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.

OpEd: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Would Cripple Businesses

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

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

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

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

Brandon Trosclair: Fighting For His Community

Brandon Trosclair: Fighting For His Community

Meet Brandon Trosclair. Brandon is a proud Louisianan and business owner who is standing up against the Biden administration and their illegal vaccine mandate on businesses.  Husband, father, and grocer, Brandon wears many hats in his community. Brandon is a second-generation grocer that employs nearly 500 people with 15 grocery stores across Louisiana and Mississippi....

By Daniel J. Erspamer

Release: Federal Appeals Court Suspends Federal Vaccine Mandate

Release: Federal Appeals Court Suspends Federal Vaccine Mandate

Brandon Trosclair, Louisiana business owner, filed his lawsuit with attorneys from the Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute to stop vaccine mandate – mandate now on hold for all Americans NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana business owner, Brandon Trosclair and a group of workers from Texas have successfully halted the Biden Administration’s illegal vaccine mandate. The Fifth Circuit Court...

By Ryan Roberts

Ascension Parish Business Owner Sues Biden Administration over Vaccine Mandate

Ascension Parish Business Owner Sues Biden Administration over Vaccine Mandate

The Biden administration published an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires every worker at a private employer with over 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing. The Pelican Institute and Liberty Justice Center immediately filed a lawsuit to challenge this unprecedented and illegal mandate. We represent Brandon Trosclair, an Ascension...

By Sarah Harbison

RELEASE: Lawsuit Filed to Stop Federal Vaccine Mandate

RELEASE: Lawsuit Filed to Stop Federal Vaccine Mandate

In a historic fight to stop government overreach, a Louisiana business owner and remote workers from Texas sue to halt OSHA vaccine rule NEW ORLEANS — A prominent Louisiana business owner and a group of remote workers from Texas have filed a federal lawsuit to strike down the Biden Administration’s illegal vaccine mandate on private sector...

By Ryan Roberts

Legal Analysis: Year Two of the Pandemic

Legal Analysis: Year Two of the Pandemic

Throughout 2020, elected officials and public health departments issued a variety of emergency orders to stop or slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. These orders included stay at home orders, business closures, and capacity limitations. Unfortunately, these measures abridged personal liberties and damaged-even destroyed-businesses and livelihoods. Many courts allowed these orders to stand because...

By Sarah Harbison

First Amendment Update from the U.S. Supreme Court

First Amendment Update from the U.S. Supreme Court

On Thursday, July 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of the most anticipated decisions of the October 2020 Term, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta. The Court held that a California regulation requiring non-profit organizations to disclose the names of their donors violates the First Amendment right to free association. At issue in...

By Sarah Harbison

Victory at the Fifth Circuit

Victory at the Fifth Circuit

VICTORY! Today, the U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Randy Boudreaux’s First Amendment challenge to the Louisiana State Bar Association’s (LSBA) compelled dues payments and mandatory bar membership can proceed. The Pelican Center for Justice, along with Dane Ciolino and the Goldwater Institute, represent Mr. Boudreaux in the case. Writing for the Court, Judge Don...

By Sarah Harbison

Should Bar Associations be Able to Use Mandatory Dues for Lobbying?

Should Bar Associations be Able to Use Mandatory Dues for Lobbying?

What do volunteer dental hygienists, civics classes, and midwives have to do with the legal profession? It’s not a trick question. The answer is, “nothing.” However, that did not stop the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) from using mandatory membership dues to advocate for or against legislation related to those topics. Since at least 2007,...

By Sarah Harbison

The Pelican Center for Justice Submits an Amicus Curiae Brief to Uphold Property Rights

The Pelican Center for Justice Submits an Amicus Curiae Brief to Uphold Property Rights

Last Spring, we shared the story of Peyman Pakdel, an Ohio small business owner who hoped to one day retire to San Francisco with his wife, Sima Chegini. Mr.Pakdel is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case and the Pelican Center for Justice submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of his...

By Sarah Harbison

Pelican weighs in on major SCOTUS property rights case

Pelican weighs in on major SCOTUS property rights case

by Sarah Harbison, general counsel, Pelican Institute In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, a case challenging a California regulation that allows union organizers to trespass on private property and interrupt business operations. Last week, the Pelican Institute for Public Policy’s Center for Justice was pleased...

By Sarah Harbison