July 2, 2008
Philadelphia Inquirer
City Council mustn't be allowed to trample on tour guides' speech
Starting this fall, tour guides in Philadelphia will be threatened with fines of up to $300 for engaging in unauthorized talking....   More

July 2, 2008
Philadelphia Daily News
Licenses for Tour Guides? Rubbish!
I'M A LIFELONG Philadelphian who's fortunate to earn a living doing what I love: giving guided tours of our historic city....   More

July 1, 2008
Leaf Chronicle
Property rights group calls libel lawsuit 'retaliatory'
A motion to dismiss a libel lawsuit against members of the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition calls the suit "frivolous" and "retaliatory."   More

July 1, 2008
FOX TV Nashville
Joy Ford Fights for Property
The city wants to seize a piece of property to make room for a new building. Trouble is, the property owner won’t sell...   More

July 1, 2008
Arizona Republic
State court OKs school vouchers
The Arizona Supreme Court decided the state could continue to give parents money to pay their children's private-school tuition...   More

June 30, 2008
Clarksville Online
Institute For Justice calls for dismissal of developers’ frivolous lawsuit
On the steps of our historic County Courthouse, a group of grassroots advocate citizens gave voice to an exercise that the founding fathers would have cherished...   More

June 27, 2008
Weatherford Democrat
Legal battle divides horse industry
Lawsuits fought in the halls of Austin could play in to the working world of Weatherford. The issue in debate is equine dentistry, and it has pitted...   More

June 27, 2008
The Gazette
Massaging animals? Therein lies the rub
A Rockville massage therapist wants to ply her trade with animals — and has gone to court to do so legally.   More

June 27, 2008
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Courts must stop laws gone wild
Imagine being told that the computer repair shop you’ve relied on for years can no longer work for you because the owner doesn’t private investigator’s license...   More

June 26, 2008
KVUE-TV Austin
VIDEO: Computer technicians cry foul over private investigator law
A lawsuit filed Thursday by some computer repair technicians says they're being forced to become licensed private investigators.   More

June 26, 2008
KUT-FM Austin
RADIO: Computer Guys = Private Investigators
A recent change to Texas law could put your local computer repair shop – and even you – in jail. One group says is the unintended consequence of an amendment to a state privacy law...   More

June 24, 2008
Associated Press
Economist: Eminent domain drove biz from Baltimore
According to a new report by a Loyola College economist published by the Institute for Justice...   More

June 24, 2008
Baltimore Sun
City said to drive residents away
Baltimore's heavy-handed use of eminent domain and persistently high property taxes have forced residents and businesses to flee the city...   More

June 23, 2008
Northwest Public Radio
Northwest Interior Designers Want Greater Respect
Interior designers want to distinguish themselves from decorators. That’s why groups of designers are after legislation in Washington...   More

June 21, 2008
East Valley Tribune
Patterson: School choice foes stack deck against disabled students
Not long ago, a 6-year-old boy from Gilbert named Max was headed nowhere. Diagnosed as autistic, he suffered constant...   More

June 21, 2008
Associated Press
House in CT eminent domain dispute finds new home
A small house that was once at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on government seizure of private property has found a safe haven.   More

June 21, 2008
ABC News New Haven
Home at center of U.S. Supreme Court ruling finds new berth
The Fort Trumbull home that sparked a nationwide debate over the use of eminent domain has a new permanent address on Franklin Street.   More

June 21, 2008
New Haven Register
Study: Cabbies, company owners differ in regulatory needs
A study of the state’s taxi industry is expected to wrap up by December...drivers and company owners have divergent ideas about what the legislation should contain.   More

June 20, 2008
Reason
What Ever Happened to the Kelo House?
This Monday is the third anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London...the Institute for Justice, the libertarian public interest firm that litigated the case...   More

June 20, 2008
ABC News Hartford
VIDEO: Taxi drivers seek better deal
Taxi troubles got a full airing at the State Capitol from cab drivers who say the rules and regulations on starting a taxi business have got to change.   More

June 19, 2008
Tucson Weekly
Voucher Victims
Dina Phipps worries that her children won't continue to progress without a scholarship program that's become mixed up in a battle over vouchers...   More

June 19, 2008
CT News Junkie
Cab Industry Investigated
Cab drivers from across state rallied at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to make it easier for drivers to start their own taxi company...   More

