The anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) publicly boasts a nearly $50 million annual budget and a network of over 3,100 “allied attorneys” who provide hundreds of pro-bono hours of anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice legal services. But new Media Matters research has identified a quieter, more powerful network of former ADF employees, allied attorneys, and fellowship alumni who occupy over 50 influential government posts at the federal, state, and local level.

ADF was founded in 1994 by several of the country's largest national evangelical Christian ministries to “press the case for religious liberty issues in the nation's courts” and “fend-off growing efforts by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which seek to immobilize Christians.” Today, it has become the country's best-funded and most powerful right-wing Christian group working against what the organization has called the “myth of the so-called 'separation of church and state.'”

In practice, this work has consisted of ADF’s leaders and affiliated lawyers attempting to criminalize and demonize LGBTQ people by “falsely linking them to pedophilia, calling them ‘evil’ and a threat to children and society, and blaming them for the ‘persecution of devout Christians.’” This has lead the Southern Poverty Law Center to designate ADF as a hate group. ADF has also defended the constitutionality of criminalizing gay sex in the U.S., and has actively worked to promote and defend anti-sodomy laws that criminalize gay sex in Jamaica, Belize, and India. The group -- whose founder believes that the “homosexual agenda” is dedicated to destroying Christianity -- is behind the national push for anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” laws. It is also the architect of the campaign for “bathroom bills” that aim to ban transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. 

ADF has several training programs by which it has amassed a network of thousands of lawyers to aid the organization both domestically and internationally. It’s two major programs include:

• Allied Attorneys: On its website, ADF boasts a network of “more than 3,100 allied attorneys.” According to a brochure, “ADF has developed a broad network of high-caliber, accomplished Christian attorneys who use their God-given legal skills to protect the right of people to freely and peacefully live out their faith.” The brochure also notes that the “breadth of the network also enables ADF to facilitate premium-quality pro bono legal services for companies, churches, nonprofits, and individuals whose religious freedom is being threatened.” Lawyers must formally apply and be accepted to the attorney network, and also must affirm ADF’s statement of faith. More than 1,900 allied attorneys have completed the ADF Academy program, after which ADF suggests attendees complete 450 hours of pro bono service for ADF within three years. 
• Blackstone Fellowship: According to its website, the “Blackstone Legal Fellowship” begins with “a nine-week summer (June-August) leadership training program ... as well as a six-week legal internship.” As ADF sees it, the fellowship lasts much longer than the summer. Interns who “complete the summer program are invited to apply to be commissioned as Blackstone Fellows.” For those chosen to become lifelong Blackstone Fellows, ADF says the summer “represents a beginning, not a culmination. Fellows receive ongoing training, resources, and support through an international community.” In 2014, Rewire investigated the presence of the Blackstone fellows in federal and state government. According to its findings, public records alone revealed that the offices of attorneys and solicitors general in at least eight states hosted interns who also belonged to the Blackstone fellowship alumni group. To date, at least 1,800 law students have completed the summer fellowship. While it has since been removed, an earlier version of the website explaining the Blackstone curriculum noted that the fellowship and ADF seeks to “recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.”

Allied attorneys, Blackstone Fellows, and graduates of other ADF training programs all have access to the same networking resources through a password protected community website, which boasts a “robust alumni community.” While it’s impossible to know how the ADF alumni network behind closed doors, investigative reports like Rewire’s Blackstone investigation are a start. Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and court filings, journalists and advocacy organizations have begun to understand the scope of ADF’s government connections, and how those networks are used to further regressive anti-LGBTQ laws and policies. For example, Rewire’s investigation found that numerous Blackstone Fellows interned at state attorneys general offices -- then later went on to work full-time in those same offices.

In some states, offices with a high concentration of ADF alumni have been actively working against LGBTQ equality. In Texas, there are three former ADF employees -- two of whom are also Blackstone Fellows -- in the attorney general’s office (see below). Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of the biggest proponents of anti-LGBTQ legislation, and has pushed a Texas version of the anti-transgender bathroom bills that ADF has been working to pass in states across the country. In Arizona, where ADF is headquartered, there are four ADF alums serving as assistant attorneys general, including two in the civil rights division (see below). Before he was assistant attorney general, ADF legal counsel Joseph La Rue played a “major role” in pushing for a 2014 anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” bill in the Arizona state legislature. The “turn away the gays” bill -- which ADF freely admitted to drafting -- was ultimately vetoed by then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of over 50 ADF alumni currently working in government positions. This list does not include a number of alumni Media Matters identified who have since left government posts, like ADF allied attorney and former Ohio Assistant Secretary of State Monty Lobb, or ADF alumni currently campaigning for political office, like ADF legal counsel Douglas Wardlow, who is running for attorney general in Minnesota. This list also does not name judicial clerks, though Media Matters did identify a number of ADF alumni clerking at high levels of the judiciary, including one Blackstone Fellow (who also graduated from the small but influential Christian college founded by current ADF CEO Michael Farris) clerking for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Much of this research made use of Rewire’s database of ADF Blackstone alumni. See the Rewire database here and read Sofia Resnick and Sharona Coutts’ 2014 investigation into the Blackstone Fellowship here.

