Tag: Institute for Justice

Georgia Public Service Commission Weighing Railroad’s Land Condemnation Request

The Center Square
Sanderville Train

The Georgia Public Service Commission could soon decide whether a railroad can seize private land for a proposed 4.5-mile-long spur after hearing oral arguments in the case on Tuesday.

The Sandersville Railroad, a Class III short-line railroad, initially petitioned the PSC in March 2023 to condemn land for the spur and subsequently moved to condemn additional land. The railroad’s existing tracks are about 25 miles from Sparta, and the spur would connect a rock quarry southeast of the city with a CSX Transportation rail line but not existing Sandersville Railroad tracks.

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Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Won’t Appeal Court Loss in ‘Open Fields’ Doctrine Case

Peter D'Abrosca
Hunter Hollingsworth

After losing an appeal in May, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has decided it will not take its case on the “open fields” doctrine to the Tennessee Supreme Court. 

The case began when Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth found hidden cameras on their property, placed there by TWRA, according to the Institute of Justice, which took on the case. 

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Ohio State Senate Passes Bill Reducing Training for Cosmetologist and Barber Licenses

Hannah Poling

State Republican lawmakers are moving a bill forwards that aims to reduce the amount of required training it would take to get a cosmetology and barber license.

House Bill (HB) 542 sponsored by state Representatives Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo) began as a piece of legislation aimed to create a unified barbering/cosmetology school license, to eliminate duplicative applications for facilities that teach both cosmetology and barbering and to lower the age of applicants for barber school to 16 years old.

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Free-Market Think Tank Backs Bill Lightening Occupational Licensure Burden, Urges Further Reform

Bradley Vasoli

In the view of an Ohio conservative think tank, the Buckeye State should enact a bill the House passed, and the Senate is now considering to pare back licensure burdens for many professionals. 

Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at the Columbus-based Buckeye Institute, testified this week before the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee in favor of the bill. He added he believes the state should pursue further reform even after the legislation passes the Senate and receives Governor Mike DeWine’s signature. 

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Michigan Supreme Court Could Decide Warrantless Government Drone Spying Lawsuit

The Center Square

An appeal filed with the Michigan Supreme Court says the government must get a warrant before it can surveil private property for evidence.

The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, says the government violated the Fourth Amendment when it used warrantless drone surveillance to snap pictures of Todd Maxon’s 5-acre property in Long Lake Township where he repairs cars, as proof of zoning violations.

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Tennessee Civil Asset Forfeiture Brought in $16M in Funds in 2021, But Transparency Lacking

The Center Square
Police traffic stop

In 2021, law enforcement in Tennessee seized $16 million worth of cash and $15.8 million was forfeited in court. But according to annual reports from Tennessee’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security, departments used just $195,000 of those funds.

Each year since Tennessee law began requiring those disclosures in 2018, similar numbers have appeared.

In 2020, $15 million was seized, $8.4 million was forfeited in the courts but just $1,980 was recorded as being used. In 2019, $12 million was seized, $12 million was forfeited and just more than $300,000 of the proceeds were used.

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Hunt Clubs Sue Pennsylvania Game Commission Claiming Illegal Searches

The Center Square

Two Western Pennsylvania hunting clubs are suing the Pennsylvania Game Commission claiming unconstitutional warrantless searches of private property.

The Punxsutawney Hunting Club and neighboring Pitch Pine Hunting Club filed suit against the game commission and conservation officer Mark Gritzer alleging Gritzer repeatedly entered clearly marked private property to investigate club members for wildlife violations.

Gritzer issued one hunter a citation for having no hunting license or identification and another for carrying a loaded gun in a vehicle, while other members were approached and issued warnings for minor issues, according to the lawsuit, filed last week.

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Judge Stymies Feds’ Plan to Keep $85 Million in Raid Without Filing Criminal Charges

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The feds faced another setback in their quest to keep $85 million in assets seized in a raid without charging hundreds of safe deposit box renters with a crime.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner issued a preliminary injunction July 16 in a lawsuit by several customers of Los Angeles-based U.S. Private Vaults (USPV), who alleged the FBI denied them due process by providing civil forfeiture notices that lacked “any legal basis” for seizing the contents of each box.

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Commentary: Florida Woman Received a $100,000 Fine for Parking on Her Own Property

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Car Tire In Driveway

There’s nothing worse than when you’re having a bad day and come back to your car to find a parking ticket on your windshield. Except, maybe, if that ticket was for $100,000, and you got it for parking on your own property.

That’s what happened to Sandy Martinez, a resident of Lantana, Florida. Teaming up with attorneys at the libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice (IJ), she is suing the town over a parking violation fine assigned to her that totaled more than $100,000.

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Minnesota Supreme Court Easing Continuing Education Requirements for Attorneys

The Center Square

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a petition that will ease regulatory burdens on lawyers by doubling the amount of on-demand continuing legal education (CLE) credits that are accepted.

