Major supreme court cases, litigation, amicus curiae briefs, government speech, First Amendment, legal news, legal updates, checkoff legal challenges, legal policy papers

Center's Legal Activities

The Center participates in a wide range of legal activities on behalf of fundamental individual rights protection, including participating in on-going litigation projects, filing amicus curiae briefs, and educating the public through legal commentary and policy papers.

Latest News:

Corporate America's Right to Free Speech:
Center Files Brief with Supreme Court in Nike Case

Arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court should either clarify or abandon existing commercial speech doctrine, the Center for Individual Freedom today files an amicus brief before the High Court in Nike, Inc. v. Kasky...[more]

More than 150 years after gold was first discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, a new Gold Rush has begun in that state, fueled by the shameless exploitation of one of the most powerful consumer protection laws in the nation.  Trading in their pick axes and mules for law degrees and monogrammed briefcases, today’s prospectors are trial lawyers who are panning for gold along the shores of endless streams of unsuspecting businesses...[more]

Smallpox, considered to have been the worst disease known to man, is the only one ever to be eradicated.  That is an unparalleled accomplishment of progressive medicine, organization and worldwide commitment.  In the horrifying, potentially cataclysmic new world of terrorism, it may also be temporary...[more]

With the 108th Congress in session less than a month, a showdown over privacy issues is already gearing up...[more] 

Center Files Amicus Brief on Affirmative Action in U.S. Supreme Court

Arguing that affirmative action admissions programs violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Center for Individual Freedom filed an amicus brief on January 16 urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the racial and ethnic preferences used by the University of Michigan’s undergraduate and law schools in their admissions...[more]

Federal Judge Rules Beef Checkoff is 'Government Speech'

Abandoning the notion that the beef checkoff is a “self-help” program, the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) have temporarily staved off one of a number of challenges to the beef checkoff by persuading a federal court that the program is, in fact, “government speech.”...[more]

Student Continues to Suffer
As School Board Reconsiders Zero Tolerance Policy

This week, the Escambia County School Board agreed to reconsider its zero tolerance policy in the wake of public and media outcry against its current zero "common sense" policy. The imposition of the zero tolerance policy became a national embarrassment to the Escambia County School District this fall when expulsion from Pensacola High School was recommended for honor student Teresa Elenz after she found a bag of pills on campus. (To read more about Ms. Elenz’s case, click here)...[more]

Teresa Elenz Returned to School: Zero Tolerance Railroad Job Derailed

On Friday, September 27, an independent hearing officer appointed by the Escambia County, Florida District School Board drafted an order for Teresa Elenz to return to Pensacola High School. Pending a meeting of the school board to finalize the order, Teresa was allowed to return to school on Monday, September 30...[more]

Zero Tolerance in Pensacola: Inquisition in a Cesspool

The new school year has barely begun, yet the zero tolerance torquemados are already hard at their unforgiving task, punishing the innocent in mindless obeisance to institutionalized dereliction of duty...[more]

Free Speech in a Commercial World: The Nike Paradox

By D. Eric Schippers

"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech..."
James Madison penned the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide express protection for the fundamental right to speak in a free and open society. Despite the simplicity of Madison’s words, the notion of free speech, particularly as it applies to corporate entities, has eluded easy definition and has been the subject of endless legal and political debate...[more]

Center Files Brief on Behalf of Tattoo Artist

White continues to challenge both his conviction and the statute on the grounds that banning the art of tattooing violates his constitutionally protected right of free expression...[more]

To download the brief, please click here.

