Springfield, Ill.—The Illinois Supreme Court announced today that it would hear a food truck owner’s challenge to Chicago rules that make it difficult to operate in the city. The city currently bans trucks from operating within 200 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant and requires that food trucks install GPS tracking devices that broadcast their every…

HOUSTON—After weeks of international outcry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) finally returned $41,377 to Texas nurse Anthonia Nwaorie without interest and without an apology. CBP’s furtive move came seven months after the agency seized the money at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), and one month after Anthonia filed a federal lawsuit demanding its…

Indiana Supreme Court Ruled the State May Impose Excessive Fines Until the U.S. Supreme Court Says It Can’t Arlington, Va.—The U.S. Constitution sets a floor of rights that each American is supposed to enjoy as a citizen of this nation. But the Indiana Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal Constitution’s ban on excessive fines does…

Springfield, Ill.—This morning, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a ruling strengthening the protections of the State’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ruling makes it more difficult for government officials to enact laws allowing them to deny public record requests that they do not like. The ruling will also help the Institute for Justice’s (IJ)…

Two years ago, Doraville homeowner Hilda Brucker got a call from a flustered clerk at the city court demanding that she drop everything she was doing and come in. When she got there, Hilda was confronted by a city judge and prosecutor armed with photos of her driveway, arguing that its cracks violated Doraville’s city…

Tennessee now earns top marks for record accessibility, forfeiture account audits, and accounting for forfeiture fund spending.

Chicago—This morning, the Chicago City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee voted to extend the emerging business permit for mobile boutiques by one year. The Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Law School is working with mobile boutique owners to push for a renewable license that allows new businesses to…

On Friday afternoon, Federal Judge Rodney W. Sippel granted final approval to a groundbreaking consent decree that will significantly reform the city of Pagedale, Missouri, and its ticketing policies, housing code, and municipal court. The consent decree is the end result of a class-action lawsuit brought in 2015 by people ticketed and threatened with tickets…

Late Thursday, the Louisiana House of Representatives unanimously approved HB 748, a bill that would review the state’s burdensome and often arbitrary licenses. The bill now heads to Gov. John Bel Edwards, who endorsed an earlier version of the bill as a way to provide “regulatory relief” for Louisiana entrepreneurs. Sponsored by Rep. Julie Emerson,…

Phoenix, Ariz.—Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill that will allow food trucks to operate with greater freedom across the state. The Institute for Justice worked with legislators to construct a bill based on “Food Truck Freedom,” a study of best practices in regulating mobile vending. “With the signing of legislation, food truck owners can…

Fish Creek, Wis.—Last year, the owners of White Cottage Red Door, a Door County shop known for “everything cherry,” tried to satisfy their customers by opening a food truck in the parking lot next to the shop. But, unfortunately, the Town of Gibraltar’s board wasn’t thrilled with the new competition for existing brick-and-mortar restaurants. So,…

Arlington, Va.—Yesterday, the Institute for Justice (IJ), working on behalf of three Indiana couples, asked the Indiana Supreme Court to immediately review a recent trial-court ruling that approved the state’s profit-driven property forfeiture system. The law is plain as day. Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution says that “all forfeitures” must go to support schools,…

HOUSTON—Traveling overseas to provide medical care to underprivileged women and children should be an uplifting experience, not a real-life episode of American Horror Story. But Halloween 2017 was filled with horror for Anthonia Nwaorie. The registered nurse and grandmother from the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, was traveling back to her native Nigeria when, without…

Tallahassee, Fla.—Today, the Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear a nearly decade-old case challenging the adequacy and uniformity of Florida’s entire public school system. The ruling also has the potential to threaten the state’s thriving school choice programs, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and John M. McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities, which…

Trenton, N.J.—New Jersey is the only state to ban the sale of home baked goods—but that may be about to change. On Friday, Judge Douglas Hurd, of the Superior Court of Mercer County, denied a request of New Jersey’s Health Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban.  The lawsuit was brought by several…

Taking care of a child takes a lot of things—patience, creativity, and kindness rank high among many other attributes—but the one thing it doesn’t take is a college degree. But don’t tell that to Washington, D.C. regulators in the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), which recently enacted a regulation requiring the city’s…

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed the Occupational Board Reform Act on Monday afternoon, a landmark law that will systematically reduce the state’s burdensome and arbitrary licenses. Today, Nebraska has more than 170 different occupational licenses, which cover almost a quarter of the state’s workforce. “Far too many workers are spending their time earning a license…

“If the governor signs this bill, Nebraska would become a national leader in licensing reform and set a landmark model for other states to follow.”

Arlington, Va.—On Monday, six parents asked the Florida Supreme Court to deny review of a 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision upholding both Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) and the John M. McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities. The parents got involved in the case, Citizens for Strong Schools v. Florida State Board…

WASHINGTON—Can the government make you spend tens of thousands of dollars on a thousand or more hours of job training, even though it admits that the training is almost totally irrelevant to your job? Common sense—and American constitutional history—says no. But, splitting with that history of legal decisions, the United States Court of Appeals for…