June 18, 2008
Red Wing Republican Eagle
Constitution protects our right to be left alone
It just does not make sense to violate the privacy rights of more than 95 percent of renters and landlords in Red Wing when less than 5 percent...   More

June 18, 2008
Reason
Is the Habeas Ruling Really One of the Worst Decisions in American History?
As a measuring stick, I'd suggest using The Dirty Dozen, a new book by the Cato Institute's Robert Levy and the Institute for Justice's Chip Mellor.   More

June 17, 2008
U.S. News & World Report
Hacking Through Legal Red Tape Might Require Help
The IJ Clinic, which assists low-income, inner-city small businesses with figuring out "the legal intricacies" that come with being an entrepreneur...   More

June 17, 2008
Washington Times
Second Amendment haze
This month, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide District of Columbia v. Heller, the most important Second Amendment case in the court's history...   More

June 16, 2008
National Public Radio
Cash Seizures by Police Prompt Court Fights
Authorities can confiscate your money without ever charging you with a crime, as long as they can prove it's tied to illegal activity — but sometimes it happens even when they can't...   More

June 13, 2008
Red Wing Republican Eagle
Local senator helps state overcome an inconvenient law
Sen. Steve Murphy certainly knows that just because a law is pro-business, it doesn’t mean it is pro-free enterprise...   More

June 13, 2008
The Horse
Maryland Veterinary Practice Act Under Fire
Mercedes Clemens is a licensed massage therapist who received a cease and desist order from the threatening her license to practice on humans if she continued to work on animals...   More

June 11, 2008
KWMU FM
City of St. Louis is being sued for trying to erase eminent domain protest mural
St. Louis is being sued over its role in trying to erase an eminent domain protest mural visible from interstates 44 and 55 near downtown St. Louis.   More

June 11, 2008
Maryland Daily Record
Suit: You shouldn’t need a vet’s license to massage a horse
A person need not be a doctor or chiropractor to give someone a massage in Maryland, H. Mercedes Clemens states in her lawsuit by the Institute for Justice...   More

June 10, 2008
Baltimore Examiner
Bob Ewing: Shameful U.S. legacy persists
Mercedes Clemens is a successful Maryland entrepreneur filing a lawsuit to help correct a gross violation of justice that has plagued our nation for well over a century.   More

June 9, 2008
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
County Council sees one side of 'open and fair' election story
King County Council members are pushing a plan to fund their campaign coffers with citizens' tax dollars...   More

June 9, 2008
KTAR Arizona
Court fight brewing over school vouchers
The Arizona Supreme Court will be asked to reverse a decision that could affect where hundreds of students attend school.   More

June 9, 2008
New York Sun
Major Law Firm Urges Stop to Atlantic Yards Development
The firm that challenged eminent domain in the landmark case Kelo case is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn.   More

June 7, 2008
Arizona Republic
Property owner claims city has vendetta
East said he was told by a lawyer that the city can condemn his land and take the property, so a legal fight may not be worthwhile financially...   More

June 5, 2008
East Valley Tribune
Voucher ruling could oust kids from schools
More than 350 schoolchildren in Arizona might be forced to leave their schools this fall, when the state will stop...   More

May 30, 2008
Arizona Republic
Skirting the principle
By rejecting a program that provided funding for special-needs children, the Arizona Court of Appeals relied on a seemingly unambiguous section of the state Constitution...   More

May 28, 2008
East Valley Tribune
Special needs vouchers aid students, not schools
The challenged scholarship programs are already changing lives. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits the state from aiding Lexie...   More

May 27, 2008
Orange County Register
Growing government from left and right
U.S. Supreme Court nominations are a crown jewel of a presidential race. But recent quotes from both Sens. Obama and McCain on the subject should give us all pause...   More

May 26, 2008
St. Paul Pioneer Press
In the spirit of the Constitution, a veto
Blaisdell is one of the cases found in "The Dirty Dozen," authored by William Mellor, president and general counsel at the Institute for Justice...   More

May 25, 2008
Clarion Ledger
Family reflects on Nissan eminent domain fight
Lonzo and Matilda Archie, along with other family members, fought the state of Mississippi to the state Supreme Court to keep their land, which had been promised to an automaker.   More

