Sabina Loving and Elmer Kilian appear to have very little in common. She lives in an impoverished neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, he resides in tiny Eagle, Wis., population 1,950. She’s black, he’s white. She works in an office across the street from her rowhouse. He works at his kitchen table in his rural home. She’s been pursuing her chosen profession for three years. He’s been at it for three decades. But for all their differences, Loving and Kilian have two key things in common — they are tax return preparers and both have a lot of guts. They are suing the Internal Revenue Service, telling it to back off from doing something over which it has no legal authority.

Last year, the federal tax agency issued a new rule usurping the power to grant or withhold licenses to prepare federal tax returns. Loving and Kilian are two of an estimated 350,000 individuals across America who offer their services to their neighbors during the annual tax season, preparing their federal returns for a small fee. They are independent, self-employed and need to satisfy their customers to earn a living. When it became clear that the IRS rule favored corporate preparers like H&R Block and other special interests like lawyers and accountants, Loving and Kilian turned to the Institute for Justice for help. The IJ is an Arlington public interest law firm that specializes in cases involving challenges to illegal government licensing schemes, especially those that create obstacles to employment.