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Lawsuit Challenges Ca. Funeral Directors’ Monopoly on End-of-Life Care

June 30, 2020

Opening Opportunities and Fighting Abuse — IJ’s Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

Less than 1% of the nearly 10,000 charities rated have received at least 18 consecutive 4-star ratings

Your Rights Don’t Depend on the Order of Paragraphs

Judicial engagement requires meeting the Constitution head-on. Judges, after all, are duty bound to interpret the law, not avoid it. It is therefore gratifying to see an example of judicial engagement with a constitutional problem where avoiding it (and hoping it would go away) would have been the easy option. That happened on Tuesday in…

Maine’s High School Tuitioning Program is Clearly Unconstitutional Under New Supreme Court Precedent

Institute for Justice and First Liberty Institute ask federal appeals court to rule against state program that excludes religious schools

Arlington, Va.— The Institute for Justice (IJ) and First Liberty Institute (FLI) filed a notice of supplemental authority with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to rule in favor of parents who challenged Maine’s high school tuitioning program. The three families, who filed suit nearly two years ago, would like to choose…

Governor Signs Bill Making It Easier for Floridians to Work

Institute for Justice applauds enactment of broad occupational licensing reform law

Tallahassee, Fla.— Thousands of Floridians will find it easier to work now with Gov. Ron DeSantis signing HB 1193, the Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act. The historic law repeals more occupational licensing laws than any licensing reform ever passed by any other state. The Institute for Justice (IJ), which advocates for licensing reform nationwide, applauds…

Landmark Victory for Parents In U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Montana families represented by the Institute for Justice secure the right to choose the schools that best suit their children’s educational needs

Arlington, Virginia—In a landmark 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that a state court may not strike down a school choice program simply because it permits families to choose religious schooling. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the Court held that barring religious options in school choice programs violates the First Amendment’s…

Lawsuit Challenges Ca. Funeral Directors’ Monopoly on End-of-Life Care

End-of-Life Doulas Sue for First Amendment Right to Offer Advice and Support to Those in Their Last Stage of Life

For many, talking about dying is—unfortunately—a taboo subject. So, as someone nears the end of their life, getting answers and finding support can be difficult. That’s what end-of-life doulas do—they help families plan and care for someone transitioning from life to death. From helping families plan for the day that someone passes away, to providing…

A Decade of Privileges or Immunities

It has been a decade since the Supreme Court released its opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago. In this case the Supreme Court held that states (and localities) had to comply with the requirements of the Second Amendment. This is one of the most consequential decisions of the last decade for obvious reasons. But…

House of Representatives Votes to End “Qualified Immunity” for Police

“For too long, qualified immunity has denied victims a remedy for violations of their constitutional rights. It’s encouraging to see Congress is finally taking steps to fix this pernicious mistake by the Supreme Court.”

Our Issues

Project on Immunity and Accountability

The Institute for Justice’s Project on Immunity and Accountability is devoted to the simple idea that government officials are not above the law; if citizens must follow the law, then government must follow the Constitution. But a set of legal doctrines makes it nearly impossible for ordinary Americans to hold the government accountable in court…
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Educational Choice

School choice is simply the idea that all parents, regardless of means, should enjoy the freedom to choose what schools their children attend.
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Economic Liberty

The right to earn a living in the occupation of your choice without unnecessary government interference is at the heart of the American Dream.
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First Amendment

We seek to defend the free flow of information—information that is indispensable to our democratic form of government and to our free enterprise economy.
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Private Property

Respecting the right of private property is essential to a just and prosperous society. But government at all levels—local, state and federal—routinely infringe on these rights.
more on this issue »

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October 24, 2019 | Strategic Research

The Price of Taxation by Citation

Case Studies of Three Georgia Cities That Rely Heavily on Fines and Fees
June 7, 2019 | Strategic Research

Fighting Crime or Raising Revenue?

Testing Opposing Views of Forfeiture

Joshua Killeen

Jon McGlothian

After completing his military service as an Army Ranger, Jon McGlothian of Virginia Beach, Va., became a PMP-certified project manager. But Jon can’t advertise to the public or take on individual students because his school isn’t licensed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Lisa Kivirist

Lisa Kivirist is a mother, farmer, business owner and avid baker. Lisa typically serves muffins and other baked goods at her B&B for breakfast, but the baked-good ban prohibits her from selling these same exact goods to guests.

Michelle Rock

Since 2014, Michelle has owned and operated her two food trucks in and around Wilmington, North Carolina: Momma Rock’s Dessert Truck specializes in event catering while T’Geaux Boys—a nod to Michelle’s Louisiana roots—operates as a more traditional food truck.

Dr. Kristin Held

Dr. Kristin Held is an ophthalmologist and board-certified surgeon with over three decades of experience who works as a solo practitioner at Stone Oak Ophthalmology Center in San Antonio, Texas. She wants to dispense routine medications to her own patients, but can’t, under a protectionist Texas law.

