Center for Justice

The Pelican Center for Justice is dedicated to advancing pro-freedom litigation to ensure the rights of Louisiana’s working families are protected. Aggressively litigious, anti-freedom special interests are using the courtroom to fight policy battles, which makes defending the rights of citizens all the more important. Now, more than ever, Louisiana needs liberty-focused strategic litigation, and the Pelican Center for Justice is working tirelessly to ensure the freedoms of all Louisianans are intact.

Release: Appeal Filed in Halstead Bead Remote-Seller Sales Tax Case

For media inquiries please contact Chris Lowery (225) 726-1822 or chris@pelicaninstitute.org New Orleans — Yesterday, Halstead Bead, represented by a team from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s Taxpayer Defense Center, the Pelican Institute, and the Goldwater Institute, filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in its ongoing lawsuit that...

By Chris Lowery

Federal Judge Blocks Overreaching Government Mandates on Head Start

Today, a judge in Louisiana’s Western District ruled that the federal government cannot mandate Head Start program teachers, staff, and volunteers in twenty-four states to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, nor can it require that adults and students wear masks. This ruling marks the second time the Pelican Institute and Liberty Justice Center clients have stopped...

By Sarah Harbison

Judge Certifies Air Force Class Action Protecting Servicemembers from Wrongful Separation

A federal judge has advanced a class action lawsuit consisting of all active and reserve Air Force servicemembers with religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and granted a preliminary injunction protecting those airmen from being discharged as their case progresses. In March, the Pelican Center for Justice filed suit in the Western District of...

By James Baehr

Lawyer Fighting for First Amendment Rights Gets His Day in Court

New Orleans attorney Randy Boudreaux will finally get his day in court when his challenge to Louisiana’s mandatory bar membership requirement for Louisiana lawyers goes to trial on June 21, 2022. He is represented by lawyers from the Pelican Institute’s Center for Justice, the Goldwater Institute, and Loyola College of Law professor Dane Ciolino. Numerous...

By Sarah Harbison

Ursula’s Fight for the Right to Earn a Living

In January 2021, the Pelican Center for Justice, along with Pacific Legal Foundation, filed a lawsuit on behalf of New Orleans social worker Ursula Newell-Davis. Ursula’s lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Louisiana’s facility need review (FNR) laws. These laws prevent social workers like Ursula, who have a passion for helping at-risk children, from working in...

By Sarah Harbison

Louisiana Should Reinstate Workers’ First Amendment Rights

Have you ever signed up for a free trial of a streaming service like Spotify? You enjoy three months of free music but notice a charge of $9.99 on your credit card statement for month four because you forgot to cancel your subscription. From then on, you vow to set a calendar reminder to cancel...

By Sarah Harbison

Louisiana Service Member Sues Biden Administration to Challenge Separations Under Military COVID Vaccine Mandate

The Pelican Center for Justice brought suit to challenge the Biden administration’s military COVID vaccine mandate on behalf of a Louisiana service member being forced to choose between serving her faith and serving her country. Air Force Senior Airman Faith Crocker has honorably and capably served her country at Barksdale Air Force Base for years...

By James Baehr

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Stay of Illegal OSHA Vaccine Mandate

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a stay of the OSHA employer vaccine mandate, pending further review by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In layman’s terms, that means the rule cannot go into effect until the legal process is complete, and the Court sent the case back to the Sixth...

By Daniel J. Erspamer

Amicus Curiae Brief Filed to Protect The First Amendment

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider two challenges to mandatory bar membership in January 2022. Lawyers in Oklahoma and Texas who are forced to join their states’ bar associations as a condition of practicing law filed petitions for writs of certiorari asking the Court to affirm the First Amendment rights of the hundreds of thousands...

By Sarah Harbison

Brandon’s Vaccine Mandate Challenge is Headed to the Supreme Court

Last week, the Pelican Institute and Liberty Justice Center filed an Emergency Application for Writ of Stay with the U. S. Supreme Court in our OSHA vaccine mandate challenge. We are asking the Supreme Court to reinstate the stay the U. S. Fifth Circuit issued while the courts consider the merits of the OSHA vaccine...

By Sarah Harbison

OpEd: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Would Cripple Businesses

Originally published in Newsweek The Biden administration is moving full steam ahead on its illegal vaccine mandate, urging businesses to implement the requirement even after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay. Intruding on personal medical decisions is bad enough, but the president has never acknowledged the unprecedented financial burden the OSHA mandate would...

By Daniel J. Erspamer

Release: New Lawsuit Intends to End Louisiana’s Red Tape Nightmare for Small Businesses

NEW ORLEANS– Louisiana’s approach to sales taxes has created a red tape nightmare for businesses. With retailers forced to deal with a wide variety of local rules and mounds of tax paperwork just to be able to sell their products in the state, the hurdles are just too high for many companies to make it work....

By Ryan Roberts

Release: Appeals Court Orders Federal Government To Halt Implementation of OSHA Vaccine Mandate In Response To Petition By Brandon Trosclair

Appeals Court Orders Federal Government To Halt Implementation of OSHA Vaccine Mandate In Response To Petition By Brandon Trosclair Ruling: “…the Mandate threatens to substantially burden the liberty interests of reluctant individual recipients put to a choice between their job(s) and their jab(s).” NEW ORLEANS– The federal government has been ordered to halt all implementation and...

By Ryan Roberts

OpEd: My employees were heroes last year, now COVID-19 mandate might force them out of a job

Appeared originally in USA Today by Brandon Trosclair, Louisiana business owner. As the second-generation owner of a modestly sized grocery chain in Louisiana, I’m grateful to be living the American dream. That dream took on new meaning last year when supermarket workers across our country were hailed as heroes and essential workers for showing up to their...

By Ryan Roberts