Erica Smith

Erica Smith is an attorney with the Institute for Justice. She joined IJ in August 2011 and litigates cutting-edge constitutional cases protecting free speech, school choice, property rights, and economic liberty in federal and state courts.
Erica’s free speech work includes her successful defense of a family’s right to use signs to advertise its business in Fears v. City of Sacramento. She was also part of the team that successfully defended Central Radio Company’s right to protest the illegal taking of its land in Central Radio Co. v. City of Norfolk.
Erica’s economic liberty work has a special focus on “food freedom.” Erica successfully defended the rights of two home bakers to fight against Minnesota’s arbitrary restrictions on selling their goods in Astramecki v. Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Erica is currently also fighting Wisconsin’s ban on the sale of home-baked goods and is part of the team suing Chicago for its protectionist restrictions on food trucks.
Erica’s school choice work gives parents the opportunity to guide the education of their children. She was part of the winning team that protected New Hampshire’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program at the State Supreme Court in Duncan v. State of New Hampshire and is currently fighting to similarly protect Georgia and Montana’s school choice programs. Erica also testifies as to the constitutionality of other school choice programs across the country.
Erica has been a guest on Fox & Friends, and her writing has been published in the Washington Times, New York Post, Times-Free Press, The Virginian-Pilot, and National Law Journal. She has also been quoted in media outlets across the nation, including the New York Times and Washington Post, and regularly appears on radio.
Before joining IJ, Erica served as a law clerk for the Honorable Terrence Boyle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Erica received her law degree cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2010. Erica received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Stony Brook University’s Honors College in 2007, where she studied literature and journalism. Erica is originally from Bay Shore, N.Y.
Erica is a member of the New York bar.