May 22, 2008
Atlanticville
City homeowners rally outside state courthouse
City homeowners stood on the steps outside a Trenton courthouse last week, just minutes before appearing in the state appeals court to defend their homes from what they say is an "abuse" of eminent domain.   More

May 22, 2008
Red Wing Republican Eagle
Judge denies search warrants
A group of local landlords and renters won a major legal battle against the city of Red Wing on Monday when a district judge denied the city’s request for search warrants.   More

May 18, 2008
Washington Post
Silencing Free Speech
Failure to abide by these limits can lead to massive civil penalties. As a result of this threat, SpeechNow.org and groups like it have been silenced...   More

May 16, 2008
Crain's Chicago Business
Commerce summit comes to Chicago
A high-powered Commerce Department conference comes to Chicago next week on the future of the U.S. economy...   More

May 16, 2008
East Valley Tribune
San Tan Flat owner claims harassment
Several uniformed officers from the Pinal County's Sheriff's Office showed up and moved through the crowd, shining flashlights and asking restaurant patrons for identification...   More

May 16, 2008
NBC-TV Phoenix
Court rules against school vouchers
IJ client Andrea Weck says her daughter thrived at a private school that teaches only autistic kids. The single mom explains she could not afford tuition without the vouchers...   More

May 15, 2008
Reason
REASON TV: Victory at San Tan Flat—Dance Ban Lifted
What a difference a video--and ongoing litigation courtesy of the libertarian public-interest law firm the Institute for Justice--makes!   More

May 15, 2008
Asbury Park Press
MTOTSA's Trenton rally sounds familiar themes
Speakers recalled group members who have died during the years of battling to save their homes, including Anna DeFaria and Al and Mary Viviano.   More

May 15, 2008
Star-Ledger
Long Branch homeowners take fight to appeals court
A state appeals court panel heard more than two hours of arguments in the case of 11 Long Branch residents fighting an effort by the city to take 36 middle-class homes...   More

May 13, 2008
Asbury Park Press
Appeals court to hear eminent domain case
Members of the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue Alliance will join attorneys in Trenton in the next skirmish of their years-long battle to remain in their homes...   More

May 9, 2008
Fortune Small Business
Slaying the Boogie Monster
An Arizona saloon owner takes down antiquated dance ban. Dale Bell finally trumped in his fight against a 1962 Pinal County zoning ordinance by allowing patrons to swing their hips...   More

May 9, 2008
The Day
Surviving Eminent Domain
AND JUST LIKE THAT, THE little pink house is back. Its simple pink clapboard façade as bright and cheerful as ever, it might feel a little like magic.   More

May 7, 2008
East Valley Tribune
San Tan restaurant to celebrate legal dancing
San Tan Flat owners Dale and Spencer Bell are so excited their legal tango with Pinal County is over that they’re having a party — and everyone is invited.   More

May 5, 2008
The Tennessean
Music Row landowner gets help in fight against developers
The Institute for Justice has taken on Music Row property owner Joy Ford's fight...   More

May 1, 2008
Wall Street Journal
Judging the Judges
"The Dirty Dozen" by Robert Levy and Institute for Justice President Chip Mellor tells us how twelve misguided Supreme Court decisions...   More

April 30, 2008
East Valley Tribune
San Tan Flat can dance night away
VICTORY!! Judge O'Neil: "When a local government restricts freedoms it's a dangerous thing. San Tan Flat is not an enterprise for dance."   More

April 30, 2008
Arizona Republic
Judge OKs dancing at San Tan Flat
Kick off your boots and get ready to two-step because dancing is now allowed at San Tan Flat.    More

April 30, 2008
WKRN Tennessee
VIDEO: Eminent domain threatens Music Row studio
A Music Row record studio is at the center of a turf war with a Houston developer trying to bulldoze the landmark for a parking lot...   More

April 27, 2008
Washington Post
The Speech Police Tackle a Subdivision
GEORGE WILL: Another example of what is being done around the nation by those irksome improvers whose animating ideology is McCainism...   More

April 26, 2008
Los Angeles Times
Schwarzenegger opposes Proposition 98
The governor says the measure would restrict the ability to exercise eminent domain. Backers say he is relying on a flawed legal analysis.   More

