In America, the government doesn’t get to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. Businesses compete, and the consumer ultimately decides which services or products they want. The idea that anyone can open a storefront and demonstrate their value to the community is part of the American Dream. But in South Fulton, Georgia, that dream has been upended by government officials who denied Awa Diagne a business license because she would be competing with more politically favored shops. That’s why Awa has teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) and filed suit against the city for its zoning abuse.
Awa epitomizes the American Dream. Originally from Senegal, Awa immigrated here more than 30 years ago and is an American citizen. She worked in downtown Atlanta as an African hair braider for decades and raised a family of six children.
In 2021, Awa moved to South Fulton with her family so they could attend a great local school. Awa planned to keep working out of her Atlanta shop, but tragedy struck. The day after they moved into their new home, Awa’s husband Bathie went to the hospital with COVID-19. He never came home. Without her husband for help, Awa could no longer run her Atlanta store, but she still needed to work.
She found the perfect place—a storefront in a busy shopping center right between her home and her kids’ school. Awa worked with the city on the paperwork and signed a lease. Between rent, the security deposit, and building out her shop, Awa spent nearly $20,000. But then came time for the City Council to vote for her license. To her shock, when the City Council met it was not concerned with how to welcome a new business, but instead focused on protecting other businesses from competition.
Their language was anything but subtle.
One member said that it was “not fair” that an existing salon would “have to compete” with Awa. The Council even said that Awa should forget the thousands of dollars she invested, start over, and find a new location where she wouldn’t be “competing with anyone.” The Council rejected her permit—not because her shop was unsafe or failed to meet any regulations, but rather to stifle competition from other politically favored businesses.
This blanket economic protectionism is unconstitutional. The South Fulton City Council cannot shut out new businesses just to protect existing ones from competition. The Georgia Supreme Court said so just last year in another IJ case involving lactation consultants.
Every American has the right to use their property to earn a living without arbitrary government interference. The government cannot pick and choose who gets to pursue the American Dream.
Case Team
Clients
Staff
Phillip Suderman
Communications Project Manager
Kendall Morton
Assistant Director of Special Litigation Projects and Paralegal
Media Resources
Get in touch with the media contact and take a look at the image resources for the case.
Phillip Suderman Communications Project Manager [email protected]
Awa’s Thirty Years of African Hair Braiding
Awa is the American Dream. A Senegalese immigrant and American citizen, she opened a braiding shop in downtown Atlanta to share her passion for African hair braiding. During that time, she raised and supported six children—including two sets of twins—alongside her husband, relying on the income from her braiding business.
But in 2021, the day after Awa and her family moved to South Fulton (an Atlanta suburb), tragedy struck. Her husband was rushed to the hospital for COVID-19. He did not return home.
Now a single mother with a thriving business, Awa needed to move her work closer to her growing children. She found the perfect storefront in a plaza between her home and her children’s school. Working diligently with the city, Awa signed a lease and spent nearly $20,000 to get the new braiding salon up and running. She applied for a special business permit, checked off every box the city asked, and received approval from both the city’s planning and zoning commissions. After closing her Atlanta shop, all that was left was a vote of approval from the South Fulton City Council.
City Council Shuts Out Awa’s Braiding Shop to Shield Existing Businesses from Competition
At a July 9 City Council meeting, Awa and a bevy of supporters shared her thirty-year history and the difficult circumstances that forced her to move her business. They described the differences between African hair braiding and licensed hair styling. And they detailed how Awa would educate high school students to braid hair, so they too could become entrepreneurs. Armed with four hundred signatures from the community, Awa was optimistic that the City Council would see the positive impact she could bring to South Fulton.
But as Awa would find out, the council was not concerned about her shop—they were concerned about another politically favored business. In fact, the City Council complained that Awa would be too successful, and that customers might prefer her to another local salon. One councilwoman stated it was “not fair” that existing salons should “have to compete” in the same area. And at a second council meeting on July 23, another councilwoman stated: “We have this process in place[s] because we don’t want any business to suffer any losses due to an oversaturation.” She advised Awa to meet with the city’s “economic development planner” to find a different location where she would not be “competing against anyone” and nobody would be competing against her.
After talking so much about protectionism, the council denied Awa’s zoning permit by a 4-3 vote, leaving her business shuttered. Without either her Atlanta shop or her South Fulton shop, Awa is unable to fully support her family doing what she knows and loves: African hair braiding. As her oldest daughter pled to the council: “My mom deserves a chance to live here and work here … . This is all she has.”
Georgia’s Constitution Prohibits Naked Economic Protectionism
This blanket favoritism towards some business owners over others strikes at the heart of the American Dream that motivated Awa (and so many others) to immigrate here. It’s not the government’s role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. That task belongs to consumers. Just like what Awa’s daughter told the City Council: “[P]eople can have a choice to go here or there. It’s not fair to have one place where everybody can go … . Give people a choice where they get their hair done.”
Fortunately, the Georgia Constitution says the same. When the government restricts someone’s right to practice a lawful occupation, they must be able to articulate a good reason. The Georgia Supreme Court requires that a zoning restriction “bear a substantial relation to public health, safety, morality or general welfare.”[1] And just last year—in an IJ case involving burdensome licensing requirements for lactation consultants—the Georgia Supreme Court explained that economic protectionism is “not sufficient to justify a burden on the ability to practice a lawful profession.”[2]
Just as the government could not bar Georgia lactation consultants from earning an honest living, they cannot stop Awa from practicing African hair braiding in South Fulton. Denying her zoning permit to ensure she doesn’t “compete against anyone” is not a legitimate government interest, and it violates the Georgia Constitution’s Due Process Clause.
Separately, South Fulton’s zoning code violates the Georgia Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. As written, the code only requires Awa to get a special permit because she wants to operate an African braiding shop. If she wanted to open a beauty supply store, a barber school, or other comparable businesses in a zone designated as “mixed” or “commercial,” she would have been able to open as a matter of right—that is, without the burdensome City Council permitting process.[3] Like the Due Process claim, this arbitrary distinction does not serve a legitimate government interest and is unconstitutional.
Litigation Team
The litigation team consists of IJ Senior Attorney Renée Flaherty and IJ Attorneys Will Aronin and Christian Lansinger and local counsel Simon Bloom and Andrea Pearson from Bloom Parham
The Institute for Justice
Founded in 1991, The Institute for Justice is a public-interest law firm that secures the constitutional rights of everyday Americans against government abuse. Since its first case representing natural hair braiders in Washington, D.C., IJ fights to represent entrepreneurs like Awa and their right to earn a living without arbitrary government interference.
One way governments interfere with entrepreneurs’ rights is with irrational zoning codes. In May, IJ launched its Zoning Justice Project to protect property owners from outrageous zoning abuse. This case is another example of IJ leading as the national expert in fighting back against governmental abuse and protecting the right to earn an honest living. In Florida, IJ fought for the rights of a food truck owner against a zoning law that banned food trucks within 500 feet of an established restaurant, and a Texas home daycare owner denied a zoning permit after the mayor and other local golfers complained of the sight of children.
[1] Barrett v. Hamby, 235 Ga. 262, 265 (1975) (footnote omitted).
[2] Raffensperger v. Jackson, 316 Ga. 383, 392 (2023).
[3] See South Fulton Code of Ordinances, Appendix C – Zoning, § 207.06 (use tables).
