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