Equality and Opportunity

For over 30 years, Peggy Fontenot has sold her beadwork and photographs at American Indian art shows across the country. But this year, at the behest of politically connected tribes, Oklahoma passed a law that prohibits anyone who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe from marketing their art as “American Indian-made.” This & ...

Today I’ll argue this economic liberty case on behalf of David Hansen at the Oregon Supreme Court. David studied architecture at the University of Idaho.  After college, he worked at various architectural firms doing design work.  Later, David and a partner started their own firm—Twist Architecture—to use their skills while pursuing lic ...

Ndioba Niang and Tameka Stigers are professional African-style hair braiders in Missouri. When the Missouri Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners told them that they had to stop practicing their trade unless they underwent hundreds of hours of irrelevant training (and paid thousands of dollars for the trouble) to be licensed as cosmetologists ...

Monday we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., who dreamed that his children would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Thanks to Dr. King, the long-sought goal of equality under the law is within reach. But we still have work to do. Consider the story of Edmund Lee … ...

The NCAA prohibits felons from coaching in sponsored basketball tournaments. Dominic Hardie, a black basketball coach, sued the NCAA for racial discrimination. But Hardie doesn’t allege intentional discrimination. Instead, he’s suing the NCAA under a theory of liability known as disparate impact. One problem: It’s an open quest ...

Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a union’s lawsuit challenging Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, and a Florida appellate court rejected a school district’s claim that charter schools violate the state constitution. These decisions protect K-12 students across the state. Florida’s tax credit scholarship ...

Today, PLF filed an amicus brief in New York supporting the New York Farm Bureau’s defense against a transparently political lawsuit. In the case, several union groups are asking the court to declare the limitations of the New York State Labor Relations Act unconstitutional. … ...

Last year, PLF and Parent Revolution joined forces to support a group of elementary school parents who were sued by the Anaheim school district. What did the parents do to warrant legal action? As we previously discussed, they invoked California’s Parent Empowerment Act, also known as the “parent trigger,” and petitioned to conve ...

Opponents of burdensome occupational licensing laws in Florida may soon have reason to celebrate. Two bills were recently filed in the Florida legislature that would bring some mild, but welcome relief to Floridians seeking to earn a living. In recent years, the difficulties faced by military spouses to receive license reciprocity when they move to ...