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.
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Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Auto Shop Fights City to Save U-Haul Business
A South Carolina town changed its zoning regulations and ordered a small automotive business to stop renting U-Hauls. The owners are now fighting back.
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty
Licensed Eyelash Extension Specialist Sues for Right to Do Job
Brandy Davis is a licensed eyelash extension specialist who is being blocked from doing her job by the Oklahoma Board of Cosmetology and Licensing. She's suing in state court to challenge the board's licensing requirements.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
Homeowner Fights Back Against NYC's "Unreviewable" Fines System
Serafim Katergaris was forced to pay $1,000 to the New York Department of Buildings (DOB) for a code violation he did not commit, did not know about and had no chance to challenge. Now, he's fighting back.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
Federal Government Seeks to Impose Multimillion Dollar Excessive Fine on Grandmother, Claiming a Fine is a “Civil Penalty.”
An Boston-area grandmother is fighting to have courts consider whether the multimillion-dollar penalty the government imposed on is unconstitutionally excessive.
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Housing Abundance and Affordability | Private Property | Right to Shelter | Zoning Justice Project
Meridian Woman Fights City’s Ban on Living in Tiny Homes on Wheels, Which Has Left Her Homeless
Chasidy Decker is a native to the Boise area who wants to live in the tiny home that suits her.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Lawsuit Appeal Asks Court If Deputy Should Get Immunity Even Though His Actions Landed Him in Prison
Mario Rosales was held at gunpoint by an off-duty sheriff's deputy even though he had done nothing wrong. Still, a court granted the officer qualified immunity and dismissed Mario's civil rights lawsuit.
4th Amendment Project | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Political Speech | Private Property
East Cleveland’s Government Weaponized its Police to Punish a Political Opponent. He’s Fighting to Hold It Accountable.
Cities can’t use the police to punish political speech.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
U.S. Supreme Court Appeal: Government Official with No Police Authority Pulled Over and Detained Drivers, Yet Granted Qualified Immunity
Can any government employee—such as a highway engineer who was never granted any police authority whatsoever—pull you over and detain you? Yes, at least if one federal appeals court gets its way.
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Oakland Activist Sues to Hold Postal Officers Accountable for Illegal Search and Seizure of his Mail
The U.S. Post Office cannot open someone's mail without getting a warrant.
Economic Liberty | Fresh Start
Feds Threaten to End Only Black Radio Station in Knoxville Over Owner’s Personal Tax Conviction
Joe Armstrong brought Black community focused radio back on the air in Knoxville, Tennessee. Now he's fighting the FCC for his license, not for anything he put out over the air, but for an old personal tax conviction.
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation
IJ Joins Fight to End Retaliatory Defamation Lawsuit in Wisconsin
National Public Interest Law Firm Joins Fight to End Retaliatory Defamation Lawsuit in Wisconsin. IJ Defends a Community Activist Against a Village Attorney’s Frivolous and Retaliatory Defamation Lawsuit
Immunity and Accountability | Rule of Law
Former Texas Prosecutor Worked as a Law Clerk in His Own Cases, Giving the Government an Unfair Advantage Over Those He Prosecuted
Everybody knows your prosecutor can’t also be your judge. Everyone, that is, except for former Midland County, Texas, prosecutor Ralph Petty, his supervisor, and the county’s entire system of justice. Petty spent 20 years moonlighting as a law clerk for the same judges he argued before, effectively playing both prosecutor and judge in more than 300 cases. It is one of the most brazen and obvious examples of prosecutorial abuse in modern American history, yet Petty and the others who oversaw this miscarriage of justice have never been held personally accountable for their actions in a court of law. With a lawsuit it filed on April 11, 2022, the Institute for Justice seeks to change that.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Woman Appeals to Get $8,000 Back After Police Seized it Without Charging Her With Any Crime
Cristal Starling runs a mobile food cart in Rochester, New York, to provide for herself and her grandnephew. She dreamed of expanding the business into a food truck, and she saved enough money to do just that. But in the fall of 2020, the local police raided her apartment and seized $8,040—the money she was going to use to pursue her dream. She was never charged with or suspected of a crime.
Fines and Fees | Private Property | Rule of Law
People Abused by Small Town’s “Policing for Profit” File Class Action Seeking Accountability
Victims of Brookside, Alabama's policing abuses filed a class action to affirm that police must act in the interest of justice, not their pocketbooks.
Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Three Idaho Women Challenge State’s Requirement for Hair Braiders to Obtain Cosmetology License
Three braiders in Idaho challenged state requirements to spend thousands of dollars and a year of their lives for an unnecessary license.
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Home day care provider sues city after officials shut her down over complaints from golfers
Bianca King is a single mother with two young children. Until recently, she was able to raise her 2-and 4-year-old kids while making a living running a small day care out of her home. But on Feb. 9, city officials—citing concerns of a group of nearby golfers (including former Mayor Joe Bain) that they could hear and see children playing in her backyard—shut her down. Today, she joined forces with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a lawsuit in state court challenging Lakeway’s near total ban on running a home business.
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
West Virginia School Choice
West Virginia parents intervene to defend one of the nation's best school choice programs to help obtain the education that will best meet the needs of their children.
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Armored Car Company Sues Federal Law Enforcement and a California Sheriff After Series of Illegal Roadside Seizures
An armored car company sued after a California sheriff teamed up with federal law enforcement to take proceeds from legal cannabis businesses.
Educational Choice
Ohio Parents Fight to Defend the State’s School Choice Programs
Two of Ohio’s most popular educational choice programs are under attack. This IJ suit seeks to defend these programs, which tens of thousands of Ohio students depend on.
4th Amendment Project | Open Fields Doctrine | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
Landowners Sue to Stop Warrantless Searches
For years, wildlife officers in Pennsylvania have been ignoring the privacy rights of hunters under the so-called “open fields doctrine,” which posits that private land doesn’t receive privacy protections. This IJ suit challenges the constitutionality of this doctrine, and seeks to protect the Fourth Amendment rights of all Pennsylvanians.