IJ Enjoys Exceptional Injunction

Score one for the good guys! A recent early win for IJ meant persuading a judge to issue a ruling almost unheard of in the federal courts.

IJ client Jay Fink just wants to make an honest living while cleaning up the internet. His business, which sorts through unwanted emails, helps his fellow Californians prepare for lawsuits under a state anti-spam act. Or at least it used to. You know where this is going: When state bureaucrats got word that Jay was reading other people’s emails without the government’s permission, it shut him down, claiming that Jay couldn’t “investigate” spam without a license as a private investigator. Which means six thousand hours of training before Jay can click through emails. 

We teamed up with Jay to challenge the law—and in March, a federal judge agreed that we were likely to win. She issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from enforcing the law while the case proceeds.

Here’s the rub. The judge issued this ruling under a legal standard called the “rational basis test.” Longtime Liberty & Law readers know that this test is an IJ nemesis. Because the test is often laughably weak, many regulations survive—no matter how unfair or protectionist. We do win economic liberty cases under this standard. But it’s only because we have the ability and resources to compile impressive records about compelling clients.

This ruling goes a step further. We convinced a judge that we were likely to win on a rational basis claim before discovery even started. That’s beyond rare. Indeed, it may be the first time a federal court has ever enjoined a licensing law under this test. But when you’re right, you’re right. Shuttering a business until the owner undergoes 6,000 hours of irrelevant training does lookirrational. And we’re delighted a court said so before years of litigation.

Of course, a preliminary injunction is not a final ruling. But we’ll keep fighting for our client every step of the way to final judgment. And, as the case goes on, Jay is free to get back to work thanks to this IJ victory.

Andrew Ward is an IJ attorney.