Institute for Justice: mission, leadership and finances

What it does

The Institute for Justice, or IJ, is a nonprofit law firm in Arlington, Virginia. It litigates cases on property rights, free speech, economic liberty, school choice and police accountability, and represents clients at no charge.

Institute for Justice is listed here in the category "Legal". A listing on 4conservative.com describes an organization; it is not an endorsement of it or of its positions.

History

IJ was founded in 1991 by Chip Mellor and Clint Bolick. Cases include Kelo v. City of New London and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.

Institute for Justice is a legal organization. It is headquartered in Arlington, VA. Its IRS tax status is 501(c)(3). Like other organizations in this collection, it is described here from its own published material and from public records, and the facts on this page are limited to what those sources state.

Leadership and funding

IJ says it takes no government funding and files a Form 990, shown here.

The IRS figures on this page come from the latest Form 990 filing that ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer lists for the organization, for tax year 2024: total revenue of $49.9 million, total expenses of $44.3 million and total assets of $163.7 million at year end. ProPublica lists the filer as Institute For Justice. The figures describe a single tax year and can differ sharply from year to year; check the filing itself and the organization's own site for the current picture.

Where it stands

IJ says it works to protect liberty and challenges civil forfeiture and occupational licensing.

These summaries reflect the organization's own stated mission and publicly known activities as of the date below; they are neutral descriptions, not evaluations. Related organizations on this site include Pacific Legal Foundation, New Civil Liberties Alliance, Goldwater Institute.