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Liberty Justice Center
AbbreviationLJC
Formation2011
Founders
Type501(c)(3) organization
45-4204425
Headquarters7500 Rialto Blvd Suite 1-250 Austin, TX 78735
LeaderSara Albrecht
Revenue$2,798,379[1] (2023)
Staff26 (2023)[2]
Websitelibertyjusticecenter.org

The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) is an American non-profit public interest law firm in the United States. LJC was founded in Chicago in 2011, but as of 2025 is based in Texas.

In April 2025, LJC sued the Trump administration in the United States Court of International Trade with the case V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump and has been featured in national news outlets as such as The Wall Street Journal,[3] Bloomberg,[4][5] Forbes,[6] The Hill,[7] among others as part of a broader series of public-interest law firms filing suit against the Trump administration's unilateral installation of tariffs on April 2, 2025, labeled Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs.[8]

LJC also provided pro bono legal representation to child support specialist Mark Janus of the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31.[9]

LJC is mostly described as nonpartisan,[10] but has variously been described as free market,[11][12] libertarian,[13] and is sometimes described as conservative, most especially when it operated as part of the Illinois Policy Institute before being spun off into its own nonprofit organization.[14][15][16]

History

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Liberty Justice Center (LJC) was originally founded by John Tillman and Patrick Hughes under the umbrella of Illinois Policy Institute in Chicago in 2011.[17][18] While the two entities once shared a chairman—John Tillman—LJC maintained its own governance, mission, fundraising, and legal operations. From its founding in 2011 through 2019, LJC focused exclusively on litigation in Illinois. That changed in 2019 with the filing of Sweet v. California Association of Psychiatric Technicians, marking LJC's first case outside of Illinois. In 2020, John Tillman stepped down as chairman of LJC and was succeeded by Sara Albrecht. Since then, LJC has expanded significantly, litigating over 135 cases in 36 states. In 2020 LJC also relocate to Texas. LJC is no longer affiliated with Illinois Policy Institute. Hughes served as President of the organization from 2011 until 2022.[19][20]

Sara Albrecht is Chairman and Treasurer of the organization. LJC is nonpartisan, but was described by the Champaign News-Gazette newspaper in 2017 as having a “don't-tread-on-me approach toward political and economic freedom.”[21] LJC also works to advance school choice and charter schools in the United States.[22]

The Liberty Justice Center is an affiliate of the State Policy Network.[23][24]

Cases

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The Liberty Justice Center does not accept government funding of any kind, and has a selective caseload focused on suing the government. LJC sued the city of Chicago in 2016 over its regulations for home-sharing, and according to the Chicago Tribune attorneys called the city’s regulations “draconian”.[25] LJC has also sued the city of Chicago over its so-called “Netflix tax” on web-based streaming services.[26] The Chicago Tribune reported in 2015 that LJC sued the village of Downers Grove in suburban Chicago over a ban on painted wall signs.[27] LJC has also sued over Illinois’ campaign contribution limits.[28]

Harris v. Quinn

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In 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Illinois woman Pam Harris in the case out of Illinois Harris v. Quinn. The ruling meant that thousands of home caregivers in Illinois and nationally were no longer classified as state employees and no longer forced to pay union fees or dues. The Liberty Justice Center successfully petitioned the state to expand this ruling to home childcare providers, meaning approximately 50,000 Illinois day care providers were no longer forced to pay dues to the SEIU.[29]

Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31

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Liberty Justice Center worked on the United States Supreme Court case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31. The Court heard oral arguments in this case on Feb. 26, 2018.[30]

The case came about in March 2015, when three government workers from Illinois represented by attorneys from LJC legal action to challenge union fair share dues. The case is named after Mark Janus, an Illinois child support specialist covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Janus claims that he should not need to pay fees to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees because doing so constitutes paying for political speech with which Janus disagrees.[31] Under Illinois law, state government can require its employees to pay fees to a government union as a condition of employment.

V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump

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In April 2025, the Liberty Justice Center sued the Trump administration in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump[32] in what LJC alleged was an unconstitutional overreach of Executive branch authority by unilaterally imposing tariffs on nearly all imports and almost overnight jeopardizing entire business models of several enterprises.[33][34][35][36][37][38][8] James Fanelli reported with The Wall Street Journal that, "Other challenges have been filed in the court and in federal district courts around the country, but the V.O.S. case is front and center so far."[39]

Ilya Somin, a libertarian law professor at George Mason University said of the case in April 2025 that, "If this were to get to the Supreme Court and the case were to be decided on the merits, as opposed to some technical procedural issue, I think we have a good chance of getting the five votes that we need."[40][41] Somin also said, "The threat to the rule of law is an additional reason why courts should not hesitate to strike down Trump's tariff power grab in the various cases brought against it, such as those filed by the Liberty Justice Center..."[42] Somin, having partnered with the LJC for the legal challenges of Trump's tariff actions, has been interviewed repeatedly by many media outlets.[43][44]

The Daily Beast reported that the LJC has sued Trump for what it called an, "...'Unprecedented Power Grab' Over Tariffs".[45]

Glennon v. Johnson

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In 2025, it was reported that Bally's Corporation amended the terms of an Initial public offering (IPO) of stock in which Bally's had previously required purchasers of the stock to be of an ethnic minority background or female. Bally's changed the requirement of the stock offering to be open to anyone to be able to purchase, regardless of background, after LJC filed the Glennon v. Johnson lawsuit.[46]

