DARLINGTON, Wis.—Today, Judge Rhonda L. Lanford, presiding over Lafayette County Circuit Court, denied a request from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to dismiss a lawsuit brought by seven Wisconsinites and the Wisconsin Cottage Food Association with the Institute for Justice (IJ) challenging the state’s ban on homemade shelf-stable foods. In…

LOS ANGELES—Using civil forfeiture, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to permanently take the contents of hundreds of safe deposit boxes, including over $85 million in cash and precious metals, jewelry and other valuables worth millions more. But the boxes’ owners have not been accused of any crime and have not been told what…

Arlington, Va.—Indiana man Tyson Timbs’s fight against civil forfeiture made national news in February 2019, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause applies not just to the federal government, but to the states as well. That decision established a rule of law for Americans nationwide. But it didn’t get…

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced the Business and Entrepreneurship Support to Thrive (BEST) Amendment Act of 2021, to streamline the licensing process for new and existing businesses. Today, a new report by the Institute for Justice (IJ) underscores the vital need to pass this reform—especially as so many recover from the personal and financial burdens of the pandemic.   The report, Blueprint for Business: Cutting Red Tape and Supporting DC…

WILMINGTON, N.C.—Wayne Nutt is an engineer. He graduated with a degree in engineering and worked most of his career in North Carolina without ever needing a license to actually work as an engineer. But now, the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors is telling Wayne that speaking publicly about engineering without a…

FRANKFORT, Ky.—Today, the Institute for Justice (IJ)  moved to intervene on behalf of Florence, Kentucky, parent Akia McNeary and Newport, Kentucky, great-grandparent Nancy Deaton to defend Kentucky’s bold new school choice program, the Education Opportunity Account (EOA) Program, from a lawsuit filed Monday. IJ is the nation’s leading advocate for school choice, having won 24 school choice litigation fights, including three at the…

Arlington, Virginia—With briefing now complete, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will conference on June 24 to consider whether to grant review in Carson v. Makin, a school choice case arising out of Maine. The Institute for Justice (“IJ”) is asking this nation’s highest court to resolve a question with nationwide implications for parents…

The Illinois Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the Illinois Vegetable Garden Protection Act (HB 633), a bill that would preserve and protect the right of all Illinoisans to “cultivate vegetable gardens on their own property.” Introduced by Rep. Sonya Harper, the Act would protect the right to grow vegetables, as well as “herbs, fruits, flowers,…

LOS ANGELES—Just after publicly announcing that they had teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file a federal class action lawsuit protesting the warrantless seizure of the security deposit box they rented from U.S. Private Vaults, Paul and Jennifer Snitko got a voicemail from the FBI. In the voicemail, an agent informed them…

LOS ANGELES—This morning, the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national public-interest law firm, filed suit in federal court demanding that the FBI return items it seized from hundreds of people in a March raid of a Beverly Hills security deposit box company. While previous suits have been filed on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs, this is…

Orange City, Iowa—A foundation of the U.S. and Iowa Constitutions is that your home is sacred. Nobody should be forced to let a stranger into their home for no good reason, and, according to both constitutions, you cannot be. But that has not stopped Orange City from trying to. This February, amid a spike in…

As part of an omnibus agriculture bill Gov. Tim Walz signed on Tuesday, Minnesota will loosen restrictions on cottage food businesses, which let residents sell homemade, shelf-stable food. The bill, SF 958, more than quadruples the state’s annual sales cap for cottage food businesses, raising it from $18,000 to $78,000. Further expanding economic opportunity, cottage…

Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill late Tuesday that strengthens safeguards against civil forfeiture, which lets the government seize and keep cash, cars, and other valuables without ever charging the owner with a crime. Alabama has long had some of the nation’s worst civil forfeiture laws, receiving a D- in a 2020 report by the Institute for Justice. Under…

ARLINGTON, Va.—If you are in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, you now cannot sue federal police for violating your constitutional rights, no matter how egregious their conduct. The Supreme Court today refused to hear a case—Oliva v. Nivar—that would have allowed government officials to be held to account. As a result, the erroneous lower court decision…

DARLINGTON, Wisc.—This afternoon, Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Duane M. Jorgenson ruled that Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) had not been following a 2017 order that declared the state’s ban on the sale of home-baked good sales unconstitutional. Specifically, DATCP had continued to ban home-baked goods made without flour such as…

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Alabama is taking a major step forward for food entrepreneurs and consumers with Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature of SB160, which will lift Alabama’s restrictive $20,000 cap on gross sales, allow the sale of all shelf-stable foods and allow online sales and shipping. This will allow Alabamans who want to make a living selling delicious…

CLEARWATER, Fla.—Today, the owners of a Florida food truck filed suit in state court to protect their right to earn a living in the Tampa Bay area city they call home, Tarpon Springs. When Elijah Durham lost his job as a chef during the pandemic, he decided to become his own boss. He and his…

ARLINGTON, Va.—The U.S. Supreme Court today unanimously held that the government cannot enter people’s homes without a warrant on the pretense of acting as “community caretakers.” Today’s opinion in Caniglia v. Strom closely tracks arguments made in an amicus brief submitted by the Institute for Justice. The case involved police entering the Caniglia family home…

Arlington, Virginia—Four years ago, Luke Stewart was roused awake by a police officer knocking on his car window after a neighbor called to report a suspicious man asleep in a car. Stewart, who was unarmed and waiting for his friend to return home, did not do anything to threaten the officer, but the situation quickly…

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Gov. Ron DeSantis today signed Senate Bill 148, allowing Florida restaurants to permanently provide to-go cocktails to customers. An executive order provided a lifeline to businesses during the pandemic, but it has also proved popular and safe. The Institute for Justice (IJ) supported the permanent change and applauds lawmakers for giving businesses the freedom…