"I never asked for a bailout or even monetary damages, just the freedom to earn an honest living in the occupation I love."

In his book Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?, University of Minnesota economist Morris Kleiner reports [pdf] the startling fact that over the past 50 years the percentage of American workers covered by occupational licensing laws has skyrocketed from roughly 4.5 percent of the workforce to approximately 20 percent. And we're not just talking doctors and electricians. In Maryland, fortune tellers need a license. Earlier this year, Seattle authorities went after a comedy-cabaret troop for spoofing pro-wrestling without a license.

So it's wonderful to hear about a major victory over occupational licensing malfeasance last week in Maryland, where Montgomery County Circuit Judge David Boynton ruled that the Maryland Board of Chiropractic Examiners has no business forbidding entrepreneur Mercedes Clemens from massaging horses. Clemens, a licensed massage therapist (for humans) with three decades of experience as a horse owner and rider, offered animal and human massage services, prompting a cease-and-desist letter from state authorities over the animal half of the business. As she declared after Judge Boynton ruled in her favor: "I love that I can finally get back to business. All I've ever wanted is the right to work. I never asked for a bailout or even monetary damages, just the freedom to earn an honest living in the occupation I love."

Not surprisingly, Clemens was represented by the Institute for Justice, the libertarian public interest law firm that routinely leads the fight for economic liberty. In fact, July 2009 turned out to be quite a month of successful fighting. First, IJ scored a big win on behalf of three Connecticut women who dared to practice interior design without a license. Then, in Minneapolis Taxi Owners Coalition v. City of Minneapolis, IJ defeated that city's entrenched taxi cartel, which had sought to exclude new competitors from a recently deregulated market. And now we have the economic liberty victory in Maryland. Each one of these cases means that hardworking individuals finally get to exercise their constitutional right to earn an honest living free from arbitrary and unnecessary government interference. Here's hoping the winning streak keeps up.