ARTICLE

This case is about the right of hair braiders to earn an honest living. Missouri required hair braiders get 1,500 hours of cosmetology training simply to braid hair. Worse, exactly none of those 1,500 hours actually involve teaching how to braid hair.

The plaintiffs in this case, Joba Jian and Tamkeca Stigers, have been braiding hair their whole lives. They are part of the natural hair braiding movement which means they use no dyes or chemicals. Missouri has determined that what they are doing is a crime because they lack the irrelevant cosmetologist license.

We joined this brief with Goldwater because Tennesseans, like Tammy Pritchard, are similarly burdened with onerous and useless licensure laws that just stand in the way of a person making an honest living. In fact, GWI makes frequent mention of Tammy, her sister, Debra Nutall, and this case in their brief. So the Missouri hair braiding case is a great opportunity for yet another federal circuit court to right the ship by restoring the important and fundamental right to earn an honest living to its rightful