Goldwater Institute - Litigation Center

Litigation Center

The Goldwater Institute created the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, directed by Clint Bolick, in June 2007. The Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation engages in lawsuits against federal, state, and local governmental bodies to ensure adherence to constitutional law and to protect individual rights, such as property rights, from potential government intrusion. The Goldwater Institute funds its litigation center entirely from donations and sues on behalf of citizens free of charge.

The Goldwater Institute filed its first case on June 22, 2007 defending five charter schools from Arizona's department of education. In Turken v. Gordon the Goldwater Institute sued the city of Phoenix over a $100 million corporate subsidy to the CityNorth development which the Goldwater Institute claimed was illegal under the Arizona constitution. In December 2008, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Goldwater Institute saying the corporate subsidy violated the Arizona constitution's gift clause.

On August 21, 2008, the Goldwater Institute filed suit against the Matching Funds Provision of Clean Elections to protect the First Amendment rights of candidates who choose not to participate in the taxpayer-funded campaign finance system. A federal judge ruled the provision unconstitutional but refused to halt matching funds because she said it was too close to the election. On June 27, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the Goldwater Institute, declaring matching funds unconstitutional.

In another victory, Preston v. Hallman, the Goldwater Institute successfully sued the city of Tempe, Ariz. on behalf of a tattoo parlor owner whose permit to operate was revoked based on stereotypes of people with tattoos. In two 2010 cases, the Goldwater Institute successfully defended the right of citizens to wear Tea Party T-shirts to the polls, protecting the constitutional right of free speech. Also, in Congress Elementary School District v. Warren, et. al., the Goldwater Institute successfully defended several mothers who were being sued by their school district for requesting their children’s student records.