THE INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY

My wonderful parents raised me with the understanding that we all must “choose our battles” in life. Yes, many things in life are not fair, wrongly discriminate, pollute, harm, etc. and etc., but no one person or organization can effectively address all of them. Thus it is good to know about various groups that effectively address some of these important issues on behalf of us all. One of them that I value highly is the Institute for Justice. So I wanted to pass along to our 2 Paragraphs Family some information about them, first of all so that we all can be gratified by knowing about the successful work they do for us all and, secondly, so that we can support them in those important efforts.

So what does this group do? As stated in its website at www.IJ.org, the Institute for Justice is a National Law Firm for Liberty. Since 1991, IJ has come to the aid of individuals who want to do the simple things every American has the right to do—including own property, start and grow a business, speak freely about commerce or politics, and provide their children with a good education—but can’t because they find the government in their way. IJ combines cutting-edge litigation, sophisticated media relations, strategic research, boots-on-the-ground advocacy, legislative outreach and much more in their efforts. Despite the challenge of taking on powerful government officials and entrenched precedents, IJ is successful in winning over 70 percent of its cases in the court of law, in the court of public opinion or through legislative reforms. Toward that end IJ has litigated over 300 cases, including nine before the U.S. Supreme Court, and has lost only one case in the Supreme Court, Kelo v. New London, an eminent domain case “which we went on to win in the court of public opinion.” Some of IJ’s additional litigation successes are: Getting compensation for a Texas woman after the DEA mistakenly destroyed her house, stopping administrative authorities in Ohio from entering businesses and searching their records without a judicial warrant, returning a man’s $30,000 Land Rover automobile after it was confiscated because it was used in a $200 drug offense, removing automatic occupational licensing restrictions for felons who have been released from confinement, taking real property via eminent domain based upon the “public good” of governments receiving greater tax revenues upon the property’s resale to larger enterprises, requiring a judicial warrant before government can video people’s private property for extended periods of time, and stopping the seizure of cash money at airports by the police from people who have not been charged with a crime. You can also learn more about these and other successes by listening to my interview of IJ’s Director Scott Bullock on the June 7, 2019 edition of my podcast All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray, which can be found at https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3883.

The Seven Wonders of the World according to a 9-year-old child: “To Touch, to taste, to see, to hear, to feel, to laugh and to love.” (I think we would all agree that these sensations are even more “wonder”ful than any physical places.)