Economic Liberty Cases
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Economic Liberty | Health | Occupational Licensing
South Carolina Eyeglasses
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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…
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Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Arkansas Hair Braiding
Hair braiding is a simple and safe practice that the government has no business regulating. But in Arkansas, braiders may not sell their services unless they complete 1,500 hours of government-mandated cosmetology training, not one…
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Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Missouri Hair Braiding
If you want to braid hair for a living in Missouri, you must spend thousands of dollars on at least 1,500 hours of cosmetology training that teaches you nothing about African-style hair braiding.
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Economic Liberty | Hair Braiding | Occupational Licensing
Washington Hair Braiding 2
Almost a decade after IJ successfully sued Washington state over its irrational hair braiding laws, officials once again tried to force natural hair braiders to become licensed cosmetologists.
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Economic Liberty | Occupational Licensing
Arkansas Dentistry
Arkansas flat-out bans licensed dental specialists, like orthodontists, from doing even simple dental work outside of their specialty.
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Economic Liberty | Eminent Domain | Private Property
Atlantic City Eminent Domain – Birnbaum
An Atlantic City, N.J., man is fighting to save his family home from a state agency’s eminent domain abuse.