Listen to Anya, Adam Liptak, and John Malcolm discuss qualified immunity on Intelligence Squared.
Listen to Anya discuss policing on the New Yorker Radio Hour.
Anya Bidwell (née Cherkasova) leads IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability (“PIA”). Through this project, Anya works to promote judicial engagement and ensure that government officials are held to account when they violate individuals’ constitutional rights. Anya also serves as an adviser on the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts project.
Anya’s most recent focus has been on First Amendment retaliation. In the span one year, Anya got the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse two bad circuit-court precedents, making it easier for victims of retaliatory arrests to sue their tormentors and restore their good name. Anya personally argued the first case, Gonzalez v. Trevino, before the Court. In the second case, Murphy v. Schmitt, the Court granted the petition, vacated the Eighth Circuit’s denial of the retaliation claim, and remanded the case back to the Eighth Circuit, ordering it to reconsider the critic’s complaint in light of Gonzalez.
Anya appeared before the Supreme Court two additional times. She second-chaired Brownback v. King (an excessive force case) and Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (a commerce clause case) in November 2020 and January 2019 respectfully.
Anya spent her childhood in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. At 16, she left her family behind and came to America on a university scholarship. Her upbringing motivated her to study law and become an advocate for a strong, independent judiciary.
Anya’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, and the Guardian. She is also the host of live recordings of our Short Circuit podcast and a co-producer of our documentary-style podcast Bound by Oath.
Anya's Cases
Immunity and Accountability | SWAT Destruction
Martin v. United States
FBI agents raided the wrong home in suburban Atlanta. Now the federal government refuses to compensate the victims even though Congress passed a law permitting suits for damages caused by federal employees.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Martinez v. High
Desiree Martinez bravely reported to the police the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her boyfriend, Kyle Pennington. But Pennington was a police officer, and came from a family of officers. Instead of…
First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Murphy v. Schmitt
Have you ever heard of someone being arrested and sent to jail for walking on the wrong side of the road? Probably not — because police officers never, or almost never, arrest people for such…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Mohamud v. Weyker
Can a local police offifcer launder her lies and deceit through a state-federal task force to hide behind absolute federal immunity? IJ doesn’t think so, but with the help of the federal government, St. Paul…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Louisiana Overdetention
Percy Taylor was kept in a Louisiana prison 525 days past his release date. He is not alone in being held beyond his sentence in a Louisiana detention facility. In January 2023, the U.S. Department…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Yassin v. Weyker
It is well documented that St. Paul police officer Heather Weyker fabricated a crime ring and single-handedly ruined the lives of dozens of people, who she landed in federal prison through what one federal…
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability
J.T.H. v. Spring Cook
Investigations can be an effective tool for intimidation. Government officials across the ideological spectrum weaponize this power to punish those who speak out against them. The stories of junk investigations are legion. Los Angeles just…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
West Virginia Judicial Field Trip
The Institute for Justice (IJ) teamed up with a West Virginia man whose rights were violated by a Raleigh County family court judge. IJ and Matthew Gibson are urging the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of…
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability
Novak v. Parma
Anthony Novak was arrested by his local police after he parodied the department on Facebook. His lawsuit against the city was dismissed after the officers were given qualified immunity.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Minnesota CSI
Can any government employee—such as a highway engineer who was never granted any police authority whatsoever—pull you over and detain you? Yes, at least if one federal appeals court gets its way.
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Pollreis Cert Petition
A police officer in Arkansas held two innocent children at gun point when he was supposed to be searching for an adult suspect. IJ is asking the Supreme Court to hear the family’s case and…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Byrd v. Lamb
When police violate the rights of Americans, as they did to Kevin Byrd and Hamdi Mahmoud, they should be held accountable. IJ is asking the Supreme Court to take both of these cases and ensure…
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Oliva v. Nivar
José Oliva was brutally beaten by federal officers in an unprovoked attack at a VA Hospital. This attack violated his Fourth Amendment rights, and IJ filed a petition to have the Supreme Court take on…
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability
Gonzalez v. Trevino
After she won her election to city council, Sylvia Gonzalez immediately began getting harassed by city officials whom she had criticized in the past. It got so bad she was even arrested and thrown in…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
King v. Brownback
Brownback v. King is IJ’s first Immunity and Accountability case that was argued before the United States Supreme Court. It involves James King, an innocent college student who was brutally beaten and choked unconscious by…
Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas
A Tennessee law required that in order to open a liquor store, one must be a Tennessee resident for two years. With help from IJ, Doug and Mary Ketchum challenged this law, bringing it all…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Houston Forfeiture
Anthonia Nwaorie, a registered nurse and grandmother from Texas was flying to see family in Nigeria when Customs and Border Patrol took her life savings without ever charging her with a crime. So, she joined…
Commercial Speech | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Food Freedom | Food Freedom
FDA Skim Milk
The FDA prevented Randy Sowers from labelling his skim milk as “skim milk” even though that’s exactly what it is. The First Amendment protects Randy’s right to tell the truth about his product, and after…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Wyoming Forfeiture
IJ successfully represented Phil Parhamovich, a musician from Madison, Wisconsin who had his life savings of $91,800 seized by Wyoming law enforcement during a traffic stop on I-80 near Cheyenne. Phil was never charged, much…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Eagle Pass Forfeiture
Border Patrol Agents used a flimsy excuse to seize Gerardo Serrano’s truck, then held it for two years. IJ asked the Supreme Court to hear Gerardo’s case, but unfortunately the court declined to do so.
Anya's Research & Reports
Immunity and Accountability
Unqualified Immunity and the Betrayal of Butz v. Economou: How the Supreme Court Quietly Granted Federal Officials Absolute Immunity for Constitutional Violations
Betraying the long history of federal accountability in the United States, the modern Supreme Court has ushered in an era of increasingly absolute and unqualified immunity for federal officials.
Immunity and Accountability
Recalibrating Qualified Immunity: How Tanzin v. Tanvir, Taylor v. Riojas, and McCoy v. Alamu Signal the Supreme Court’s Discomfort with the Doctrine of Qualified Immunity
Recent decisions by the Supreme Court offer the strongest signal in decades that the Court is ready to recalibrate its qualified immunity jurisprudence.
Anya's Amicus Briefs
Monroe v. Conner
United States Supreme Court
Brown v. Pouncy
United States Supreme Court
Locke v. County of Hubbard
United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Sharpe v. Winterville (Petition for Writ of Certiorari)
United States Supreme Court
Tanvir v. Tanzin
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Logsdon v. United States Marshal Service
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Berge v. School Committee of Gloucester
1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Sharpe v. Winterville (Rehearing)
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Mejia v. Miller
United States District Court for the Central District of California
Leuthauser v. United States
U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
Craig v. Martin
U.S. Court of the Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Egbert v. Boule
U.S. Supreme Court
J.W. v. Paley
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Cope v. Cogdill
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Thompson v. Clark
U.S. Supreme Court
Mitchell v. Kirchmeier
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Ashaheed v. Currington
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Villarreal v. Laredo
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jessop v. Fresno
U.S. Supreme Court
Tanzin v. Tanvir
U.S. Supreme Court
Hernandez v. Mesa
U.S. Supreme Court
Frasier v. Evans
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Anya's News, Articles & Publications
Anya's Hearings
Gonzalez v. Trevino Supreme Court Hearing
In Gonzalez v. Trevino, Petitioner Sylvia Gonzalez is a 72 year-old city councilwoman from Castle Hills, Texas. Ms. Gonzalez believed that the city’s mayor and city manager were ignoring her constituents and her own frustrations with the city. The mayor and other allies of the city manager in turn planned to… Read More