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
First Amendment
Taking on Florida’s Political Speech Police: Challenging Campaign Finance Laws That Create a Statewide “No Speech Zone”
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Interior Design
Challenging Oklahoma's Licensing of Speech For Interior Designers
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Interior Design
Challenging Connecticut’s Licensing of Speech For Interior Designers
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Taking Music Out of Music City: Nashville Abuses Eminent Domain To Take Small Country Music Business For an Office Building
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech | Tour Guides
Grassroots Tyranny in the Cradle of the Constitution: Philadelphia Tour Guides Stand Up For the Framers’ Vision of Freedom
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Sign Codes
Vindicating the Right to Protest Eminent Domain Abuse: Tennesseans Sued by Thin-Skinned Politician and Developers Fight Back
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing
Texas Government-mandated Computer Repair License Does Not Compute
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Challenging Barriers To Economic Opportunity: Freeing Maryland Entrepreneurs From the Chiropractic and Veterinary Cartels
Economic Liberty
A Second Challenge to Texas’ Elitist Veterinary Cartel
First Amendment | Political Speech
SpeechNow.org v. FEC Protecting Americans’ Rights To Organize and Speak About Politics
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Knocking Out Eminent Domain Abuse: Youth Gym Files Suit Against National City, Calif.
After decades of keeping two-thirds of the city under a bogus “blight” designation, National City, Calif., applied to renew the blight label to prevent it from expiring. That renewal would have reauthorized the city to abuse eminent domain against the nearly 700 properties in the designated area, including a gym for at-risk youth.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Challenging Texas’ Elitist Veterinary Cartel
Economic Liberty
Fighting Wisconsin’s Ban on Cheap Gas: Entrepreneur Joins the Institute for Justice To Challenge Mandatory Minimum Markup Law
Economic Liberty
Footloose 2008?: Local Entrepreneur & Institute for Justice Challenge Dance Ban in Pinal County, Ariz.
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Interior Design | Interior Design
Challenging Texas’ Licensing of Speech For Interior Designers
First Amendment
Signs of Abuse: Fighting Censorship and Eminent Domain Abuse in St. Louis
In a double blow to free speech and property rights, St. Louis not only threatened to take an entire neighborhood for private development. It also tried to censor a powerful mural that protests the city’s eminent domain abuse.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Challenging Barriers To Economic Opportunity: Defending Minneapolis’ Free-Market Taxi Reforms Against an Establishment Backlash
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Arizona Foster Parents and Parents of Children with Disabilities Defend School Choice From Unprecedented Legal Attack
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Supreme Court refused to hear case about eminent domain abuse in New York
Economic Liberty