Center to Participate in Capitol Hill Roundtable on Legal Challenges to Commodity Checkoff Programs

On July 22, 2002, the Center for Individual Freedom’s Executive Director, Eric Schippers, will participate in a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, hosted by The Dairy Trade Coalition, on the mounting legal and legislative challenges to the nation’s mandatory agricultural commodity promotion programs...[more]

Free Speech Means Not Having to Play "Mother May I?" with the Government

By Erik S. Jaffe, Esq.: On Monday, the Supreme Court confirmed what most people not working for the government intuitively understand: Forcing people to get permission from the government in order to speak to their fellow citizens violates the First Amendment. In its decision in Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York v. Village of Stratton, No. 00-1737 (June 17, 2002), the Court struck down a village ordinance that required persons wishing to engage in door-to-door advocacy first to register with the Village and obtain a permit...{more]

Westover, West Virginia Suspends Sign Ordinance;
Stops Mayor From Removing Political Signs From Private Property

By Kim Croyle, Esq. Following repeated calls by the Center for Individual Freedom to amend a controversial sign ordinance, the City Council of Westover, West Virginia, has directed its Mayor to cease requiring permits for temporary signs and abandon her practice of removing unpermitted signs from private property until City Council has the opportunity to examine and amend its ordinance...[more]

Center urges West Virginia Mayor to Stop Infringing on Residents' Constitutional Right to Free Speech

In response to several calls from concerned citizens in Westover, West Virginia, the Center for Individual Freedom faxed a letter on April 18, 2002, to Westover Mayor Suzanne Riffon Kenney, urging her to reconsider her crusade to remove signs from the private property of residents and requesting that the local legislative body amend its sign ordinance to comport with constitutional protections...[more]

To read the letter, please click here.

Center files Amicus Brief in Support of Free Speech

On April 10, 2002, the Center for Individual Freedom filed an amicus curiae brief in the Michigan Court of Appeals, supporting the constitutional right of free speech of both employees and employers in a hostile workplace environment lawsuit...[more]

To download the brief, please click here.

Final Brief Filed in Beef Checkoff Case; Hearing Scheduled

On April 2, 2002, attorneys for independent ranchers Jeanne and Steve Charter in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom, filed the final brief before oral arguments begin in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program. A hearing on the case is scheduled for April 16, 2002, before Judge Cebull of the U.S. District Court in Billings, Montana.

The legal brief reiterates the argument that the mandatory checkoff program should be struck down because it violates the First Amendment rights of independent ranchers by forcing them to contribute to speech with which they disagree. The lawsuit was filed following a June 25, 2001, ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. United Foods in which the Court ruled the mandatory mushroom program is unconstitutional.

To download the brief, please click here.

Dairy Farmers and Center for Individual Freedom File Suit Against Dairy Checkoff

A family of dairy farmers, in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF), filed on April 2, 2002 a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory dairy promotion program.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on behalf of Joe and Brenda Cochran, seeks to enjoin the USDA and the Dairy Promotion Board from collecting dairy checkoff assessments, or using existing checkoff funds without prior consent of those assessed, pending a declaratory judgment in the case. In addition, the suit asks the court to prohibit defendants from using dairy checkoff funds in defense of this claim...[more]

To download the legal complaint as a word document, please click here.

Center Files Motion for Summary Judgment in Beef Checkoff Case

Attorneys for Jeanne and Steve Charter in Montana and the Center for Individual Freedom, on March 1, 2002, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory beef promotion program...[more]

To read the brief, please click here.

Legislative vs. Executive Branch: The Clash Over Access to Information

By Renee L. Giachino, General Counsel, CFIF
A great deal of news coverage has been devoted to the collapse of Enron and the events surrounding its demise. Among the most controversial stories has been Vice President Dick Cheney’s refusal to turn over to the General Accounting Office (GAO) -- Congress’ investigative arm...[more]

Dairy Farmers and Center for Individual Freedom Mount Legal Challenge to Dairy Checkoff

A family of dairy farmers, working in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom (CIF), today announced that it has engaged a prominent agricultural attorney to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the USDA’s mandatory dairy promotion program....[more]

Center Submits Comments on Proposed Microsoft Settlement

By Renee L. Giachino, General Counsel, CFIF
"Assessing the benefits and costs of this settlement is difficult, but clearly the public interest is better served by an expeditious settlement than continued litigation…" [more]

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