April 23, 2008
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A certain lack of horse sense here
Horses have a special place in Texas history and in the hearts of many Texans. So it is a shame to see the State Board lining up...   More

April 23, 2008
Arizona Daily Star
School choices for special-needs kids is matter of appeal
How can the ACLU oppose a program designed to help children with disabilities get the best education available? As the mother of a child with MS, I have yet to fathom an answer...   More

April 23, 2008
Tucson Citizen
Parents deserve choice on schooling for disabled
In Arizona, it is inconceivable that the state constitution would favor a bureaucrat's right to choose a child's school over the right of parents...   More

April 21, 2008
Denver Post
Judge to rule on free speech
Six neighbors who opposed the annexation of their Parker North neighborhood are waiting for a federal judge to decide whether a state campaign finance law violated their rights to free speech.   More

April 17, 2008
ABC News
Historic home makes mark in present
New London has a lot of historic homes which date back centuries. But, for years a little pink house stood as the symbol of New London's Eminent Domain struggle.    More

April 17, 2008
Red Wing Republican Eagle
Rental code battle fought in court
Red Wing’s rental inspection code was under the microscope as lawyers for the city went head-to-head with a public interest law firm...   More

April 16, 2008
ABC News
Conflicting Tales Behind Cash Seized by FBI
Civil forfeiture gives the government a free hand to seize any property or cash without having to meet the burdens of ordinary criminal cases...   More

April 16, 2008
New Jersey Herald
Newton leaders accuse each other of politicking-again
Resident and outspoken opponent of eminent domain Connie Sutton asked if the city council had considered a draft ordinance she had given them...    More

April 13, 2008
Rocky Mountain News
Opposition to annexation riles neighbors
I never imagined that in America, I could be sued for speaking about politics. My ordeal began when a petition seeking to annex our neighborhood...   More

April 11, 2008
National Public Radio
Court case tests political spending laws
A federal court is considering a case that would overturn Watergate-era laws limiting fundraising and spending by political groups...   More

April 10, 2008
Tuscon Weekly
Pinal County officials are abusing their power
As the bizarre case of San Tan Flat exemplifies, it is not the remoteness of the power that is corrupting. It is the power itself.   More

April 9, 2008
Daily American
SBTW sues DCNR for right to raft
A Somerset County summer camp is suing the state for the right to raft the Youghiogheny River with its own guides.   More

April 8, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Camp appeals ruling keeping rafts off Yough
A Christian camp booted off the Youghiogheny River now is making waves in Commonwealth Court.   More

April 2, 2008
The Union Leader
Real estate Web site exempt from broker rule
ZeroBrokerFees.com is exempt from regulation in New Hampshire as a real estate broker under the same exemption granted newspapers and other publications, a federal court judge has ruled.   More

April 1, 2008
Wall Street Journal
Watch Out for That Pillow
You might stare at them incredulously for a moment, then look down at your calendar and say, "Oh, I get it -- April Fool!" Right? Wrong.   More

March 27, 2008
The Atlanticville
Unger to host mtg. on growth
Steven Anderson of the Castle Coalition will discuss the results of a landmark economic impacts study on eminent domain released earlier this year...   More

March 27, 2008
Palm Beach Post
Revision may lift tax-faith barrier
A constitutional amendment aimed at restoring Florida's school voucher program was approved for the ballot...   More

March 25, 2008
Baltimore Sun
House examines funeral home industry
Charles S. Brown owns a cemetery in Hagerstown and has been trying to change state law to allow corporations to own funeral homes.    More

March 24, 2008
FOX News
Radley Balko: Artificial Standards
Earlier this month, a bullying, cartel-like professional group met in New Orleans...to discus new lobbying strategies to scare off the lowly folks...   More

March 21, 2008
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Civil injustice strikes Ohio
Despite their four decades of hard work, an absurdly unjust law has turned their hope for the American Dream into an outrageous nightmare at the hands of the Cleveland FBI.   More

March 21, 2008
Leaf Chronicle
Crowd spills out of forum venue
Dozens of people had to be turned away as an over-capacity crowd turned out for the city's public hearing on the Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan.   More

March 20, 2008
Washington Post
Dance Police at The Saloon
Beyond the weeds there is this mighty oak of a principle: There must be a judicial leash on governments to prevent them from arbitrarily...   More

