About CIR

CIR is America’s premier nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to the defense of individual liberties against state and federal government abuse. Celebrating its 35^th anniversary year, CIR attorneys have won five of seven cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, including first amendment and racial preference victories and the single most important limit on the scope of Congress’s commerce power—as well as achieving a host of other landmark victories for individual rights in other courts.

Reporting on CIR’s first campus speech victory in the Supreme Court, The Washington Post noted that “the Center for Individual Rights takes particular pleasure in battling politically correct administrators who cut down the free expression rights of students and protestors.” We still do. Indeed, our collaborative team finds joy in all the work we pursue to advance freedom, which is increasingly important as free speech denials, distortions of equality under law, and other individual rights violations have multiplied over the last few years.

CIR believes that enlightenment ideals had their greatest expression in America’s founding documents and post-Civil War amendments, with a charter for limited government and guarantees for civil liberties that protect individual rights and promote human flourishing. Those guarantees include structural limits on government, such as the separation of powers and federalism. CIR team members are principled, zealous advocates for restoring that charter and its attendant benefits.

CIR’s strategic model, which includes partnerships with outside cooperating counsel, has made it a nimble champion able to punch well above its weight. It garnered special attention in Steven Teles’s respected study as a model “second-generation” freedom-based public interest law firm.

With new leadership, CIR is updating its strategies and expanding internally in several ways.

Clerkships and Internships

The Center for Individual Rights’ fellowship and internship programs provide an opportunity for students to gain first-hand experience in cutting-edge public interest litigation while contributing directly to CIR’s cases. Learn how to apply here.