Economic Liberty
First Amendment
Occupational Licensing

Arizona Engineering Licensing Oral Argument

IJ client Gregg Mills
  • Greg Mills is an engineer with decades of experience designing, building, and testing electrical circuits for major manufacturers in Arizona. After years of working for others, he started his own engineering consulting company to serve startups and small businesses. Greg is doing the same exact type of work he did as an employee of a big company. But because he now works for himself, the Arizona engineering board says he needs an engineering license and is threatening to shut him down.
  • This is illogical. If Greg is qualified to work as an engineer for a major manufacturer, he is qualified to work as an engineer for himself and small startups. Greg is partnering with IJ to stand up for his constitutional right to call himself what he is—an engineer—and to practice an occupation he’s done safely for more than 30 years.
  • After a lower court ruled Greg could not sue until the engineering board finished prosecuting him, IJ appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court. IJ argued that in requiring people like Greg to endure lengthy and expensive administrative proceedings before they can assert their constitutional rights in court, the lower court’s decision effectively removed the courts as a check on government power. In August 2022, the state high court unanimously agreed, ruling that Greg did not have to wait to sue. Unfortunately, the trial court dismissed Greg’s case for failure to state a claim. As of July 26, 2023, we are planning to appeal.
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