Every three years, attorneys in Minnesota need to finish 45 credit hours of CLE courses to maintain their licenses but previously capped on-demand credit hours at 15, although some lawyers argue they are more convenient, relevant, affordable and numerous than in-person CLEs.

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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Qualified Immunity Arguments for Michigander Beaten by Police

The Center Square

The highest court in the United States on Monday will hear oral arguments in a case seeking to reform a concept that gave police officers immunity after they nearly beat a college student to death six years ago.

James King, a 21-year-old college student, was walking between his two summer jobs in Grand Rapids, Mich., when two plain-clothes officers asked for his ID in a case of a mistaken identity involving a suspect of a non-violent crime.

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SCOTUS to Hear Montana Case on School Choice, Religious Liberty

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by Derek Draplin   The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a wide-reaching Montana case dealing with school choice and the First Amendment. The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will take up the case Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which is being litigated by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm. The case stems from a scholarship program passed in 2015 by the Montana legislature that would give tax credits to those who donated to private scholarship organizations, which would then give scholarships to students in need who wanted to attend private schools. The program allowed for scholarships to be used at private religious schools. The Montana Department of Revenue, however, determined that the program violated the state constitution’s “Blaine Amendment” because it allowed for scholarships to be used at religious schools. The Montana Supreme Court backed the Department of Revenue’s argument and later invalidated the scholarship program, leading to the lawsuit. The Institute for Justice is representing several parents including Kendra Espinoza, a single mother who enrolled her kids in a private Christian school after public school wasn’t a good fit. Lower courts have been split on similar questions over school choice in the past,…

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New Study Says Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws in Tennessee and Other States Do Not Reduce Crime

Chris Butler

  Civil Asset Forfeiture laws do not help reduce crime, nor do they reduce the amount of drug use, according to a new study that called out Tennessee for how it carries out some of its laws. The Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Justice released the study, titled Fighting Crime or Raising Revenue. Simply put, increased forfeiture funds had no meaningful effect on crime fighting. However, forfeiture was strongly linked to worsening economic conditions,” said study author Brian D. Kelly. “These results suggest law enforcement agencies pursue forfeiture less to fight crime than to raise revenue,” Kelly wrote. Among Kelly’s findings: • More equitable sharing funds do not translate into more crimes solved. • More equitable sharing funds also do not mean less drug use, even though proponents argue forfeiture helps rid the streets of drugs by financially crippling drug dealers and cartels. • When local economies suffer, equitable sharing activity increases, suggesting police make greater use of forfeiture when local budgets are tight. Kelly’s study examined both civil and criminal forfeitures. “If all forfeiture has little effect on crime fighting, civil forfeiture alone – which requires neither convictions nor even charges – is likely to be even further removed. And…

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Florida City Fines Elderly Man $30,000 Over Uncut Grass, Tries to Steal His Home

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 by Carey Wedler   A Florida town attracted national attention last week for its efforts to fine a 69-year-old retiree nearly $30,000 and then foreclose on his home because he was unable to pay—all because he failed to cut his grass. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the city of Dunedin claims its Code Enforcement Board, which is run by citizens but backed by government authority, fined homeowner Jim Ficken $500 per day over code violations—an increased fine because he is a “repeat” offender. Ficken’s Follies In 2015, he committed his first “offense” when he left town to take care of his dying mother in South Carolina and left his grass unattended. He committed his second violation last summer when he had to manage her estate and settle affairs after her passing. This time, his grass was left uncut because the man who cut it died while Ficken was away. Then, the report says, Ficken’s lawnmower broke, and he let the grass on his front lawn continue to grow. The board claims they received complaints about the height of his grass, which grew past the 10-inch limit last summer, though his attorneys say they have seen no evidence of complaints.…

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Licensing Online Auctioneers Could Hurt Tennessee Economy, Expert Warns

Chris Butler

Online auctioneers will suffer, as will Tennessee’s economy, if state officials require them to get a license, which certain members of the Tennessee General Assembly hope will happen this legislative session. This, according to an official with the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a Nashville-based free market think tank. As The Tennessee Star reported, a bill going through the Tennessee General Assembly would, for the first time, require a license for certain types of online auctions. “The vast majority of complaints about online auctioneering came from business competitors who don’t like having to compete with a new business model. And of course, this artificially inflates prices of goods, all of which are passed on to the consumer. It’s not different than a tax hike” said Braden Boucek, Beacon’s vice president of Legal Affairs, in an emailed statement. Boucek linked to an Institute of Justice study that examined state and national estimates of the economic costs of occupational licensing. The Institute for Justice is a Virginia-based and libertarian law firm that pursues civil liberties and other public interest cases, according to its website. “According to this study, over 21 percent of Tennessee’s workforce is licensed. It costs us 46,068 jobs.  We lose $173…

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