Funding

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According to ProPublica, early funding of the LJC included several conservative and libertarian sources, including: The Rauner Family Foundation, a family foundation headed by Richard Uihlein, the Mercer Family Foundation, and DonorsTrust.[47]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Liberty Justice Center - Nonprofit Explorer". 9 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Our Team".
  3. ^ "New Lawsuit Takes Aim at Trump's 'Liberation Day' Tariffs". WSJ. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  4. ^ "Bloomberg and Forbes Podcast Interviews About our Lawsuit Challenging Trump's "Liberation Day" Tariffs". Reason.com. 2025-04-17. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  5. ^ Wheeler, Lydia (April 8, 2025). "First Conservative-Leaning Groups Push Back on President Trump". bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  6. ^ Durkee, Alison. "California Suing Trump Over Tariffs—First State To Bring Lawsuit". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  7. ^ Schonfeld, Zach (April 14, 2025). "Trump sued over 'Liberation Day' tariffs". thehill.com. Retrieved April 19, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Khardori, Ankush (2025-05-01). "The Supreme Court Could Unleash Chaos on the Economy". POLITICO. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  9. ^ Janus, Mark. "Why I don't want to pay union dues". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  10. ^ Queen, Jack (April 14, 2025). "Trump administration sued over tariffs in US Court of International Trade". reuters.com. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  11. ^ "Free Market Group Sues Bullock Over 'Dark Money' Rule". Montana Public Radio. 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  12. ^ Caruso, Stephen (2019-08-13). "Backed by high-powered law firm, Pa. state worker files class action suit to demand union dues refund • Pennsylvania Capital-Star". Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  13. ^ "Libertarian group sues President Trump over 'liberation day' tariffs | Just The News". justthenews.com. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  14. ^ "Judge Changes Election-Day Voter Registration". NPR Illinois. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  15. ^ "On Again/Off Again Election Day Voter Registration Lands On "On"". NPR Illinois. 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  16. ^ Larson, Erik (April 30, 2025). "Trump Tells Court His Tariffs Can't Be Reviewed by Judges (1)". bloombergtax.com. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  17. ^ "Republican-Backed Organization To Pursue Illinois Campaign Contribution Caps Lawsuit". NPR Illinois. 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  18. ^ "Illinois Policy Institute yields big bucks for John Tillman, other leaders". Chicago Sun-Times. 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  19. ^ Project, Illinois Opportunity (2021-08-10). "Patrick Hughes". Illinois Opportunity Project. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  20. ^ "Lawsuit challenges Alaska campaign disclosure rules". Alaska Public Media. 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  21. ^ Dey, Jim (2017-06-01). "Jim Dey: Lawyer is a slugger in war on bad rules". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  22. ^ Friedman, Corey (2025-05-01). "Our Opinion: Public or private? Charter schools pose a quandary - Restoration NewsMedia". Restoration NewsMedia -. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  23. ^ "Conservative PAC Suing Over Illinois Restrictions On 'Independent' Committees". NPR Illinois. 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  24. ^ "Liberty Justice Center". State Policy Network. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  25. ^ Marotti, Ally (2016-11-16). "Chicago's Airbnb home-sharing rules are 'draconian,' lawsuit says". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  26. ^ Peterson, Josh. "Chicago sued for 'Netflix tax'". Watchdog.org. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  27. ^ Mannion, Annemarie. "Downers Grove man sues over new village ban on painted wall signs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  28. ^ Pearson, Rick (2012-07-25). "Illinois conservative group sues over campaign contribution limits". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  29. ^ "Unionized Illinois day care providers no longer forced to pay $10 million to SEIU". Illinois Policy Institute. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  30. ^ "Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 - SCOTUSblog". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  31. ^ https://ljc-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/12/Rauner-v.-AFSCME-120-First-Amended-Complaint-2015.06.01.pdf
  32. ^ Millhiser, Ian (2025-05-07). "A federal court is about to decide whether to strike down Trump's tariffs". Vox. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  33. ^ Li, Katherine. "A wine importer, pipe-maker, and fishing gear shop want to take down Trump's tariffs". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  34. ^ www.cato.org https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/lawsuit-end-liberation-day-tariffs. Retrieved 2025-04-19. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  35. ^ Jenkins, Mike (2025-04-18). "Small Businesses Seek Emergency Halt To Trump's "Liberation Day" Tariffs". www.tampafp.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  36. ^ "Liberty Justice Center and I File Lawsuit Challenging Trump's "Liberation Day" Tariffs". Reason.com. 2025-04-14. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  37. ^ "V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump". Liberty Justice Center. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  38. ^ Halvorson, Rusty. "Lawsuit filed on Trump tariffs". The Mighty 790 KFGO | KFGO. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  39. ^ Fanelli, James. "This Obscure New York Court Is Set to Decide Fate of Trump's Tariffs". WSJ. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  40. ^ Khardori, Ankush (2025-04-21). "'An Enormous Usurpation': Inside the Case Against Trump's Tariffs". POLITICO. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  41. ^ "Lawsuit challenges Trump tariffs, saying he has overstepped constitutional authority". Lakeshore Public Media| Public Broadcasting for Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. 2025-05-05. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  42. ^ "How Trump's Tariffs Threaten the Rule of Law". Reason.com. 2025-05-02. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  43. ^ Inskeep, Steve (2025-05-05). "Lawsuit challenges Trump tariffs, saying he has overstepped constitutional authority". www.kuow.org. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  44. ^ "NPR Interview on Legal Challenges to Trump's IEEPA Tariffs". Reason.com. 2025-05-07. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  45. ^ "Conservative Group Sues Trump for 'Unprecedented Power Grab'". The Daily Beast. 2025-04-15. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  46. ^ Jenkins, Mike (2025-05-01). "Victory For Equal Opportunity: Bally's Revises Illinois Casino Offering After Legal Challenge". www.tampafp.com. Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  47. ^ Sfondeles, Mick Dumke,Tina (2018-02-08). "As Conservative Group Grows In Influence, Financial Dealings Enrich Its Leaders". ProPublica. Retrieved 2025-05-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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