Cartel-Buster "Institute for Justice" Goes Up Against Nevada Board of Cosmetology with Legal Challenge

Institute for Justice -- "In Nevada, teaching others how to apply makeup without a government-issued license can subject you to up to $2,000 in fines. Lissette Waugh and Wendy Robin are makeup artists with over 40 years of combined experience. 

Lissette opened L Makeup Institute and Wendy opened Studio W in order to train the next generation of makeup artists in the art and artistry of applying makeup for the entertainment and retail industries. But the Nevada State Board of Cosmetology has threatened to silence the two entrepreneurs by shutting down their businesses. 

Nevada law recognizes that makeup artists are different from cosmetologists—who focus on cutting and styling hair, cleansing and caring for the skin, and manicures—by exempting them from the state’s cosmetology licensing scheme. Yet both women could face fines of up to $2,000 for doing nothing more than teaching makeup artistry without a cosmetology instructor’s license and not operating their makeup artistry schools as state-licensed schools of cosmetology. 

The government cannot require teachers to spend hundreds of hours in a classroom learning skills that have nothing to do with what they teach. Nor can it impose its mandatory curriculum and equipment requirements on schools that do not teach cosmetology. 

That is why on June 19, 2012, Lissette and Wendy teamed up with the Institute for Justice, a national public interest law firm that protects the rights of entrepreneurs, to file a federal constitutional lawsuit against the Nevada State Board of Cosmetology. They seek to vindicate their constitutional rights to teach and to earn an honest living by operating their businesses as they see fit without having to comply with an arbitrarily applied government licensing scheme."

Watch the video above for an overview of the new IJ case.

MP: Kudos to the Institute for Justice for its ongoing "cartel busting" efforts on behalf of small business owners in America. There is probably no other organization anywhere on the planet that is doing greater work defending small businesses and entrepreneurs against economic protectionism, empowering individuals to earn an honest living, and promoting economic and social justice.