Economic Liberty Cases
North Carolina CON
In Spring 2020, Dr. Gajendra Singh had to close his imaging center, in part because of the enormous costs imposed by the CON law. As a result, Dr. Singh’s lawsuit could not continue, but shortly…
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech
Mississippi Mapping
An overly-broad statute defined a small mapping company in Mississippi as an “unlicensed surveying” company. This statute would have shut down Vizaline, but with help from IJ, Vizaline fought back to protect its First Amendment…
Economic Liberty | Health | Occupational Licensing
Georgia Lactation Consultants
For decades, Mary Jackson has worked as a lactation consultant, helping new moms and babies during a critical time in their lives. Then one day, Georgia passed the nation’s most restrictive licensing regime for lactation…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Washington, D.C. Day Care Education
D.C. recently decided to require day care workers to have a college degree. This is an unreasonable regulation drives up child care costs and deprives day care workers of their ability to earn an honest…
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…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom
New Jersey Baked Goods Ban
Up until 2021, New Jersey was the only state in the country that prevented home bakers from selling homemade baked goods. After years of litigation from IJ and several home bakers, New Jersey finally ended…
Economic Liberty | Private Property | Small and Home-Based Business | Zoning Justice Project
Nashville Home-Based Business
Lij Shaw and Pat Raynor both run successful businesses within their own homes – one a recording studio, the other a hair salon. But one day, the city of Nashville threatened them with fines unless…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Economic Liberty | Health | Occupational Licensing
South Carolina Eyeglasses
Similar Cases Complaint Latest Release…
Cosmetology | Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Louisiana Threading
Lata Jagtiani, Ushaben Chudasama and Panna Shah have partnered with the Institute for Justice to fight for her right to earn an honest living threading eyebrows in Louisiana.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Bowling Green Taxis
It is unconstitutional for the government to use its power to protect itself and other established businesses from competition. That is why Green Cab has partnered with the Institute for Justice (“IJ”) to challenge Bowling…
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
San Diego Taxis
In November 2014, San Diego joined a growing number of cities by lifting its decades-long cap on the number of cabs allowed on its streets. For Abdi Abdisalan and Abdullahi Hassan, the dream of going…
Economic Liberty | Food Freedom | Private Property
Texas Craft Beer
A Texas law is forcing craft brewers to give up millions of dollars of valuable property to politically connected beer distributors.
Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech | Tour Guides
Savannah Tour Guides
Tour guides are storytellers, and the government can’t be in the business of deciding who is (or who is not) allowed to tell stories.
Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing | Transportation
Milwaukee Taxis 2
In response to an IJ lawsuit, Milwaukee lifted its cap on the number of taxis. But the city’s powerful taxi cartel sued to block this reform. Now two cab drivers have again joined with IJ…