Supreme Court Cases

The Institute for Justice has won eight U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Collectively, these cases span all our litigation areas. Our victories have vindicated the right to earn an honest living, expanded educational opportunity for millions of children, defended free speech, and strengthened the Constitution’s protection for Americans’ property.

The Court decided our most recent case, Carson v. Makin, on June 21, 2022. This victory follows in the footsteps of our previous wins in educational choice cases coming out of Montana, Arizona and Ohio. The decision clears the last persistent constitutional barrier to new choice programs at a time when parent frustration with the public school system is high and many states are seeking innovative solutions.

Even when IJ loses—which has happened only twice—we keep fighting to change the law and get justice for our clients. Following a technical win for the government, James King, the college student assaulted in Michigan, is still in court, with IJ by his side, fighting to hold accountable the police officer and FBI agent who misidentified him, beat him, and then lied to make sure he was charged with crimes. And after the Supreme Court ruled private developers could take Susette Kelo’s little pink house, IJ created a grassroots movement for reform and continued to win eminent domain abuse cases in state supreme courts. In the wake of the Court’s widely decried decision, almost every state changed its laws to make it harder for the government to take property and give it to private developers.

You can learn more about each of IJ’s Supreme Court cases below.