# Jay Sekulow Chief Counsel of [[American Center for Law and Justice]] since its founding in 1990 and the most publicly prominent of the religious-liberty / Christian-conservative litigators in the United States. A Messianic Jewish lawyer who came to evangelical Christian conservatism via Jews for Jesus, Sekulow has argued multiple cases before the Supreme Court (winning *Lamb's Chapel*, *[[McConnell v. FEC]]* sitting, and *Mergens*, among others), built the ACLJ's docket of religious-display, school-prayer, free-exercise, and abortion cases, and constructed an unusually large family-and-personal-affiliated nonprofit / for-profit operation that has been the subject of ongoing investigative reporting (ProPublica, *Washington Post*, *Guardian*) on financial structure and self-dealing concerns. The career inflection point that distinguishes Sekulow from his peer religious-liberty counsels — Becket's Mark Rienzi, ADF's [[Kristen Waggoner]], First Liberty's [[Kelly Shackelford]] — is his **2017–2020 service on [[Donald Trump]]'s personal legal team** during the Russia investigation, the first impeachment, and other matters. The dual role (head of the largest Christian-conservative legal nonprofit + personal lawyer for the President) was historically unprecedented for a religious-liberty litigator and has been the lens through which much investigative reporting has examined the ACLJ's overall direction. Sekulow has also been the figure most publicly associated with the [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] / [[Regent University]] / [[Pat Robertson]] media ecosystem since Robertson's late-life decline and 2023 death, with the *Sekulow* daily radio show carrying forward the populist-evangelical political-legal commentary slot Robertson originated. For the Right Wing KB, Sekulow is the **populist-evangelical Trump-aligned wing** of the Legal-Litigation Infrastructure layer (see [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]). Where [[Becket Fund]] courts establishment-respectability, [[First Liberty Institute]] engineers Establishment Clause doctrine, and [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] argues the political-cultural agenda, Sekulow's ACLJ operates as the populist-radio-and-direct-mail religious-liberty operation with deep dispensationalist / [[Christian Zionism]] alignments and an outsized political-legal footprint on Republican-defense work. ## Biography **Jay Alan Sekulow** was born **June 10, 1956** in **Brooklyn, New York** into a **Jewish family**. He earned his J.D. from **Mercer University School of Law** (the former Cumberland School of Law program) in Atlanta, Georgia. In his twenties, Sekulow converted to **Messianic Judaism** through contact with **Jews for Jesus** — a biographical trajectory that placed him at the intersection of Jewish identity and evangelical Christian commitment and shaped his later [[Christian Zionism]] legal advocacy. ## Early Supreme Court Career Sekulow established his reputation through a series of **Supreme Court victories** in the early 1990s — an unusually productive period for a young religious-liberty litigator: ***Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens*** (1990) — **8-1** decision upholding the Equal Access Act's requirement that public secondary schools allow student religious clubs if they permit other extracurricular clubs. Sekulow argued for the student group. ***Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District*** (1993) — **9-0** decision ruling that a public school district could not deny a church access to school facilities for after-hours use when it allowed other community groups. A landmark religious-expression-as-free-speech case. ***Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette*** (1995) — **7-2** decision permitting the KKK to erect a cross on the Ohio Statehouse grounds (a public forum), holding that private religious expression in a public forum does not constitute government endorsement. These cases established the **equal-access / religious-expression-as-free-speech** doctrinal framework that subsequent religious-liberty litigation has built upon. ## American Center for Law and Justice (1990) Sekulow founded the [[American Center for Law and Justice]] in **1990** — modeled explicitly as a **conservative counterpart to the ACLU**, with initial funding and institutional support from [[Pat Robertson]]'s [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] orbit. The ACLJ is headquartered in **Washington, D.C.** with an associated law school clinic at [[Regent University]] in Virginia Beach. Under Sekulow's leadership the ACLJ has maintained a broad docket spanning religious-display cases, school-prayer litigation, free-exercise claims, anti-abortion advocacy, and international religious-liberty work. ## Family Integration and Financial Structure Sekulow has integrated family members extensively into the ACLJ and affiliated operations. Son **[[Jordan Sekulow]]** serves as executive director of the ACLJ and co-hosts the *Sekulow* radio program. Wife **Pam Sekulow** and brother **Gary Sekulow** have held positions within affiliated entities. The family-payment structure has been the subject of extensive investigative reporting by **ProPublica** (2017), the ***Washington Post***, and the ***Guardian***, which documented that the ACLJ and related nonprofits and for-profit entities paid millions of dollars in compensation, real-estate transactions, and consulting fees to Sekulow family members — raising questions about nonprofit governance and self-dealing. ## *Sekulow* Radio Program Sekulow hosts ***Sekulow*** (formerly ***Jay Sekulow Live***) — a **daily radio program** carried on hundreds of stations, with a companion podcast and [[YouTube]] presence. The show combines religious-liberty legal commentary, populist-conservative political analysis, and direct-mail-style fundraising appeals for ACLJ cases. The program occupies the **populist-evangelical political-legal commentary slot** that [[Pat Robertson]]'s *700 Club* originated, updated for the post-Robertson media landscape. ## Trump Legal Team (2017–2020) The career inflection point. Sekulow joined **[[Donald Trump]]'s personal legal team** in **June 2017** during the Mueller/Russia investigation — an historically unprecedented dual role for a religious-liberty nonprofit chief counsel. He became one of Trump's most publicly visible defenders during the investigation, conducting media appearances and negotiating with the Special Counsel's office. In **January 2020**, Sekulow served as a member of Trump's **defense team during the first impeachment trial** in the Senate, delivering arguments on the Senate floor. ## European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) Sekulow founded the **European Centre for Law and Justice** — headquartered in **Strasbourg, France** (near the European Court of Human Rights) — as an international extension of the ACLJ's religious-liberty litigation model. The ECLJ focuses on religious-freedom, pro-life, and Israel-related advocacy before European institutions and international bodies, reflecting Sekulow's [[Christian Zionism]] commitments. ## KB Significance Sekulow is the **populist-evangelical Trump-aligned wing** of the Legal-Litigation Infrastructure layer of the [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]]. Where [[Becket Fund]] courts establishment-legal-respectability, [[First Liberty Institute]] engineers Establishment Clause doctrine, and [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] argues the political-cultural agenda at the Supreme Court level, Sekulow's ACLJ operates as the populist-radio-and-direct-mail religious-liberty operation with deep [[Christian Zionism]] / dispensationalist alignments and a unique political-legal footprint from the Trump defense work. The ACLJ's family-integrated financial structure and the ProPublica reporting distinguish it from the other religious-liberty firms in governance profile. Sekulow's dual role as chief religious-liberty counsel and Trump personal attorney is the most direct personnel bridge between the CN legal infrastructure and the Trump political operation. ## See Also - [[American Center for Law and Justice]] - [[Pat Robertson]] - [[Christian Broadcasting Network]] - [[Regent University]] - [[Donald Trump]] - [[Christian Nationalism Ecosystem]] - [[Christian Zionism]]