Articles

Technology has made leaps and bounds since the original hearing aid---aka the ear trumpet---came onto the market.  Nowadays, state-of-the-art hearing aids are sophisticated enough to allow users to fit and tune the devices themselves using iPhones, tablets, or home computers.  In theory, hearing aids should more accessible than ever; one can even ...

Earlier this year, I noted that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals endorsed extreme deference to the government when it rejected a challenge by hair braiders in Missouri to the state's requirement that braiders be licensed as a cosmetologist or barber. In Niang v. Tomblinson, the Supreme Court of the United States has the opportunity to clarify th ...

If you aren't already a regular reader of Overlawyered, you should check it out. Walter Olson does a magnificent job pointing out and explaining the seen and unseen costs of our legal system. Last week I was excited to see Overlawyered link to our Minerva Dairy lawsuit.* In the days that followed, the comments section to that post has had an intere ...

We filed our opening brief in the appeal to our challenge to Wisconsin's irrational butter grading law. I have written about this case a number of times, but the essence of the case is that Wisconsin has adopted an irrational and protectionist scheme to keep out-of-state artisanal butters from entering the Wisconsin market.  In order for any butte ...

More and more people are becoming aware of the expansive and burdensome legal barriers that nearly a third of Americans encounter when seeking to earn a living in the profession of their choice. The most onerous of these barriers is the occupational license. Occupational licensing is typical in professions with serious health and fraud risks (e.g., ...

At PLF, we frequently discuss the problems and burdens associated with occupational licensing. Despite the ever-growing chorus of groups (right, left, and libertarian) calling for government at all levels to reconsider the over-licensing of American workers, all too often we've had the displeasure of reporting on courts rubber stamping licensing sc ...

A year ago, I wrote about the occupational licensing case of two African-style hair braiders in Missouri. In that case, even though neither the state-mandated exam or the cosmetology curriculum covers African-style hair braiding, the braiders face the prospect of having their livelihoods taken away unless they spend thousands of dollars and hundred ...

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court issued its opinion in Women's Surgical Center v. Berry, a case that challenged Georgia's anti-competitive Certificate of Need ("CON") laws. Certificate of Need laws, which PLF has successfully challenged in six other states, force entrepreneurs to prove that there is a "need" for additional services in a market ...

This week I sat down with FreedomWorks to talk about the egregious violation of economic liberty that is occupational licensing.  Nowadays, you need a license to do just about everything under the sun, from dog-watching to helping a friend move.  Such a scheme puts entrepreneurs at the mercy of bureaucrats, even though many of these laws bear no ...