Federal government:

• Special Assistant, Office of the General Counsel, Health and Human Services 
  • Senior Counsel, ADF, 2006-2017 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2001
• Special Assistant/Counsel, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2007
• Senior Attorney, Office for Civil Rights, Department of Education 
  • Director of Litigation Projects, ADF, 2000-2002
• Attorney Advisor, Social Security Administration
  • ​​​​Blackstone Fellow, 2012
• Administrative Law Attorney, Office of the Judge Advocate General 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2001
• Trial Attorney, Department of Justice 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2011
• Trial Attorney, Department of Justice 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2013 
• Trial Attorney, Department of Justice 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2004
• Counsel, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, U.S. House of Representatives 
  • ​​Global Senior Legal Counsel, ADF, 2010-2013
• Counsel, Office of Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) 
  • Litigation Counsel, ADF, 2012-2013 
• District Representative, Office of Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2011
• Staff Assistant, Office of Rep. John Duncan (R-TN) 
  • Areté Academy Delegate, 2015
• Legislative Assistant, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives
  • Legal Assistant, ADF, 2014
• Associate Counsel, Marine Corps Systems Command 
  • Allied Attorney, ADF
• Deputy Legislative Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2010
• Senior Attorney, IRS Office of Chief Counsel in Phoenix 
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2008

State and local governments:

Arizona

State level:

• Assistant Attorney General, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
  • Legal Counsel, ADF, 2012-2016
• Assistant Attorney General, Government Accountability and Special Litigation Unit, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2011
• Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2010
• Assistant Attorney General, Civil Litigation Division, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2012
• Legislative Council Attorney and Editor, Arizona Legislature
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2011

Local level:

• Deputy County Attorney, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office
  • ​Legal Assistant, ADF, 2008-2009
• Government Liaison, Maricopa County Attorney's Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2010

California

Local level:

• Deputy District Attorney, Kern County District Attorney’s Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2011
• Deputy Alternate Public Defender, Los Angeles County
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2009 
• Member, Board of Education, Murrieta Valley Unified School District
  • Allied Attorney, ADF

Georgia

State level:

• Assistant Attorney General, State of Georgia Office of the Solicitor General
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2012

Local level:

• Staff Attorney to the Honorable Ural D. Glanville, Fulton County Superior Court
  • ​Law Clerk, ADF, 2013-2014

Illinois

Local level:

• Assistant State’s Attorney, Cook County State’s Attorney's Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2005

Louisiana

Local level:

• Assistant District Attorney, East Baton Rouge
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF, 2005-2015

Michigan

State level:

• Assistant Attorney General, Michigan Department of Attorney General
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF, 2014

Local Level:

• Supervisor, Georgetown Township
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF

Missouri

State level:

• State Representative, District 14, Missouri General Assembly
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2003
• Assistant Attorney General, Missouri Attorney General’s Office
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2008

Local level:

• President, Jefferson County Port Authority
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF

North Carolina

State level:

• Director, Office of Strategic Initiatives, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2011

Ohio

Local level:

• Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Clinton County Prosecutor's Office
  • ​Law Clerk, ADF, 2013-2014
• Judge, Hardin County Common Pleas Court
  • Allied Attorney, ADF, 2011-2013

Oklahoma

State Level:

• Assistant Attorney General, Oklahoma Attorney General's Office
  • ​Blackstone Fellow

Local Level:

• Assistant City Attorney, City of Norman
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2005

Pennsylvania

State level:

• Executive Director, House Finance Committee, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2008

Local level:

• Judge, Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas
  • ADF Allied Attorney

Tennessee

Local level:

• Assistant District Attorney, Tennessee 10th Judicial District
  • ​Litigation Assistant, ADF, 2012
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2012

Texas

State level:

• Senior Counsel, Office of Special Litigation, Texas Attorney General's Office
  • ​Director of Center for Academic Freedom, ADF, 2013-2016
  • Senior Counsel, ADF, 2005-2016
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2002
• Assistant Solicitor General, Texas Attorney General’s Office
  • Legal Counsel, ADF, 2005-2016
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2003
• Associate Deputy Attorney General, Office of Special Litigation, Texas Attorney General's Office
  • Senior Counsel and Director of Legal Advocacy for Marriage and Family, ADF, 2007-2015

Local level:

• City Attorney/Prosecutor, City of Burton
  • Allied Attorney, ADF, 2013-2014

Virginia

Local level:

• Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney, City of Danville
  • ​Blackstone Fellow, 2009
• Law Clerk, Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney
  • ​Legal Assistant, ADF, 2015-2017
• Magistrate for District 30, Virginia Magisterial Region 1
  • ​Attorney, ADF, 2008-2013

Washington

State level:

• State Representative, District 4, Washington House of Representatives
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF

Local level:

• Judge, Spokane County District Court
  • ​Allied Attorney, ADF
  • Blackstone Fellow

Wisconsin

State level:

• Deputy Solicitor General, Wisconsin Department of Justice
  • Blackstone Fellow, 2014
• Deputy Solicitor General, Wisconsin Department of Justice
  • Law Clerk, ADF, 2012

West Virginia

Local level:

• Member, City Council, City of Clarksburg
  • ​Allied Attorney Honor Corps, ADF