March 15, 2008
Pasadena Star-News
Residents oppose development
Property owners rallied against a proposed multimillion-dollar development this week at a forum backing eminent domain reform.   More

March 9, 2008
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Let's not forget just whose domain it is
Property owners have a Texas-sized problem on their hands: eminent domain abuse, in which the government takes private property for private gain...   More

March 8, 2008
Wall Street Journal
Conservative Group Challenges Portions of Finance Law
SpeechNow.org has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn some of the most basic parts of campaign-finance law...    More

March 6, 2008
Forbes
This Property Is a Steal
Usual way to acquire land for development: make the owner an attractive offer. New York way: make a lowball offer. If he doesn't want to sell, bring in thugs from city hall.   More

March 6, 2008
East Valley Tribune
Justice institute could join sign walker dispute
A national libertarian law firm is considering taking a case to challenge Scottsdale's ban on commercial sign walkers from city sidewalks.   More

March 5, 2008
Goldwater Institute
Policing for Profit and Political Gain
Arizona’s laws generate millions of dollars each year for police by allowing their offices to seize and keep money and property...   More

March 1, 2008
Newsweek
McCain and the Oath
He has not been bashful about advising the Supreme Court. He should weigh in again, against aspects of McCain-Feingold.   More

March 1, 2008
Reason
Litigating for Liberty
The Institute for Justice's Chip Mellor on campaign-finance reform, eminent-domain abuse, and licensing laws gone wild...   More

February 27, 2008
Seattle Weekly
Supreme Court Sides With Big Trash
Little guy gets rubbed out by a state Supreme Court that ran afoul of the vision of founding fathers...   More

February 25, 2008
Forbes
The New Unions
In the Middle Ages you couldn't be a baker unless you were admitted to the guild. In Louisiana you can't sell flowers.    More

February 23, 2008
Wall Street Journal
Speak Easier
Candidates do backbends obeying campaign finance laws, but what about citizen groups? That's the question posed by a group called SpeechNow...   More

February 18, 2008
Newsday
Government abuses eminent domain
How did downtowns - or any set of buildings - ever get built on Long Island without government development plans and politicians threatening property owners with condemnation?   More

February 16, 2008
Washington Post
Unfettered Speech, Now
Most Americans probably assume that they can gather with friends and neighbors to say whatever they want about politics to whoever is willing to listen... unfortunately, they would be wrong.   More

February 16, 2008
San Diego Union-Tribune
Group's boxing gym loses round in court
A judge has dismissed a youth boxing program's lawsuit, which had sought to reverse National City's designation of its gym as a blighted site that can be seized for redevelopment.   More

February 15, 2008
Los Angeles Times
On message
Campaign finance laws that regulate political ads by interest groups also infringe on free speech.   More

February 15, 2008
New York Sun
Suit Could Unleash Surge of Money in 2008 Presidential Race
A new lawsuit could unleash a late surge of multimillion-dollar contributions in this fall's presidential race...   More

February 15, 2008
Washington Times
Suit aims to ease campaign fundraising limits
A free-speech group is suing the Federal Election Commission in a case that could loosen some campaign-finance restrictions.   More

February 14, 2008
Wall Street Journal
Free-Speech Group Targets Campaign-Finance Law
The lawsuit could have broad implications for spending by outside organizations in elections.    More

February 14, 2008
Atlanticville
MTOTSA appeal could start in court this spring
A report on the effect of reforming eminent domain laws released; oral arguments in a Long Branch eminent domain case could be scheduled to start this spring.   More

February 12, 2008
East Valley Tribune
Well Said
The founder of the Institute of Justice offered this comment to explain why his law firm has started to challenge campaign finance reform laws.    More

February 8, 2008
The Day
Eminent Domain Proposed To Grab Pfizer N.Y. Plant
Affordable-housing activists in Brooklyn, N.Y., are proposing eminent domain be used to seize a prime piece of New York real estate from Pfizer Inc.   More

February 7, 2008
Baltimore Examiner
John K. Ross: Restricting eminent domain no hindrance to development
Baltimoreans should know that progress does not depend on injustice. Maryland can reform its laws and still welcome economic development.   More

February 5, 2008
Associated Press
Wash.: Bill would license designers
nterior designers are fighting over whether they should face greater oversight and be licensed by the state.   More