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Jeffrey Redfern

Senior Attorney

Education

Harvard Law School, 2012

Clerkships

IJ’s Minnesota Office

Memberships

Licensed in the District of Columbia and Minnesota

Jeffrey Redfern litigates constitutional cases protecting property rights and free speech.

Jeffrey was the lead attorney in Baker v. City of McKinney, a case in which, for the first time in history, a federal court ruled that an innocent homeowner was entitled to compensation when her house was destroyed by a SWAT raid. The court explained that even though the police acted lawfully in trying to apprehend a dangerous fugitive who had barricaded himself inside an innocent person’s house, “it cannot be the case that public good could be done at the cost of the individual.”

Jeffrey litigates cases around the country challenging eminent domain abuse, where the government tries to take private property and give it to other private parties. He also litigates cases to ensure that when government does take property, it pays just compensation. He files amicus briefs on eminent domain issues in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has testified in support of eminent domain reforms before Congress.

In his free speech practice, Jeffrey has fought for the First Amendment rights of book publishers and talk therapists to be free of government regulation targeted at the content of their speech.

In 2019, Jeffrey successfully represented the owners of a small liquor store before the U.S. Supreme Court in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas. The Court held that states cannot engage in protectionism by imposing durational residency requirements on newly arrived residents, even in the context of the Twenty-First Amendment.

Before joining IJ, Jeffrey was a member of the appellate group at Mayer Brown LLP, where he authored briefs on various constitutional issues in the U.S. Supreme Court and in lower federal and state courts.  He has argued cases before the First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits, as well as the Colorado Supreme Court. Jeffrey clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he learned to loathe acronyms.

Jeffrey earned his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 2012. Between his first and second years of law school, he clerked at IJ’s Minnesota office. That experience inspired him to file his own pro se constitutional lawsuit against the government while still in school. (After over two years of litigation, the government finally provided the relief he requested.)

Before law school, Jeffrey taught AP English at a prep school in Southern California. He earned his MA in humanities from the University of Chicago in 2006 and his BA in English, magna cum laude, from Carleton College in 2005. He is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and the Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit.

In his free time, Jeffrey is a competitive distance runner. He won the 2018 Baltimore Marathon, and he has a personal best of 2 hours and 28 minutes.

Jeffrey's Cases

Virginia therapist launches a second First Amendment challenge to protect the right to practice talk therapy online across state lines

Economic Liberty | First Amendment | Occupational Licensing | Occupational Speech

Virginia therapist launches a second First Amendment challenge to protect the right to practice talk therapy online across state lines

Elizabeth Brokamp uses talk therapy to help people improve their lives. When one of her clients relocated to New York she was able to continue speaking with the client online. She’s licensed in Virginia, where she lives, but now New York is demanding she get a license there as well. Elizabeth and IJ partnered to challenge this unnecessary and unreasonable burden.

Coast Guard-empowered private association concocts reasons to keep an experienced captain from working

Economic Liberty | First Amendment | First Amendment Retaliation | Transportation

Coast Guard-empowered private association concocts reasons to keep an experienced captain from working

Captain Matthew Hight thought he would earn a living navigating cargo carriers on the Great Lakes. Instead, an unholy alliance of a federal bureaucracy and a legalized monopoly suddenly rendered him a castaway. Now he’s launching a second voyage with the IJ to get his job back and ensure that no one else has their livelihood taken away because the government has delegated lawmaking power to a self-interested private organization.
Eminent Domain in Disguise: Putting an End to Charlestown, Ind.’s Unconstitutional Home Inspection Scheme

Code Enforcement | Fines and Fees | Private Property

Eminent Domain in Disguise: Putting an End to Charlestown, Ind.’s Unconstitutional Home Inspection Scheme

A small-town mayor in rural Indiana has made it his personal mission to oust the residents of a tight-knit working-class neighborhood, bulldoze their homes and build a fancy new subdivision for much wealthier people. The only things standing in his way are a plethora of state statutes, the Indiana and U.S. constitutions and IJ, which has filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of dozens of property owners.

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Jeffrey's Amicus Briefs

Davis v. California

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Frey v. Jackson

10th Circuit Court of Appeals

Violet Dock Port v. Heaphy

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

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Jeffrey's News, Articles & Publications

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Jeffrey's Hearings

Jeffrey's Letters & Statements

Jeffrey's Podcasts

September 05, 2025

Short Circuit 392 | The NFL Commissioner Decides

Arbitration may not sound like the most exciting subject, but it recently made for an exciting story at the Second Circuit. Former Miami Dolphins coach […]

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January 01, 2025

Special Weapons and Tactics | Season 3, Ep. 10

In 2020, a police SWAT team blew up Vicki Baker’s house after a fugitive barricaded himself inside. On this episode, we ask: who pays the […]

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