Mike Warfield

Fed up with Charleston’s endless series of trivial questions, Mike is standing up for his First Amendment right to talk to paying customers without first getting the government’s permission.

Laura Pekarik

IJ client Laura Pekarik is an entrepreneurial dynamo who owns and operates the Cupcakes for Courage food truck.

Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, Inc

Founded in 2011, ROSE is an Atlanta-based, nonprofit organization that works to increase access to breastfeeding support and improve healthcare equity among African-American communities in Georgia and around the country.

Samantha Harris

Samantha Harris hired Sally Ladd, a New Jersey-based entrepreneur, to manager her short-term vacation rental in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. But when Pennsylvania wanted Ladd to obtain a real-estate broker’s license, which requires her to spend three years working for an established broker, Sally felt forced to shut down her business.

Spencer Byrd

Spencer Byrd, a Chicago resident and part-time auto mechanic, who had his car impounded after he gave a client ride who got arrested for drugs. A Cook County Circuit Court judge ordered that his car be returned, but Chicago will not release Spencer’s car until he pays all of the towing and storage fees—more than $17,000.

Raj Bhandari

Jameelah El-Shabazz

In 2011, police raided Jameelah El-Shabazz’s apartment in New York City and found several cups filled with crushed eggshells, which Jameelah uses for religious purposes. Believing the cups were filled with drugs, police arrested Jameelah and her son Akin and held them in jail for a week. They also had her apartment closed . City attorneys, relying on those same discredited allegations about the cups of crushed eggshells, claimed the apartment had been the site of drug crimes, and had her apartment closed under the city’s no-fault eviction ordinance. Unable to fight back in court, Jameelah had to agree to permanently bar her son from her home in order to regain access to her own apartment.

Jessica Hadraba

Jessica is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.

Norys Hernandez

Norys Hernandez co-owns a home in North Philadelphia with her sister, who resides there. Norys has never been in trouble with the law. But her home was seized after her nephew was caught selling a small amount of drugs outside the home.

Brent Melton

Brent worked in banking for 42 years before he co-founded Vizaline to provide small community banks with a cost effective way to assess small property assets within their portfolios. But the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors claimed the company was practicing unlicensed surveying.

Ashley N'Dakpri

At 16, Ashley began braiding hair for money and now manages the Afro Touch salon in Louisiana. Although there is no shortage of capable braiders, they are all unlicensed, and the Board’s licensing requirements prevent Ashley from hiring unlicensed braiders.

Jim and Cliff Courtney

Jim and Cliff Courtney have a plan to bring economic prosperity to their small community. Unfortunately, the state of Washington has sunk their plan with a law that requires them to obtain a certificate of “public convenience and necessity” from the state in order to pick up and drop off passengers.

Susette Kelo

Susette is the Kelo in Kelo v. New London. She led her neighbors in a seven-year battle to save their homes from being taken by the government for private development, culminating in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005.

Martha Rabello

Martha is a stay-at-home mom with two sons, a 5-year old and a 2-year old. She has baked her whole life and is professionally trained. Martha is Brazilian and lived in Brazil for 25 years, and she would like to start a home business focusing on Brazilian-inspired cookies.

Colon Health Centers for America

Dr. Mark Baumel, of Colon Health Centers for America, wants to increase the rate of screening for colon cancers. But when Dr. Baumel and his partners sought Virginia’s permission to buy new CT scanners, it denied them a “certificate of need.”

Robert Reeves

Robert Reeves, a father of five young children, works as a construction worker and auto repairman. In July 2019, officers seized his car—which he had put $10,000 of work into—and his $2,200 in cash.

John Rosemond

John Rosemond’s lawsuit defends freedom of speech and freedom of the press from government officials who believe that it can be a crime in America to express an opinion in a newspaper.

Carter Walker

Carter Walker is a reporter covering the county government for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania newspaper. To shine a light on forfeiture spending by the Lancaster County DA, he filed a request, which was denied. Carter appealed to Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records and won, but now the DA is fighting in court to keep this information secret.

John Hart

John Hart is a New York Times bestselling author who has won several awards for his character-driven, literary thrillers. A former defense attorney and stockbroker, John lives on a farm in Virginia where he writes full-time. But Charlottesville and Albemarle County require a business license to write novels, and they have assessed thousands of dollars in back taxes against Corban and other hardworking freelance writers.

Dario Gurrola

Captain Matthew Hight

Tracy McGlothian

Tracy is an experienced sewer who teaches students how to sew as a hobby, but under Virginia law, she’s not allowed to teach students how to earn a living with sewing.

John Heiderich and Gwen Lee

John Heiderich and Gwendolyn Lee, have owned and operated rental properties in Seattle for more than forty years. They are unwilling to let the city intrude into their tenant’s home and are committed to helping their tenant protect her constitutional rights.

Kendra Espinoza

Kendra desperately wanted to send her children to Stillwater, but knew she could not afford the tuition on her salary. So she started working to raise tuition funds. She held two yard sales and auctioned off handmade quilts made by a generous donor. She also found additional work cleaning houses. Adding to the extra funds, Stillwater provided the family with partial financial aid, and the girls began school there in September 2015.

