The village of Millstadt, Illinois will not be pursuing enforcement action against gardener Laura Schaefer after the Institute for Justice (IJ) sent a letter informing them that any such action would be illegal under the Illinois Garden Act.  

“I was assured by the mayor that the village will not pursue this any further,” Laura said. “It’s a huge relief to know that my garden is safe, and that the village understands the protections gardeners have under Illinois law.” 

“We’re grateful that Millstadt officials realized that their threatened destruction of Laura’s garden is impermissible under state law,” said Benjamin Marsh, an IJ litigation fellow and co-author of the letter. “Growing your own food on your own property is a basic right, and one that Illinois legislators wisely recognized years ago. It’s exactly why more states should consider protecting residential gardens.” 

Only a handful of states provide the same protections to gardeners, and IJ has developed model legislation to aid policymakers in setting up similar protections in their own communities.