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Publications

August 2011

IJ: 20 Years of Changing Clients' Lives

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IJ’s first clients Pamela Ferrell and
Taalib-Din Uqdah demonstrated excessive government-imposed licensing
on a safe and uncomplicated practice, such as hairbraiding, was both
outrageous and unconstitutional.

IJ clients Jim and JoAnn Saleet were
determined to save their home from eminent domain abuse, and with
IJ’s help, they did.

IJ client and SpeechNow.org President
David Keating set an important First Amendment precedent ending
government-imposed restrictions on how individuals can participate
in the political process.

By John E. Kramer

At the Institute for Justice, we change the law, but we also do
something more subtle and yet profound:  We change
lives.

Throughout the past 20 years, IJ has won a series of
victories extending the boundaries of individual liberty by rolling back
the power of government.  In so doing, we helped clients recognize
they aren’t alone; we helped other clients save their lifelong dreams; and
we not only transformed our clients’ lives, but we also created
opportunities through freedom that will play out for years to
come.

“IJ gave definition to our
struggle.”

The Institute for Justice’s very first client,
Taalib-Din Uqdah, wasn’t seeking a new life’s mission when he first
approached IJ for legal help.  He merely wanted to braid hair in the
District of Columbia, but was blocked from doing so under a local law that
required him to become a government-licensed cosmetologist.  To get
the license, he would have had to spend thousands of dollars and months of
his life studying how to do everything except braid hair because D.C.’s
cosmetology curriculum did not teach hairbraiding.

As Uqdah and his
wife Pamela worked with the Institute for Justice, they realized how
important the principles they were fighting for were, not just for
themselves, but for others, too.

“IJ gave definition to our
struggle,” he said.  “Prior to coming into contact with IJ, we knew
that we were right and the city was wrong, but we were never able to
define that until we heard two words:  economic liberty.  And
then it all started to make sense.  The most interesting part of this
was from those two little words, a whole new world opened up for us.
Once we were taught, we went out as teachers and became little IJs in
empowering people to stand up for what it is that they believe
in.”

Through IJ’s legal advocacy and strategic media relations,
including a landmark television feature by John Stossel on ABC’s
20/20 called, “Rules, Rules, Stupid Rules,” the D.C. City Council
capitulated and allowed Uqdah and Pamela to get back in business without a
government-issued license.  The couple went on to build one of the
nation’s most successful hairbraiding businesses, employing hundreds of
braiders over the years, dozens of whom have gone on to grow the economic
pie by starting their own hairbraiding businesses.  Uqdah and Pamela
went on to become national advocates for economic liberty, founding the
American Hairbraiders & Natural Haircare Association, which has
effectively advocated for the deregulation of hairbraiding in many
states.

“There is no going back,” Uqdah said.  “And besides,
what would I be going back to?  Who would prefer to be
ignorant?  The beauty of that growth and development is that it
continues.  We don’t rest on our laurels.  That moves the human
race forward.  I am a contributing factor in the growth of human
development.”

“IJ showed us how to fight.”

Jim and JoAnn
Saleet had a simple dream:  They merely wanted to enjoy the home they
worked so hard to own, to stay there for the rest of their days and maybe
someday pass that home on to one of their children.  The mayor and
city council members in their little town of Lakewood, Ohio, however, had
other plans.  City officials wanted to take the Saleets’ home, and
the homes of their neighbors, and give that land to a politically powerful
developer for an upscale mall and high-end condos whose inhabitants would
enjoy the spectacular views across the Rocky River Gorge that first
attracted Jim and JoAnn decades earlier to their dream home.

Jim
and JoAnn were determined to fight, but they didn’t know how they could
win.

“There was no way that we could have afforded to fight the
development plan, and the folks trying to put us out of our home knew
that,” JoAnn said.  “Then IJ sought us out and helped us in every
which way.  IJ showed us how to fight.”

Jim and JoAnn were
reluctant leaders in the successful effort to save their neighborhood from
eminent domain abuse.  Their granddaughter, a toddler, was battling
cancer and they didn’t want to do anything to take their focus off of her
needs.  But neighbor after neighbor showed up on the Saleets’ porch
worried about the city’s latest threat to kick them out and leave them
with nothing if they dared to fight.  Finally, Jim and JoAnn had seen
enough of the city’s bullying and they divided their time between their
family’s needs and this epic battle.  They would fight the city’s
abuse of eminent domain with everything they had.

Jim and JoAnn
fought and won.  After a bout with cancer, Jim got his wish of
spending his last days in the home he loved so much—a home that his sons
renovated to suit their father’s needs in his last days . . . a home Jim
and JoAnn’s daughter, Judy, and her family of seven kids now share with
JoAnn, who has set up her own upholstery studio in the
basement.

Jim and JoAnn had a simple dream.  And as JoAnn
recently told us, “None of this would exist—our home wouldn’t
exist—without IJ.  Thanks to IJ, we’ve lived the life we hoped to
live.”

"IJ's work ensured that the Constitution will be
respected."

How many people can say that their work led to
a wholesale change in the law, a change that left their fellow countrymen
more free to speak and participate in the American political
process?  IJ client David Keating can say that.

David joined
with a handful of others who sought to defend the First Amendment through
an organization they launched called SpeechNow.org, which would allow them
to pool their money and pay for political ads supporting political
candidates who defended free speech and seeking to defeat those candidates
whose votes harmed the First Amendment.  There was one problem:
When two or more people pooled their money in this way, they had to
register with the government, which imposed restrictions that seriously
limited the efficacy of their advocacy.

So David and the others
joined with IJ to fight for their First Amendment rights.  As a
result of SpeechNow.org’s legal victory striking down most
government-imposed restrictions on “independent expenditure groups” like
SpeechNow.org, 26 new “Super PACs” were launched in the 2010 election
cycle and tremendously influenced the outcome of the races in which they
were involved.  And even more are now in place gearing up for the
2012 election cycle, all thanks to David’s (and SpeechNow.org’s)
victory.  The Federal Election Commission lists 102 active
independent expenditure committees on its website—a testimony to the
impact of David’s victory over the government Goliath.

David said,
“What we were able to do with SpeechNow.org finally liberated speech for
all citizens.  What surprised me most is how quickly the
SpeechNow.org decision has had such a broad impact across the
nation.  IJ’s work ensured that the Constitution will be
respected.”  And that impact will be felt across the political
spectrum for decades to come.

Our clients inspire us and through
their courage affect the lives of so many others.  Growing together
during our litigation and even after it is complete is one of the most
gratifying experiences we all have at the Institute for Justice.

John E. Kramer is IJ's vice president for
communications.

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