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Fighting in Courtrooms Across the Country

The Goldwater Institute frequently takes the fight for liberty to court. Through our Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, we litigate cases and file briefs to advance freedom and defend individual rights across the country, on issues ranging from free speech and property rights to school choice and equal protection under the law, and much more.

We opened the Scharf-Norton Center in 2007, making us the first state-based free-market think tank to deploy a team of lawyers to promote our vision in court. In the decade-plus since, the Institute’s litigation team has advocated for freedom before state supreme courts, federal courts of appeal, and even the U.S. Supreme Court. Here are some of the cases we are working on today:

Case Name & Description
Filing Date
Issue Area
Status
Case Name & Description Stopping the City of Phoenix’s Taxpayer-Funded $7 Million Government Giveaway
Paulin v. City of Phoenix
Filing Date May 4, 2022
Issue Area - Constitutional Rights
- Limited Government
Status Last Step:
Filed complaint and motion for preliminary injunction.

Next Step:
Hearing on motion for preliminary injunction.
Case Name & Description Protecting the Right to Challenge Bureaucratic Overreach
Mills v. Board of Technical Registration
Filing Date January 26, 2022
Issue Area - Jobs & Economy
- Limited Government
Status Last Step:
Filed amicus brief in the Arizona Supreme Court.

Next Step:
Awaiting decision.
Case Name & Description Enforcing Constitutional Limits on Tax Cut Referendum
Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Hobbs
Filing Date January 13, 2022
Issue Area - Limited Government
Status Last Step:
Filed friend of the court brief.

Next Step:
Awaiting hearing
Case Name & Description Respecting Free Speech in Architecture
Burns v. Town of Palm Beach
Filing Date December 8, 2021
Issue Area - Constitutional Rights
- Free Speech
Status Last Step:
Brief filed.

Next Step:
Awaiting decision.
Case Name & Description Protecting Parents’ Right to Know
Fairfax County School Board v. Tisler and Oettinger
Filing Date October 7, 2021
Issue Area - Education
Status Last Step:
Argued motion.

Next Step:
Awaiting decision.
Case Name & Description Protecting States’ Ability to Cut Taxes
State of Ohio v. Yellen
Filing Date June 7, 2021
Issue Area - Limited Government
Status Last Step:
The federal district court issued a permanent injunction against the tax mandate’s enforcement against the state of Ohio.

Next Step:
The federal government may appeal.
Case Name & Description Protecting the Right to Try
AIMS vs. U.S. DEA
Filing Date May 24, 2021
Issue Area - Health Care
Status Last Step:
Filed amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit.

Next Step:
Await decision.
Case Name & Description Fighting Government Overreach during COVID-19
Ghost Golf v. Newsom (California COVID-19 “Blueprint”)
Filing Date April 29, 2021
Issue Area - Jobs & Economy
- Limited Government
Status Last Step:
Filed amicus brief.

Next Step:
Awaiting argument.
Case Name & Description Standing Up to Discriminatory Pro-Union Laws
Boardman v. Inslee
Filing Date April 23, 2021
Issue Area - Constitutional Rights
- Free Speech
- Jobs & Economy
- Limited Government
Status Last Step:
Filed amicus brief supporting the petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Next Step:
Await the Court’s decision on whether to hear the case.
Case Name & Description Protecting Attorneys’ Free Speech Rights
Pomeroy v. Utah State Bar
Filing Date April 13, 2021
Issue Area - Free Speech
Status Last Step:
Filed complaint in Utah federal district court.

Next Step:
Defendants to respond.
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