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…
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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
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Alabama Parents Join Legal Battle To Protect School Choice
Alabama has created a unique, refundable tax credit program that offers a lifeline to families to help them escape failing public schools if they lack the financial resources to do so.
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Should African hair braiders have to build an entire barber college and become barbering instructors just to teach hair braiding? Texas officials think so.
Texas tried to force natural hair braiding schools to convert into fully-equipped barber colleges—solely to teach hair braiding—even though braiders aren’t barbers.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Taken: Federal Lawsuit in Michigan Challenges Forfeiture Abuse
Without warning, the federal government used civil forfeiture to seize all of the money from the Dehkos’ store bank account—more than $35,000—even though they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.
Economic Liberty | Transportation
Hillsborough County Transportation Commission vs. Consumers, a Driver and a Small Business: Government Commission Forces Consumers to Pay More; Prevents Competition and Job Creation
The Public Transportation Commission in Hillsborough County, Fla., forces customers to overpay for limousine services and prevents small business owners from offering better deals to potential customers.
Commercial Speech | First Amendment | Sign Codes
Sacramento Sign Police Target Small Business: Gym Tells City It Needs To Get With The Program
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Psychology Board Censors Advice Column: America’s Longest-Running Advice Columnist Files Free Speech Lawsuit After Being Threatened with Jail and Told to Stop Publishing His Column in Kentucky
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.
First Amendment
Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission vs. America’s Civil Rights Laws: Government Agency Seeks to Silence Not Only Citizen Activists, But Their Public Interest Lawyers, Too
A government agency whose job it is to limit political debate is now seeking to drastically restrict free civil rights advocacy—advocacy that has guided our nation in living up to its ideals of freedom and justice.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Fighting Civil Forfeiture: Federal & Local Law Enforcement Agencies Team Up to Profit by Subverting California State Law
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Teeth Whitening
Alabama Smiles: Entrepreneurs Fight Back Against Teeth-Whitening Monopolies
Alabama’s prohibition on non-dentist teeth whitening has nothing to do with protecting consumers and everything to do with protecting monopoly profits for dentists.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Health | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Retired Texas Vet’s Free-Speech Fight to Keep Helping Animals
The First Amendment should apply to licensed professionals who give advice over the Internet.
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
IJ Defends School Choice in New Hampshire
4th Amendment Project | Economic Liberty | Private Property | Vending
Sweet Home Chicago?: Food Trucks Get the Cold Shoulder in the Windy City
Chicago shouldn’t be in the business of protecting restaurants from food trucks.
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Louisiana Federation of Teachers, et al v State of Louisiana, et al
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Putting a New Face on Liberty: Nevada Makeup Artists Fight for Their Right to Teach
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 | Health
CON Job: How A Virginia Law Enriches Established Businesses by Limiting Your Medical Options, and How IJ Is Going to Stop It.
Virginia’s certificate of need program actually makes it illegal to offer new medical services or purchase certain types of medical equipment without first obtaining a special permission slip from the government.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Caveman Blogger Fights for Free Speech and Internet Freedom: Challenging the Government’s Authority to Censor Ordinary Advice
This caveman blogger fought for free speech and Internet freedom.
First Amendment | Sign Codes
Federal Appellate Court OKs City’s Crackdown on Protest Sign: 4th Circuit fails to protect Norfolk business’ eminent domain protest banner; lawyers, business owners vow appeal to U.S. Supreme Court
In a double blow to free speech and property rights, Norfolk, Va., tried not only to take a thriving business through its power of eminent domain but also censor a highly visible sign that protested the unlawful condemnation.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Protectionism in Portland, Ore.: City Threatened $895,000 in Fines For Limo Entrepreneurs Who Offered Groupon Discounts
Portland, Ore., cannot constitutionally set transportation prices and make limousine and sedan customers wait for service merely to protect taxis from competition.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
A Successful Challenge to the IRS’s Authority To License Tax Preparers
IJ successfully challenged the IRS’s authority to license tax return preparers. If the licensing scheme had not been struck down, some 350,000 tax return preparers would have been burdened by the new regulations, much to the benefit of entrenched special interests.
Economic Liberty