The Institute for Justice litigates to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans. IJ defends ordinary people who want to earn an honest living, own and enjoy their property, speak freely, and give their children a good education but find that the government is standing in their way.
We fight to hold government officials accountable when they violate constitutional rights and to prevent governments at all levels from bending the rules to expand their power or advance illegitimate ends.
IJ wins three out of four cases through outright courtroom victories or legislative change prompted by our lawsuits.
Featured Cases
Economic Liberty | Fresh Start
Texas Fresh Start Social Worker
Texas
Texas—and the country—face a two-fold problem: an exploding mental health and substance abuse crisis and a dire shortage of professional social workers to address those issues. Yet rather than make it easier for qualified applicants to obtain social work licenses and start helping people, Texas is doing the opposite. In 2019, the state passed a lifetime ban prohibiting anyone with…
4th Amendment Project | Private Property
Norfolk, VA Camera Surveillance
Norfolk, Virginia has installed more than 170 cameras across the city that watch drivers’ every movement. Now, two Norfolk-area residents have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file a federal lawsuit challenging the…
Private Property | Private Solutions to Public Problems | Right to Shelter | Zoning Justice Project
Flathead Warming Center
The Flathead Warming Center—an emergency shelter in Kalispell, Montana—suffered a cruel blow as winter approaches. On September 16, 2024, the Kalispell City Council voted 6-3 to revoke the Warming Center’s permit, even though it has…
Private Property | 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.
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…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Speech
California Trade Schools
California used to require individuals to get a high school degree or equivalent if they wanted to enroll in a trade school, like Bob Smith’s horseshoeing school. After IJ stepped in on Bob’s behalf, the…
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…
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.
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
North Carolina Makeup Schools
Jasna Bukvic-Bhayani is a North Carolina-based professional makeup artist who wanted to open up a school to teach others how to apply makeup like her. But the state wanted her to open a full-fledged esthetics…
Eminent Domain | Private Property
Jarreau v. South LaFourche Levee District
On behalf of a Louisiana dirt farmer, IJ filed a cert petition to the United States Supreme Court to determine if the government must pay you for losses incurred when it destroys your business through…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Pennsylvania Property Management
Sally helps people list their homes for short-term vacation rentals, but one day she received a call from the Pennsylvania Department of State arguing she was engaging in unlicensed real estate. She was told she…
Louisville Vending
City Council members in Louisville worked closely with established brick-and-mortar restaurants to keep out food truck competition. IJ secured a federal court order barring the city from discriminating against food trucks and then successfully worked…
Iowa Certificate of Need
For more than twenty years, Dr. Lee Birchansky tried to offer his patients the option of having their cataract and other outpatient eye surgeries in a center right next to his office in Cedar Rapids.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Oregon Engineering Speech
Mats Järlström is an engineer, and he used those skills to criticize the formula used on red lights, suggesting the yellow lights should last a little longer. He was hit with a $500 fine from…
Commercial Speech | First Amendment | Sign Codes
Orange Park Sign
The town of Orange Park, Florida banned Scott Fisher from putting an inflatable blow-up of the video game character Mario in front of his video game store. IJ and Scott challenged the town’s law that…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom | Wine
Minnesota Interstate Shipping
A little-known but onerous state law prevented Minnesota vineyards from making a majority of their wine from grapes grown outside Minnesota. IJ partnered with two vineyards to fight this law, and eventually a federal district…