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…
Read more
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.
All Cases
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
City Established a Monopoly for the Only Taxi Business in Town, Preventing Competition and Prohibiting Consumer Choice
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Fleecing Schools and Turning Law Enforcers Into Lawbreakers
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech | Tour Guides
Charleston Tour Guides Challenge Unconstitutional License to Talk
First Amendment | Political Speech
Colorado’s private-enforcement law empowers political insiders to silence any ordinary speaker they disagree with.
4th Amendment Project | Private Property | Rental Inspections
Minnesota Landlords and Tenants Go to Court to Fight Unconstitutional Search of Homes
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom
Wisconsin Farmers Challenge State Ban on Selling Home-Baked Goods
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Montana Moms Seek to Restore School Choice Program that was Struck Down for Including Religious Options
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the most important education reform cases in the past half-century. This landmark case held that the U.S. Constitution does not allow states to discriminate against religious parents or schools if policymakers choose to enact a private educational choice program.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
This Ends Now: Enforcing New Mexico’s Landmark Civil Forfeiture Reform To Shut Down The Albuquerque Forfeiture Machine
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Policing for Profit in St. Louis Co. Municipal Court System
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Breaking Down Government Barriers to African-Style Hair Braiding in Iowa
Economic Liberty | Vending
No One Should Need Their Competitors’ Permission to Operate a Business
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Nevada Parents Stand Up for School Choice and Join Lawsuit to Defend ESA Program
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Archdiocese of Newark Seeks to Bury New Jersey’s Anticompetitive Headstone Law
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
IJ to IRS: Give Back This Money
The message from the Institute for Justice, which represents Ken and Randy, to the IRS is simple: If you’ve taken something that doesn’t belong to you, give it back.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Ordinary Americans Are Victims of Policing for Profit in Our Nation’s Airports
Charles Clarke is one of thousands of Americans whose cash has been seized at an airport through civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize cash and property without ever charging anyone with any crime.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Green Cab’s Story: Twenty-First Century Innovation Shut Out by Twentieth-Century Regulation
It is unconstitutional for the government to use its power to protect itself and other established businesses from competition. That is why Green Cab has partnered with the Institute for Justice (“IJ”) to challenge Bowling Green’s unconstitutional taxicab cap.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Consumers Aren’t Property, and Competition Isn’t Theft
In November 2014, San Diego joined a growing number of cities by lifting its decades-long cap on the number of cabs allowed on its streets. For Abdi Abdisalan and Abdullahi Hassan, the dream of going into business for themselves is nearly a reality. The only roadblock before them now is a baseless lawsuit brought by the city’s current permit owners.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Government Unreformed
Lyndon McLellan has spent more than a decade running L&M Convenience Mart, a gas station, restaurant, and convenience store in rural Fairmont, North Carolina. Then, one year ago, without any warning, agents from the IRS seized his entire bank account, totalling more than $107,000. With that, Lyndon entered the upside down world of civil forfeiture, where the government can seize and keep ordinary Americans’ property without ever charging them with a crime.
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom | Private Property
Beer Bounty: Texas Craft Brewers Sue Over New Law That Requires Them to Give Part of Their Businesses to Distributors for Free
A Texas law is forcing craft brewers to give up millions of dollars of valuable property to politically connected beer distributors.
Commercial Speech | First Amendment | Food Freedom
Censored in Florida: Creamery Owner Sues to End Labeling Censorship
Ocheesee Creamery is censored from honestly labeling its skim milk as skim milk.