James T. Knight II

Attorney at the Institute for Justice. Georgetown Law '19. All opinions my own.

Live Free or Die.

[Institute for Justice @IJ]

Today, a federal judge 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.
https://t.co/YeRJ7Wwi6A

[Patrick Jaicomo @pjaicomo]

Last week, I highlighted that @TriciaOhio’s response to @IJ’s lawsuit, Venegas v. Homan, revealed that the gov’t is operating on a dangerous misunderstanding of law—that arrests require only reasonable suspicion.

Many said Tricia simply misspoke.

Well, here’s the CBP Chief.
1/

[Dan Alban @DanAlban]

READ about @IJ's latest #Forfeiture victory

#Texas Appeals Court Orders Harris County to Return Over $40,000 Seized in #CivilForfeiture Case to Mississippi Couple

Traveling with #cash is not a crime!
#AppellateTwitter #PublicInterestLaw
#ImpactLitigation https://t.co/qzZjtW1mvb

[Raffi Melkonian @RMFifthCircuit]

Our firm was delighted to partner with @IJ on this appeal. Their team is the real deal.

[James T. Knight II @jamestknightii]

That class action remains pending in the First Court of Appeals in Houston, and the DA and the County have argued that their use of civil forfeiture is not reviewable under the Texas Constitution. That's wrong, and Ameal and Jordan look forward to the court saying so.

[James T. Knight II @jamestknightii]

@IJ clients Ameal Woods and Jordan Davis scored a huge win in TX today:

Texas Appeals Court Reverses Forfeiture of Innocent Americans’ Life Savings and Orders Harris County to Return the $41,680 It Seized
https://t.co/sYgaoz7jKk

[James T. Knight II @jamestknightii]

The fight isn't over. Ameal & Jordan don't just want their savings back, they want to stop Harris County's unconstitutional forfeiture practices for everyone. That's why they teamed up with @IJ to file a class action lawsuit challenging those practices.

https://t.co/sYgaoz7jKk

[windyjosh @windyjosh92]

I live in ALX and there’s a Flock spy camera right outside my neighborhood. I saw another recently while on a bike ride with @andrewwimer. Can @Alyia4ALX or @AlexandriaVAPD please explain why the city needs to spy on me while I’m driving my son to daycare and going on bike rides?

[Patrick Jaicomo @pjaicomo]

Universal injunctions were a tool in need of reform. But getting rid of the tool entirely is something people who fight government abuses—including conservative organizations like @ADFLegal and @America1stLegal—will come to regret.

[Tahmineh Dehbozorgi @DeTahmineh]

Kalispell tried to shut down a homeless shelter that broke no laws—right before winter.

The shelter fought back with @IJ.

We won: The city permanently reinstated its permit.

Helping people isn’t a crime. And we’ll keep fighting to keep it that way.
https://t.co/JU1d68zO2k

[David French @DavidAFrench]

I haven’t seen any evidence anywhere that she did anything other than write an op-ed. If there’s other evidence against her, we need to see it, now. Otherwise we’re looking at deeply chilling, profoundly un-American behavior.

[Rob Johnson @FreeRangeLawyer]

Just about fell out of my chair when I saw this footnote in a brief from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Department of Justice apparently takes the legal position that money isn’t property (for “constitutional purposes,” whatever that means). And the DOJ gives three rationales for that argument: (1) the government creates money, so you can’t own it; (2) the government can tax your money, so you don’t really own it; and (3) the constitution allows the government to spend money for the “general welfare.”

Honestly, these arguments read like a libertarian’s fever dream nightmare.

The first argument: Now that the government is off the gold standard (note the prominent citation to the Legal Tender Cases — which upheld laws making paper currency legal tender for payment of debts), fiat currency is just a legal fiction that the government as easily destroy as create.

The second argument: Since we can tax it, we can destroy it.

The third argument: Since we can spend it for the general welfare, you don’t really own it.

But this isn’t a libertarian’s fever dream. This is a real argument made by a real lawyer employed at the honest-to-god U.S. Department of Justice. You can’t make this stuff up.

[James T. Knight II @jamestknightii]

@DCDPW Our trash on 5th St NE hasn't been picked up all week even though it's usually collected from the front curb. Why has trash collection stopped even on streets? The alleys are irrelevant to curbside collection.

[Texas Observer @TexasObserver]

New from James Knight and @RealDarylJames at @IJ: Permanent punishment that goes beyond court-imposed penalties is not only counterproductive, it’s unconstitutional. Texas is penalizing people for who they were years ago rather than who they are today. https://t.co/HXJxIYa7Cp

[Institute for Justice @IJ]

Texas—and the country—face a 2-fold problem: an exploding mental health and substance abuse crisis + a dire shortage of professional #SocialWorkers to address those issues.

Yet rather than make it easier for qualified applicants to obtain social work licenses and start helping people, Texas is doing the opposite.

In 2019, the state passed a lifetime ban prohibiting anyone with certain convictions from ever becoming a social worker.

It’s a harsh solution to a non-existent problem.

Before 2019, licensing authorities could already deny licenses when a criminal history made someone unsuitable to treat patients.

But under the new law, even people who have turned their lives around after a decades-old conviction are shut out.

That’s why Katherin Youniacutt and Tammy Thompson, two Texas grandmothers denied the right to work under the new legislation, have joined up with IJ to fight back against this unconstitutional ban.

Read more about our new case which launched today: https://t.co/wf1vDvx9rO