Jaba Tsitsuashvili is an attorney at the Institute for Justice. He litigates in federal courts across the country to counter abusive policing and other infringements of constitutional rights by federal and state governments.
Jaba’s cases focus on Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful searches and seizures; the due process rights of individuals accused of civil or criminal offenses; and the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of excessive fines. Through those protections, Jaba’s work aims to scale back and eliminate abusive fines and fees, civil forfeiture of property, and accountability-eliminating doctrines like qualified immunity.
As part of IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability, Jaba litigates and writes amicus briefs on issues of qualified immunity, prosecutorial immunity, Bivens liability, the Federal Tort Claims Act, and related doctrines that shield police and other government actors from accountability for constitutional violations.
Before joining IJ, Jaba litigated immigrants’ due process and First Amendment rights and prisoners’ religious liberty and disability rights. For his work on behalf of detained migrants, he was a recipient of the ACLU of Southern California’s 2019 Access to Justice Award.
Jaba is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and the University of California at San Diego.
Jaba's Cases
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Maine Mistaken Identity
Body camera footage of the arrest What began as an ordinary school day in Portland, Maine, spiraled into a terrifying and traumatic ordeal after a teenager was mistakenly identified by police, leaving him shaken…
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Alabama Construction Site Raids
A U.S. citizen, who was wrongly detained twice, is suing to stop unconstitutional raids on private construction sites.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Corporal Punishment Cert Petition
A New Orleans-area mother of a young girl is asking the United States Supreme Court to hear her case challenging a lower court’s decision to shield all violence by public-school officials from constitutional review. In…
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Louisiana Overdetention
Percy Taylor was kept in a Louisiana prison 525 days past his release date. He is not alone in being held beyond his sentence in a Louisiana detention facility. In January 2023, the U.S. Department…
4th Amendment Project | Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
USPS Mail Seizure
The U.S. Post Office cannot open someone's mail without getting a warrant.
Immunity and Accountability | Private Property
Wilson v. Midland County, Texas
Everybody knows your prosecutor can’t also be your judge. Everyone, that is, except for former Midland County, Texas, prosecutor Ralph Petty, his supervisor, and the county’s entire system of justice. Petty spent 20 years moonlighting…
4th Amendment Project | Fines and Fees | Private Property
Brookside, Alabama Fines
Victims of Brookside, Alabama's policing abuses filed a class action to affirm that police must act in the interest of justice, not their pocketbooks…
Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
Kermit Warren Forfeiture
DEA agents took Kermit Warren’s life savings from him when he was traveling to purchase a new truck for his tow truck business. They never charged Kermit with a crime. With IJ’s help, Kermit was…
Fines and Fees | Private Property
New Orleans Ankle Monitors
Judges must be impartial when deciding to deprive a person of his or her property. Unfortunately, one judge in New Orleans has been ordering individuals to wear an ankle monitor from a company in which…
4th Amendment Project | Civil Forfeiture | Private Property
DEA and TSA Airport Forfeitures
Retired railroad engineer Terry Rolin’s life savings were seized by the government, but he hasn’t been charged with any crime. Now he and his daughter are working with IJ to get his money back and…
Jaba's Amicus Briefs
Olivier v. City of Brandon
U.S. Supreme Court
USPS v. Konan
U.S. Supreme Court
Roberts v Thompson
United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit
Aprileo v. Clapprood, et al.
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
J.W. v. Paley
United States Supreme Court
Berge v. School Committee of Gloucester
1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Villarreal v. Laredo (En Banc)
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Cerisier v. City of New York
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Leuthauser v. United States
U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit
Rios v. Redding
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
New Jersey v. Anderson
Ashaheed v. Currington
10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Villarreal v. Laredo
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jaba's Podcasts
March 06, 2026
Short Circuit 418 | ICE Detention and Booze-Sniffing Dogs
[Note: This episode was down for a couple days but has been reposted. It originally dropped on March 6, 2026.] If you’ve ever wondered if […]
Listen NowJanuary 08, 2026
Americans Keep Getting Caught Up In Immigration Raids
Leo Garcia Venegas and George Retes were simply trying to work, when they got ensnared by dragnet federal immigration raids. Even though both men identified […]
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