Panna Shah

Panna Shah came to the United States from India in 2006 in search of a better life. She has been threading for more than 30 years but would be unable to thread full-time because she can’t afford to complete Louisiana’s irrelevant training requirements.

Silvio Membreno

IJ client Silvio Membreno built his business by selling flowers to consumers where they want to buy them. But the city of Hialeah, Fla., is unconstitutionally restricting his business.

Jeremy Barnes

Dave and Amy Carson

Dave and Amy Carson are residents of Glenburn, Maine and have sent their daughter, Olivia, now a sophomore, to Bangor Christian Schools. But because Olivia’s school is religious, Glenburn is prohibited from paying for Olivia’s tuition.

Korver Ear Nose and Throat LLC

Korver Ear Nose and Throat LLC owns a recently constructed medical facility in Orange City, Iowa. It would like to convert the lower level of this facility into an outpatient surgery center, but does not want to incur the enormous time, expense, and uncertainty of going through the certificate of need process, only to be denied because of its competitor’s opposition.

David Diaz

David Diaz, a custodian at a synagogue in the Bronx, lives with members of his family in an apartment near the Bronx Zoo. The NYPD raided the apartment in 2013, entering with guns drawn, and arrested all the adults present, but did not charge anyone.

Lisa Howard

Lisa is one of the owners of White Cottage Red Door in Door County, Wisconsin. When the small business opened a food truck in its parking lot, the Town of Gibraltar’s board, chaired by a local restaurant owner, promptly banned all mobile businesses.

Doug and Mary Ketchum

Doug and Mary Ketchum moved to Tennessee to purchase an historic liquor store that would let them take care of their 32-year-old daughter, Stacie, who suffers from cerebral palsy. But they can’t get a liquor license, thanks to the state’s strict residency requirements.

Teresa Quinones

Teresa Quinones, of Lawrenceville, Ga., is a mother of three young children. Her two oldest children, Audri and Christopher, attend Notre Dame Academy, thanks to Georgia’s Scholarship Tax-Credit Program.

Kathy Hay

Aaron and Monica Cannon

Aaron and Monica Cannon run A & M’s Red Food Truck. They met in San Diego while serving in the military and cultivated a deep appreciation for good tacos.

Sarah Hohenberg

Hilda Brucker

Hilda Brucker was sitting at home one day working her job as a freelance writer. The phone rang, she answered, and was told by a hostile voice that if she didn’t come down to the courthouse at once she would be given a failure to appear violation. She hastily complied. When she got there, she found out that the city had issued a citation, although it had never told her about it. She later learned the citation stated she was charged with (1) “Rotted wood on house and chipping paint on fascia boards”; (2) “High weeds in backyard and ivy on tree and vines on house”; and (3) “Driveway in a state of disrepair.” Not knowing what to do, Hilda pled guilty to the driveway charge, while the other two were dismissed. She paid a fine of $100 and was sentenced to six months probation, where she had to report to a probation officer, avoid alcoholic intoxication, and cooperate “with code enforcement upon request.” She later hired an attorney who filed a motion to vacate her sentence, but the motion was continued several times, eventually being granted only after her six-month probation would have already ended. She also obtained a home equity line of credit in case she needed to pay for any of the fixes that the city nebulously demanded.

Landmark Victory for Parents In U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case

Institute for Justice

Homepage

Lawsuit Challenges Ca. Funeral Directors’ Monopoly on End-of-Life Care

Opening Opportunities and Fighting Abuse — IJ’s Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

Less than 1% of the nearly 10,000 charities rated have received at least 18 consecutive 4-star ratings

Anthony Sanders | Center for Judicial Engagement | July 2, 2020

Andrew Wimer | Press Release | July 1, 2020

Institute for Justice and First Liberty Institute ask federal appeals court to rule against state program that excludes religious schools

Andrew Wimer | Press Release | June 30, 2020

Institute for Justice applauds enactment of broad occupational licensing reform law

John Kramer | Press Release | June 30, 2020

Montana families represented by the Institute for Justice secure the right to choose the schools that best suit their children’s educational needs

J. Justin Wilson | Press Release | June 30, 2020

End-of-Life Doulas Sue for First Amendment Right to Offer Advice and Support to Those in Their Last Stage of Life

Adam Shelton | Center for Judicial Engagement | June 28, 2020

Nick Sibilla | Press Release | June 25, 2020

Our Issues

Project on Immunity and Accountability

Educational Choice

Economic Liberty

First Amendment

Private Property

PODCAST

CJE PODCAST

SUPPORT OUR WORK

The National Law Firm for Liberty

Our Videos

Our Research

October 24, 2019 | Strategic Research

Case Studies of Three Georgia Cities That Rely Heavily on Fines and Fees

June 7, 2019 | Strategic Research

Testing Opposing Views of Forfeiture

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