Current Cases
Case Status: Pending
Rynearson v. Bass
August 27th 2021Together with Christopher Day, Esq., CIR is representing Richard Rynearson, a retired Air Force command pilot and field grade officer, whose right to free speech was violated when Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass banned him from an official Air Force Facebook page because he criticized one of her posts...
Case Status: Pending
Norman Wang v. University of Pittsburgh et al.
December 15th 2020CIR is representing Dr. Norman Wang, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who was disciplined for publishing an article in a scientific journal that analyzed the extent and effect of racial preferences in medical education over the last fifty years. Wang has been on the faculty at the School of Medicine...
Case Status: Pending
Jeffrey Barke et. al v. Eric Banks et al.
February 21st 2020CIR is representing seven California elected officials in an effort stop the enforcement of Section 3550, a California law that prohibits public employers from criticizing public employee unions...
Case Status: Victory in District Court. Defendants are appealing.
Davi v. Hein
September 13th 2016Since 2010, Davi has served as a Hearing Officer and an Administrative Law Judge in New York State’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. In this role, Davi hears the appeals of those who are initially denied eligibility for New York’s public assistance programs and then makes recommendations to his superiors on whether or not...
Timeline
CIR's has a long record of defending the individual right of free speech wherever it is threatened whether from campus speech codes, unions, or federal agencies.
Sep 1994
Silva v. University of New Hampshire
CIR's case against UNH was the first challenge to university speech codes that punished those who expressed politically incorrect sentiments.
Sep 2000
White v. Lee
CIR represented three Berkeley residents who were targeted by HUD for an intrusive civil rights investigation and threatened with massive fines when they protested a proposal to build a homeless shelter in their neighborhood.
Jul 2001
Boystown v. SCSD
Southeast Citizens for Smart Development was concerned about Boys Town’s plans to put troubled teenagers into a "fragile neighborhood that has been plagued by open-air drug markets.” When Boys Town attempted to twist the Fair Housing Act to silence SCSD, CIR came to their rescue.
Feb 2005
Sypniewski v. Warren Hills R.S.D.
With the help of the Center for Individual Rights, Thomas Sypniewski, a high-achieving senior at a Washington, N.J., public high school, prevailed in his several year fight for his First Amendment rights after being suspended in 2001 for wearing a t-shirt listing the “Top 10 Reasons You Might Be A Redneck Sports Fan.”
Jul 2003
Hinkle v. Baker
CIR protected the free speech of a college student who was charged with disrupting a campus event, ordered to write an apology, and threatened with expulsion solely for attempting to post a flier promoting a on a public bulletin board located in a student lounge area in the Multicultural Center.
Mar 2013
Vera v. O'Keefe
CIR's defended undercover independent journalist, James O'Keefe, after his uncovering of several scandals exposed him to political backlash and legal trouble.
Jun 2016
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
In Friedrichs v. CTA, CIR challenged the authority of public sector unions to collect compulsory dues for non-members. Such dues forced teachers to endorse union positions school budgets, class sizes, and other inherently political issues.
May 2017
Desmond v. Harris
CIR represented Timothy Desmond, an artist and historian, who was forbidden from displaying his civil war painting at a county fair because it depicted the confederate flag.
Past Cases
Case Status: Petition for Certiorari denied October 7, 2019.
Seeberger v. Davenport Civil Rights Commission et al.
May 28th 2019Seeberger rented a room in a single family house that she owned to Michelle Schreurs and her then fifteen-year-old daughter for $300 per month. Upon hearing that Schreurs’ daughter was pregnant, Seeberger evicted Schruers and explained that it was because her daughter was pregnant. An Administrative Law Judge found that Seeberger had made discriminatory statements regarding familial status...
Case Status: Case dismissed in wake of decision in Janus v. AFSCME
Yohn v. California Teachers Association
February 6th 2017On February 6, The Center for Individual Rights filed a lawsuit against the state of California and the California Teachers Association on behalf of eight California public school teachers and the Association of American Educators. The teachers are challenging California’s “agency shop” law, which violates the First Amendment by forcing them to pay annual fees to the union – even if they are not a member...
Case Status: Victory
Desmond v. Harris et. al.
August 16th 2016CIR represented Timothy Desmond, an artist, author, and retired school-teacher from Fresno, California, who was denied the right to display his painting in an art competition at a county fair because his depiction of the civil war featured an image of the confederate flag, supposedly in violation of a state law prohibiting the government from displaying confederate flags in public spaces...
Case Status: Victory
Burke v. Doe
February 19th 2014CIR is representing an anonymous Wikipedia editor in a precedent-seeting case designed to establish the First Amendment right of anonymous internet authors to remain anonymous...
Case Status: Dismissed. Dismissal affirmed by an equally divided Supreme Court.
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association et al.
January 25th 2014CIR represented ten California teachers and the Christian Educators Association International in a landmark effort to re-establish the right of individual teachers and other public employees to decide for themselves whether to join and support a union...
Case Status: Successfully closed. The Maryland case was dismissed, the Pennsylvania case was settled, O'Keefe entered into a plea agreement in the New Orleans case, and the California case was settled.
Vera v. O'Keefe
March 15th 2011CIR successfully defended James O’Keefe, who was sued in three different states for recording conversations with ACORN officials under state laws that make it illegal to record a conversation without the consent of the other party...
