health care services their patients need. But that’s exactly what North Carolina, along with 34 other states, do every day. Dr. Jay Singleton is working…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom | Private Solutions to Public Problems
Washington Little Free Pantry
Thanks to a lawsuit she filed with IJ, Kathy Hay can now share food with her neighbors in Asotin County, Washington, using a “little free pantry” in her backyard. Before the lawsuit, Kathy wasn’t allowed…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom
North Dakota Food Freedom
Five North Dakotans teamed up with IJ to sue the Department of Health for illegally passing regulations on selling homemade baked goods. Now, North Dakota is again one of the best states in the country…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing
Arizona Engineering Licensing
Greg Mills has been an engineer for more than 30 years, but now a group of industry insiders on a government board are saying he needs a license he does not actually need. IJ and…
Kentucky CON
Two Nepali immigrants wanted to open a home health care business to help people in their community, but Kentucky law let their potential competitors stop them from opening up. The two have teamed up with…
Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
After a successful petition from IJ, the Minnesota Supreme Court decided to ease licensing requirements on attorneys in Minnesota. This was a victory for all attorneys, giving them more flexibility regarding how they earn credits…
Texas Doctor Dispensing
In most states, patients can purchase medication directly from the doctor prescribing it. But in Texas, doctors are banned from dispensing unless they practice in certain “rural” areas more than 15 miles from a pharmacy—a…
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Louisiana Hair Braiding
Hair-braiders in Louisiana are required to complete 500 hours of unnecessary and irrelevant training, pass an exam and pay annual licensing fees just to do their job. Many hair braiders have moved to neighboring states,…
Indiana Eyeglasses
Indiana bans healthcare providers from conducting online eye tests, to protect established businesses from competition.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Transportation
Great Lakes Pilot
Captain Matthew Hight thought he would earn a living navigating cargo carriers on the Great Lakes. Instead, an unholy alliance of a federal bureaucracy and a legalized monopoly suddenly rendered him a castaway. Now he’s…
South Padre Island Food Trucks
South Padre Island caps the number of food trucks in town at 12 and requires that all food trucks have a restaurant owner’s sign off on their permit applications. The Texas Constitution prevents the government…
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…
Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas
A Tennessee law required that in order to open a liquor store, one must be a Tennessee resident for two years. With help from IJ, Doug and Mary Ketchum challenged this law, bringing it all…
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | Fresh Start | Occupational Licensing
Pennsylvania Fresh Start
A Pennsylvania law prevented Amanda and Courtney from earning an honest living because of unrelated criminal records. After IJ stepped in to defend their rights, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled this law was unconstitutional.
Fort Pierce Food Trucks
Fort Pierce, Florida used to have an incredibly restrictive rule that banned food trucks from operating within 500 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant. After two food truck operators partnered with IJ, a court ruled the…
Fish Creek, WI Vending
The town of Gibraltar and Door County, Wisconsin once had full-blown ban on food vending trucks, that is until IJ stepped in. After hearing IJ’s case on behalf of food truck operators, a Door County…
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.
Carolina Beach Food Trucks
In late August 2018, a little over a week after IJ launched a lawsuit, challenging Carolina Beach’s food truck restrictions, the town repealed its food truck restrictions due to the threat of IJ’s lawsuit.
North Carolina CON
In Spring 2020, Dr. Gajendra Singh had to close his imaging center, in part because of the enormous costs imposed by the CON law. As a result, Dr. Singh’s lawsuit could not continue, but shortly…
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 | Health | Occupational Licensing
Georgia Lactation Consultants
For decades, Mary Jackson has worked as a lactation consultant, helping new moms and babies during a critical time in their lives. Then one day, Georgia passed the nation’s most restrictive licensing regime for lactation…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Washington, D.C. Day Care Education
D.C. recently decided to require day care workers to have a college degree. This is an unreasonable regulation drives up child care costs and deprives day care workers of their ability to earn an honest…