Betsy Sanz is a Litigation Fellow at the Institute for Justice. She returns after having clerked for IJ as a Dave Kennedy Fellow in 2020.
Born and raised in Southern California, Betsy earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California at Irvine. She had a career in communications and raised a family, then returned to school to study the law, graduating cum laude from Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law in Orange, California. While at Chapman, Betsy founded the Benevolent Butcher Law & Economics Society and earned several academic and extracurricular honors.
Betsy's Cases
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Group of Property Owners Team Up to Fight Back Against Private Railroad’s Attempt to Take Their Property
A group of property owners in Sparta, Georgia has teamed up to fight back against a private railroad's attempt to take their land.
Commercial Speech | First Amendment | Food Freedom
Lawsuit seeks to strike down regulations that prevent businesses from truthfully labeling products
The First Amendment does not allow the government to decide which facts consumers are allowed to know. Yet the federal government is preventing tens of millions of Americans with sensitive stomachs from receiving the information…
First Amendment | Sign Codes
High school art class painted donut mural for bakery, town demands their work be painted over
Leavitt's Country Bakery Owner Sean Young filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Conway, after town officials demanded he paint over a mural that was created by local high school students last summer.
First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Immunity and Accountability
J.T.H., et al v. Spring Cook, et al.
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…
Betsy's Amicus Briefs
Marfil v. City of New Braunfels
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals