#^One city is using STRAY CATS to SEIZE property?



Why is one New Jersey town using stray cats to seize a family-owned tire shop and four homes?
#video #IJ #Government_is_the_enemy

#^Traffic Stop Scam Exposed ($1.5M Settlement Agreement)



Learn more about this case here: #^https://ij.org/press-release/class-action-plaintiffs-and-brookside-alabama-submit-settlement-proposing-1-5-million-in-compen...
#video #IJ #Government_is_the_enemy

#^He Criticized the Mayor. They Arrested Him. He WON.



A federal judge in Iowa ruled that the city of Newton, Iowa, violated Noah Petersen’s constitutional rights when city leaders arrested him for critiquing the police and calling them “fascists” during a city council meeting. The decision is a clear warning to government officials nationwide: in America, you don’t get to call the cops on your critics. If you do, not even qualified immunity can save you.

“Today’s ruling is a major win for government accountability,” said Institute for Justice (IJ) Attorney James Knight. “From small towns to federal agents, government officials don’t get to use the power of arrest to punish protected speech. The First Amendment doesn’t allow public meetings to become praise-only zones—and it certainly doesn’t allow officials to weaponize the police against dissent.”
#video #IJ #free_speech #qualified_immunity

#Amsterdam #Ij

Het IJ Amsterdam




#cityscape #hetij #amsterdam #ships #architecture #holland #ij

#^About - Americans Against Qualified Immunity



Americans Against Qualified Immunity is a grassroots initiative of the Institute for Justice’s Project on Immunity and Accountability, devoted to a simple idea:  If we the people must follow the law, our government must follow the Constitution.

The Institute for Justice is a national public interest, civil liberties law firm, dedicated to instilling accountability in government officials and vindicating the rights of all Americans.

A web of legal doctrines effectively places government workers above the law by making it nearly impossible for individuals to hold them accountable for violations of constitutional rights. Outside of narrow exceptions, these doctrines give all those employed by the government—police, mayors, school officials, IRS agents, you name it—immunity from lawsuits, even if they act in bad faith.

Since the only way to enforce the Constitution is through courts, these doctrines make the Constitution an empty promise by firmly shutting the courthouse doors. But the Constitution is a promise meant to be kept. Those who take an oath to uphold it should be required to keep it. If they don’t, they should be held accountable for their actions.

To that end, IJ is dedicated to knocking down barriers to the enforcement of our nation’s most fundamental law.

We do this through litigation, public education, legislative advocacy, and grassroots activism.
#qualified_immunity #IJ

#^This State Made Selling a Box Illegal



Under Oklahoma law, it’s a crime for anyone but a state-licensed funeral director to sell caskets to the public.  

To become licensed funeral directors, Candi and Todd would have to spend 2 years in a mortuary science program (training in skills wholly unnecessary to selling a casket), complete a one-year apprenticeship under a funeral director, pass two exams on funeral directing, and pay thousands of dollars. And it doesn’t stop there.

They would also have to convert their workshop in Calvin into a full-service funeral home—spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build an embalming room, create a viewing area for human remains, and purchase a fleet of vehicles to transport human remains. None of these additions would be of any use to them.

All of that to sell a box. But caskets serve no public health or safety purpose.

Now, represented by IJ, Candi and Todd have filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma’s outrageous licensing requirements for casket sales. 
#video #IJ #regulation #Government_is_the_enemy

#^Inmates Forced to Pay for Sheriff's Slush Fund



A class-action lawsuit alleges that a sheriff in Iowa created a devious scheme to take money from people accused of crimes and keep it for his department.

According to the lawsuit, before they could get out of jail, people were forced to sign a document agreeing to pay for the cost of their own incarceration.

But instead of only spending that money on the jail, the sheriff diverted 40% of the money to fund his own office.

–including a state of the art shooting range, laser tag for employee parties, and rented cotton candy machines

IJ is challenging a similar scheme in Brookside, Alabama where the small town police department has cashed in on similar self-funding by ticketing and towing drivers.

There the police force for a town of just 1,300 people, bought a tank,  shiny new SUVs, and military style uniforms, all on the backs of residents and people passing by on the interstate.

But using the justice system to enrich law enforcement is unconstitutional. That’s true in Brookside and it’s true in Iowa.  

That’s why IJ has filed a brief supporting the challenge to the sheriff’s money making scheme.  

IJ can’t take on every case, but we can offer our support to worthy efforts to protect rights and move the law in the right direction.
#video #IJ #Government_is_the_enemy

#^DHS says REAL ID, which DHS certifies, is too unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship

Only the government could spend 20 years creating a national ID that no one wanted and that apparently doesn't even work as a national ID.

But that's what the federal government has accomplished with the REAL ID, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now considers unreliable, even though getting one requires providing proof of citizenship or lawful status in the country.

In a December 11 court filing, Philip Lavoie, the acting assistant special agent in charge of DHS' Mobile, Alabama, office, stated that, "REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship."
#IJ #Government_is_the_enemy