Ari Bargil is a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ’s Florida Office in September of 2012, and litigates constitutional cases protecting economic liberty, property rights, school choice, and free speech in both federal and state courts.
Ari is co-lead of IJ’s Zoning Justice Project, a campaign to protect and promote the freedom to peacefully and productively use property. As part of that work, Ari frequently represents property owners battling aggressive zoning regulations and excessive fines in state and federal court nationwide. He has represented a small-business owner in Dallas, Texas, and a married couple in Wilmington, North Carolina, in challenges to highly controversial “amortization” ordinances—laws that unconstitutionally seek to eradicate already-existing legal land uses. Ari has also litigated in state and federal court challenging the constitutionality of catastrophic fines for trivial code-enforcement violations.
In addition to maintaining an active litigation practice in all of IJ’s core areas, Ari also regularly testifies before state and local legislative bodies and committees on issues ranging from occupational licensing to property rights regulation. Ari has also spearheaded several successful legislative campaigns in Florida, including the effort to legalize the sale of 64-ounce “growlers” by craft breweries and the Florida Legislature’s passage of the Right to Garden Act—a reform which made it unlawful for local governments to ban residential vegetable gardens throughout the state.
Ari’s work has been featured by USA Today, NPR, Fox News, Washington Post, Miami Herald, Dallas Morning News and other national and local publications.
A native Floridian, Ari attended the Florida State University College of Law. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2006.
Ari's Cases
Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
North Port Restrictive Zoning
Art Yatsko is like a lot of Americans in their 60s. After decades of hard work and saving, he wants to slow down—to retire somewhere quiet, peaceful, and warm. He thought North Port, Florida, was…
Miami Permit Takings
Chad Trausch and his wife’s family was growing, so he decided to expand his Miami home. But when he submitted plans for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom addition, the city came back with a strange request: it…
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Pennsylvania Home Auto Shop
Zoning laws were never meant to give government the power to erase a harmless, beloved 24-year-old business. Yet that’s exactly what North Whitehall Township is doing to Gene and Debbie Weierbach’s auto repair shop—weaponizing the…
Housing Abundance and Affordability | Private Property | Private Solutions to Public Problems | Zoning Justice Project
Minnesota ADU
Alex and Lynda Pepin believe in using what they have to help others. So when their hometown—Blaine, Minnesota—recently passed a law allowing homeowners to build backyard homes (known as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs), they…
Oregon Small Dairies
Small dairies are suing the Oregon Department of Agriculture after it applied rules meant for big dairies. The change came at the request of the dairy industry, not because of health or safety concerns.
Commercial Speech | First Amendment
Cocroft v. Graham – Mississippi Advertising
If it’s legal to sell a product, it’s also legal to talk about that product. But not in Mississippi—at least not if the product is medical marijuana. In 2022 Mississippi joined the growing number of…
Fines and Fees | Private Property
Foreign Bank Account Fines
An Boston-area grandmother is fighting to have courts consider whether the multimillion-dollar penalty the government imposed on is unconstitutionally excessive.
4th Amendment Project | Fines and Fees | Private Property
Pasco Predictive Policing
In true dystopian fashion, Pasco County in Florida, harasses people at their own homes through a method called “predictive policing.” The system tramples on the rights of Pasco residents by placing them under near-constant surveillance.
Code Enforcement | Fines and Fees | Private Property
Lantana Fines
Sandy Martinez received more than $100,000 in fines for how she parked on her own driveway. This excessive fine not only threatens to financially cripple Sandy, it’s also unconstitutional and is the reason she has…
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
North Carolina Amortization
Dennis and Peg Schroeder have invested substantial money in their home and chose to rent it out as part of their retirement plan. The city of Wilmington is trying to deprive them of their right…
North Carolina School Choice II
North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program is the most popular school choice program in the state and offers a quality education for more than 12,000 students. Now, a coalition of parents has joined forces with IJ…
Code Enforcement | Fines and Fees | Private Property
Dunedin, FL Foreclosure
Nobody should lose their home because their grass is too long, but that’s exactly what the city of Dunedin is trying to do to Jim Ficken. Jim and IJ are fighting back against these excessive…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Florida Diet Coaching
Florida requires a license in order to provide dietary advice to a customer. Diet advice is simply a type of speech that should be protected by the First Amendment, and that’s why Heather Kokesch Del…
Commercial Speech | First Amendment | Food Freedom
Florida Skim Milk
Ocheesee Creamery is censored from honestly labeling its skim milk as skim milk.
Food Freedom | Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
Florida Vegetable Gardens
Miami Shores Village, Fla.’s unconstitutional ban on front-yard vegetable gardens prohibits homeowners from growing vegetables in their front yards. But trees, fruit and garden gnomes are just fine.
Economic Liberty | Transportation
Tampa Minimum Fares
The Public Transportation Commission in Hillsborough County, Fla., forces customers to overpay for limousine services and prevents small business owners from offering better deals to potential customers.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
IRS Tax Preparers
IJ successfully challenged the IRS’s authority to license tax return preparers. If the licensing scheme had not been struck down, some 350,000 tax return preparers would have been burdened by the new regulations, much to…
Ari's Research & Reports
Economic Liberty
Florida’s Dirty Dozen
Florida legislators can make Florida more business friendly by repealing 12 anticompetitive, senseless and arbitrary laws that hold back entrepreneurs.
Ari's Amicus Briefs
Marfil v. City of New Braunfels, Texas
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Havel v. City of Kent Board of Zoning Appeals
Ohio Supreme Court
MAID v. Montana
Montana Supreme Court
Monroe County Board of Zoning Appeals v. Bedford Recycling, Inc.
Indiana Supreme Court
Montanans Against Irresponsible Densification, LLC (MAID) v. State of Montana
Montana Supreme Court
Ari's Legislation
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Zoning Justice Project
Housing Opportunities Made Easier (HOME) Act
The housing shortage is problem that can be significantly solved with one change. Scholars, state legislators and municipal officials from different backgrounds agree that a crucial component to increasing supply is to reform zoning laws.
Food Freedom | Private Property
Vegetable Garden Protection Act
People have used their property to grow food since the dawn of modern civilization. Americans are no different. Our national identity is rooted in the Jeffersonian ideal of farmers and settlers. While fewer people earn their living…
Ari's News, Articles & Publications
Ari's Letters & Statements
Massachusetts Lobster Ban Letter
Yarmouth, Massachusetts
Florida Vegetable Garden Letter
Broward County, Florida
Highlands Amortization Letter
Highlands, North Carolina
Navasota Library Books Fines and Fees Statement
Navasota, Texas
Ari's Podcasts
September 26, 2025
Short Circuit 395 | Won’t You Take Me To YIMBYTown?
It’s a Short Circuit Live from YIMBYTown! We travel to the Yes-In-My-Back-Yard conference, held this year in New Haven, Connecticut. Our guests discuss recent cases […]
Listen NowMay 24, 2021
This Florida Woman Got a $100,000 Fine for Parking in Her Own Driveway
How Trivial Code Violations Can Lead to Financial Ruin—And How to Fight Back
After Sandy Martinez got a ticket from Lantana, Florida, for parking her car with its wheels slightly outside her driveway and on the grass in […]
Listen NowMarch 29, 2021
“Predictive Policing” Algorithm Creates a Dystopian Nightmare for Residents of This Florida Town
How One Sheriff’s Office Harasses and Arrests Citizens It Suspects of Future Crimes
When the Institute for Justice filed suit against the so-called predictive policing program in Pasco County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying that […]
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