Michael Bindas is a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice (IJ) and leads IJ’s educational choice team. In this role, he oversees a talented group of IJ attorneys who help policymakers design constitutionally defensible educational choice programs and who defend educational choice programs in courtrooms nationwide. He joined IJ in 2005.
Michael argued for the Carson and Nelson families at the U.S. Supreme Court in Carson v. Makin, in which the Court held Maine’s exclusion of religious options from its educational choice program unconstitutional under the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S Constitution. He was also part of IJ’s Supreme Court litigation team in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, in which the Court invalidated a similar exclusion from a Montana educational choice program. Michael led IJ’s defense of the Choice Scholarship Program for elementary and secondary students in Douglas County, Colorado, and he successfully challenged Washington’s denial of special education services to children in religious schools, as well as the state’s exclusion of sectarian options from its state work study program.
Prior to leading IJ’s educational choice team, Michael litigated extensively to secure economic liberty, property rights, and freedom of speech throughout the nation. He was counsel of record at the U.S. Supreme Court for Kimbrough Fine Wine & Spirits in Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas, a successful challenge to Tennessee’s durational residency requirement for retail liquor licenses. He also led successful challenges to the municipal sign codes of St. Louis, Mo. and Norfolk, Va., after those cities attempted to silence protests of their abusive eminent domain practices.
Prior to joining IJ, Michael spent three years as an attorney with Perkins Coie LLP. He is a former law clerk to Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and served as an engineer officer in the United States Army and Pennsylvania Army National Guard before beginning his legal career.
Michael received his law degree cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2001, where he served as Articles Editor for the Journal of Constitutional Law and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1995.
Michael's Cases
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
New Hampshire School Choice
New Hampshire families are poised to defend the state’s Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) from a legal challenge.
Ohio School Choice
Two of Ohio’s most popular educational choice programs are under attack. This IJ suit seeks to defend these programs, which tens of thousands of Ohio students depend on.
Kentucky Families Fight to Defend the State’s Bold New School Choice Program
In March 2021, Kentucky created a school choice program that benefits thousands of low-and-middle-income families throughout the state. Just a few months later, a lawsuit attacked the program. IJ has intervened on behalf of two…
North Carolina Parents Join Forces To Defend The State’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (“OSP”) From Yet Another Legal Attack
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…
Can States Bar Newcomers from Owning a Business?
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…
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Maine Families Fight for School Choice in U.S. Supreme Court Appeal
Video Interview with Attorney and Parent Supreme Court Decision School Choice Myths & Realities…
Washington Work Study
Summit Christian Academy wanted to hire college students to be tutors under the state’s work-study program, but Washington officials barred the academy from doing so, simply because it’s a religious school. After IJ got involved…
Educational Choice | Tax Credit Scholarships
Montana Moms Seek to Restore School Choice Program that was Struck Down for Including Religious Options
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the most important education reform cases in the past half-century. This landmark case held that the U.S. Constitution does not allow states to discriminate…
Food Freedom | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
An Affront To Gardeners Everywhere: Miami Shores Forces Homeowners To Destroy Their Front-Yard Vegetable Garden
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 | Food Freedom
Baked Fresh, Baked Free: Challenging Minnesota’s Restrictions on Selling Home-Baked Goods
Minnesota has slammed the oven door on bakers trying to make a home-based business out of satisfying Minnesotans’ sweet tooth.
Federal Appellate Court OKs City’s Crackdown on Protest Sign: 4th Circuit fails to protect Norfolk business’ eminent domain protest banner; lawyers, business owners vow appeal to U.S. Supreme Court
In a double blow to free speech and property rights, Norfolk, Va., tried not only to take a thriving business through its power of eminent domain but also censor a highly visible sign that protested…
Economic Liberty | Transportation
Charting a New Course for Economic Liberty: Challenging Lake Chelan’s Government-Imposed Ferry Monopoly Under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause
Jim and Cliff Courtney have a plan to bring economic prosperity to their small community. Unfortunately, the state of Washington has sunk their plan with a law that requires them to obtain a certificate of…
Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
Defending Parents’ Right to Choose Their Children’s Schools: Douglas County, Colorado’s Innovative Scholarship Program Is Constitutional
In Colorado, Douglas County created an innovative school choice program that offers modest scholarships to hundreds of students at a fraction of the cost of getting a public school education.
Signs of Abuse: Fighting Censorship and Eminent Domain Abuse in St. Louis
In a double blow to free speech and property rights, St. Louis not only threatened to take an entire neighborhood for private development. It also tried to censor a powerful mural that protests the city’s…
Michael's Research & Reports
Educational Choice
12 Myths and Realities About Private Educational Choice Programs
Educational choice programs—defined broadly as programs that provide parents with financial aid to help their children opt out of the traditional public school system—are a hallmark of meaningful educational reform. Yet despite widespread news coverage…
Economic Liberty
L.A. vs. Small Business
Los Angeles entrepreneurs are being strangled by red tape, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for entrepreneurs to earn an honest living in the City of Angels.
Michael's Amicus Briefs
Evangelisto Ramos v. Louisiana
State of Washington v. McCleary
Washington State Supreme Court
Freeport Economic Development Corporation v. Western Seafood Company
Texas Court of Appeals First District
Brutsche v. City of Kent
Washington State Supreme Court
Walsh v. City and County of Honolulu
Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
Rickert v. State of Washington Public Disclosure Commission
Washington State Supreme Court
City of Des Moines v. Gray Businesses, LLC
Washington State Supreme Court
Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority v. Miller
Washington State Supreme Court
Amunrud v. Board of Appeals
Washington State Supreme Court
Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County v. North American Foreign Trade Zone Industries, LLC
Washington State Supreme Court