Activism Projects

Red Tape Restricts D.C.

Just like all Americans, D.C. residents deserve the chance to start a small business–to take risks as innovative entrepreneurs looking to better their own lives. But unfortunately for them, D.C. agencies have adopted onerous rules…

Care in the Capitol

The District’s new rules for childcare workers are going to keep hundreds of hard-working and qualified people from earning an honest living. In December 2016, the D.C. Office of the Superintendent of Education (OSSE) enacted…

Braiding Battle in the Bayou State

African-style braiding is a completely natural hair-care process, a safe way for braiders, many of whom are immigrants, to earn a safe and honest living. But throughout Louisiana, braiders are forced to pay huge sums…

New Jersey: Home Sweet Home (Business)

Home baking is a way for entrepreneurs to get started small in their own homes without having to spend tens of thousands of dollars on professional equipment and commercial kitchen space. States across the country…

Braids in the Bluegrass State

African-style, natural hair braiders, teaming up with IJ, scored a major victory in Kentucky in 2016 when the Commonwealth passed a law that exempts braiders from needing to get a government-issued license to braid…

New Jersey, New Direction

In New Jersey, African-style hair braiders—whose businesses are deeply rooted in cultural traditions that have been handed down through generations—used to be required to undergo 1,200 hours of cosmetology training, simply in order to earn…

New Hampshire: Live Free and Braid

In 2017, New Hampshire officially became the 23rd state (now up to 26 states) to allow African-style natural hair braiders to work without a permission slip from the government. At the beginning of 2017, New…

Sarasota County: Yes to Yum

Food truck owners in Sarasota County, Fl., scored a victory in 2016 after they teamed up with IJ to fight to reform some of the very worst food-truck laws in the country, bringing tasty opportunity…

Hands off Pleasant Ridge!

Take action and tell Mayor Hall that you oppose his assault on Pleasant Ridge! Recently, the Institute for Justice won a preliminary injunction in Indiana court for its clients in the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood…

Serving Our Families in DC

The 15th anniversary of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) is just around the corner, as IJ’s activism team looks forward to continuing its work in the District to improve parents’ access to the best…

Tasty Reform in Maryland

In Maryland, tasty reform has arrived—thanks to the efforts of passionate home bakers across the state fighting to earn an honest living! Signed by Governor Hogan in June 2018, H.B. 1106 allows cottage-food producers to…

A Win for Property Rights in Garfield

In December 2017, the city of Garfield, Nj., declared a large section of its First Ward a “Condemnation Redevelopment Zone”—empowering city officials to use eminent domain for private development, even though many property owners do…

Planting S.E.E.Ds of Justice in Emerson, NJ

In 2016, officials in Emerson, Nj., began targeting property owners in the borough’s Central Business District, planning to use eminent domain to hand the land over to a private developer, JMF Properties, who was already…

Save Cumberland’s Homes

For over three years, residents of the Rolling Mill neighborhood in Cumberland, Md., have battled city officials over redevelopment efforts that would kick them out of their homes—just so that the city can build restaurants…

Crisis on Canal Street: Yorktown Pursues Eminent Domain

Just an hour northeast of Indianapolis in Yorktown, In., property owners are fighting to keep their homes from being taken from them by eminent domain. The town’s redevelopment plan is pushing homeowners like Ruby Martin,…

Wisconsin Welcomes Home Baking

Once upon a time, the state of Wisconsin had some of the worst cottage-food laws in the country, forcing home bakers who simply wanted to sell safe products like cookies and cakes to obtain a…

Home Baking Heats Up in Kentucky

As of July 2018, bakers in the Bluegrass state can fire up their ovens and legally sell cottage foods—safe, shelf-stable foods made in their own home kitchens—directly to consumers. Thanks to H.B. 263—and to the…

Reforming Expropriation in Puerto Rico

In the aftermath of the universally reviled U.S. Supreme Court case, Kelo v. City of New London, in which the court permitted the use of eminent domain for private development, 44 states have reformed their…

Tennessee: Free, Don’t Fine

African-style, natural hair braiders in Tennessee are facing major harassment and fines for practicing their craft without a specialty license. Braiders are being fined anywhere from $1,000 to $11,000 merely for operating without a government…

Maryland Defends Braiders, Keeps its A

IJ celebrated a victory with hair braiders in Maryland in 2015.  Maryland does not currently regulate African hair braiding, earning it an A in our 2014 50-state report card, Untangling Regulations.  A state senator…

Food Freedom Keeps the District Delicious

Washington, D.C., has one of the best food-truck scenes in the country. Indeed, the success of the local food truck industry—aided by D.C. bureaucrats’ uncharacteristic decision to avoid strangling it in red tape while it…

Chi-Town Rolls Back Regulations

Until September 2015, it was illegal for pushcart vendors to sell any food other than whole produce or packaged frozen desserts in Chicago. The IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship teamed up with street vendors across the…

Rhode Island: Small State, Big Opportunity

African-style, natural hair braiding is a time-tested practice that is deeply rooted in African cultural heritage.  And it’s totally safe:  it is simply braiding hair.  Yet some states require braiders to obtain cosmetology licenses in…

The Big Easy’s Vending Victory

New Orleanians love food trucks. Yet, despite their enormous popularity, food truck entrepreneurs in the Crescent City faced some of the worst laws in the nation. They could not operate within 600 feet of brick-and-mortar…

Liberty in Action Listens Contest

Greetings, activist! At IJ, we know the importance of keeping state and local governments in check. When governments abuse their power, IJ is there fighting to protect property rights, free speech, educational choice and economic…

Florida Occupational Licensing Essay Contest

The Institute for Justice, a non-profit, civil liberties law firm, is offering high school students in Florida a chance to win a $500 scholarship and the opportunity to help pass a law and increase economic…

Watch Out for Eminent Domain Abuse, Californians

For decades, Californians faced a double injustice. The state’s redevelopment agencies routinely used eminent domain to seize perfectly fine homes and businesses and transfer them to private developers. Billions of tax dollars would then flow…

Save Northside St. Louis

Save North Side STL, an organization dedicated to saving 47 homes on the north side of St. Louis from eminent domain, is asking the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) to remove…