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Fourth Amendment

IJ Calls On Arkansas City To Remove Surveillance Camera From In Front Of Innocent Family’s Home

Last year, the city of Greers Ferry, Arkansas, entered into a contract with Flock Safety to install five “Flock Safety Falcon” license plate reader cameras around the city—the same cameras IJ is suing over in Norfolk, Virginia. One of those cameras was installed directly in front of the home of Charlie and Angie Wolf. The Wolfs cannot enter or leave their driveway without the camera capturing a picture and uploading it to a database for officials to search. IJ has sent a letter to Greers Ferry asking them to remove the camera and not renew the contract with Flock.

“Every time me, my family, friends, children or grandchildren come to, leave, play in the front yard or try to enjoy our private property, we are being photographed and added to a database without consent or violation of any law,” said Charlie.

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Alex and Lynda Pepin

Zoning Justice

Minnesota Family Sues City To Build Cottage For Family In Need

Alex and Lynda Pepin believe in using what they have to help others. So when their hometown—Blaine, Minnesota—recently passed a law allowing homeowners to build backyard homes (known as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs), they saw an opportunity to help. Motivated by their faith and years of work with local nonprofits, the Pepins decided to build an ADU behind their home in order to rent it out at a below-market rate to a family down on their luck. The Pepins followed the law to the letter, but neighbors spread rumors to pressure the town to block the ADU.

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Cristal Starling

Civil Forfeiture

Court Rules Rochester Woman Not Entitled To Fees Or Interest After Police Seized Her Money Without Suspecting Her Of Crime

On Monday, a district court ruled that a Rochester woman was not entitled to attorney fees and interest payments after police seized $8,040 from her in 2020 and held onto it for years, without ever charging her with any crime. Cristal Starling and IJ will appeal this decision to the 2nd Circuit. Congress passed a law letting victims of wrongful seizures get interest and fees to discourage bad behavior by government, but courts have increasingly neutered this law.

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WATCH: Another Game Warden Caught Spying: "This is a real problem"

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IJ Podcasts

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Short Circuit: Pyramid Power 

We look into the gray area between a multi-level-marketing venture, like Amway, and a “pyramid scheme.” Appellate attorney Kyle Singhal discusses whether prosecutors in a mail-fraud case got over their skis by repeatedly calling what the defendants did a pyramid scheme.

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Short Circuit: Metering Constitutional Rights

Can the government force you to only exercise a constitutional right once a month? Could it do that with speech? Or practicing religion? How about keeping and bearing arms?

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