# Alliance Defending Freedom The legal army of Christian nationalism. With an annual budget exceeding $100 million, a network of 4,600+ allied attorneys, and a Supreme Court win rate that rivals the most prestigious law firms in America, Alliance Defending Freedom has become the most consequential legal organization on the religious right — and arguably the most effective advocacy litigation operation in the country. ## Why It Matters ADF has won or been instrumental in a string of Supreme Court cases that have reshaped American law: *303 Creative v. Elenis* (businesses can refuse services for same-sex weddings), *[[Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization]] Women's Health* (overturning [[Roe v. Wade]] — ADF wrote Mississippi's 15-week ban), *Kennedy v. Bremerton* (coach can pray on the field), *[[Carson v. Makin]]* (public funds for religious schools). The organization doesn't just win cases — it selects and develops cases specifically designed to move legal doctrine toward its goals over years or decades. ADF was founded in 1994 (originally as Alliance Defense Fund) by a coalition of Christian right leaders including [[James Dobson]], D. James Kennedy, [[Bill Bright]], Larry Burkett, and Marlin Maddoux. It has grown from a small grants organization into a global legal powerhouse with offices in Washington, D.C., Scottsdale, Arizona, and multiple international locations. ## The Blackstone Fellowship ADF's most strategically important program is the Blackstone Legal Fellowship — an intensive summer training program for top law students from elite schools. The program has trained over 2,500 law students who now populate the judiciary, government agencies, major law firms, and legal academia. [[Mike Johnson]] is an ADF-trained attorney. This is a deliberate pipeline operation modeled on the [[Federalist Society]]'s approach: don't just litigate — build the bench of future judges, clerks, and government lawyers who share your worldview. The Blackstone Fellowship is the Christian nationalist equivalent of the Federalist Society's student chapters, creating an ideological network that persists across careers and institutions. ## Litigation Strategy ADF's legal strategy follows a long-game approach: **Religious liberty expansion**: Systematically building case law that expands the legal definition of "religious liberty" from freedom of worship to freedom to discriminate — framing any regulation that conflicts with religious belief as a constitutional violation. **Anti-LGBTQ litigation**: ADF has been the primary legal force opposing same-sex marriage, transgender rights, and LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections. After *Obergefell*, ADF pivoted to religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law and became the principal legal architecture of political [[Transphobia]] — supplying model legislation for state gender-affirming-care bans and sports-exclusion laws, prospecting plaintiffs, and litigating the cases that produced *[[United States v. Skrmetti]]* (2025). **Education cases**: Pushing public funding for religious schools, defending prayer in schools, and challenging sex education and LGBTQ-inclusive curricula. **International operations**: ADF International operates in Europe, Latin America, and other regions, exporting the American Christian right's legal strategies globally — opposing LGBTQ rights, fighting abortion access, and promoting "religious freedom" frameworks in international law. ## The SPLC Designation Like the [[Family Research Council]], ADF has been designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the SPLC. ADF disputes this designation and has successfully pressured some platforms and organizations to disregard it. The organization's mainstream legal successes have made the hate group label harder to sustain politically — it's difficult to call an organization that routinely wins at the Supreme Court a fringe hate group. ## The Analytical Framework ADF is the **systems-level legal infrastructure** of Christian nationalism. The [[Family Research Council]] lobbies. [[David Barton]] mythologizes. The [[Congressional Prayer Caucus]] legislates. But ADF litigates — and in the American system, litigation is where policy becomes permanent. A congressional bill can be repealed. A Supreme Court decision reshapes the legal landscape for generations. ADF's $100M+ budget makes it the best-funded legal advocacy organization on the right, exceeding even the ACLU in some litigation categories. Its combination of elite legal talent, strategic case selection, long-term planning, and the Blackstone pipeline makes it the single most operationally effective organization in the entire Christian nationalist ecosystem.