IJ has litigated eight cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, most recently in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which will decide if states may discriminate against religious options in generally available scholarship programs. These cases comprise all four of IJ’s litigation pillars: educational choice, economic liberty, free speech and property rights. In its first U.S. Supreme Court case in 2002, IJ successfully defended the constitutionality of Cleveland, Ohio’s school choice program. Nearly a decade later, IJ successfully defended Arizona’s Individual Scholarship Tax Credit, which provides tens of thousands of school children the opportunity to attend the private school of their parents’ choice.
IJ also successfully fought against protectionist alcohol regulations at the Court in 2005 and 2019, respectively. Thanks to IJ, states cannot treat out-of-state wineries different than in-state wineries and cannot require new residents to wait years before being eligible for a liquor license.
In 2011, IJ won its challenge against Arizona’s “Clean Elections” system for discouraging free speech.
IJ has only lost one case in the Supreme Court, Kelo v. New London, but has won in the court of public opinion, leading to reforms and court decisions in 47 states that better protect property rights. In 2019, in a major property rights case, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of excessive fines is an incorporated protection applicable to the states.
