Alliance Defending Freedom’s Origins
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building legal ministry advancing the God-given right to live and speak the truth.
In 1994, a group of over 30 prominent Christian leaders saw the need to combat decades-long efforts by activists and government officials to drive expressions of faith out of the public square. They founded ADF to consolidate a strategy to protect God-given freedoms in the courts and to recruit and train attorneys dedicated to that same mission.
Many said we were too late, that the culture had already been lost. But ADF’s work has proven the naysayers wrong. By God’s grace, we stand today as the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, parental rights, and God's design for marriage and family.
We’re proud to have made a difference. See what God has accomplished through us in just 30 years!
Timeline of Significant Events
Launch of Alliance Defending Freedom
Alliance Defending Freedom (then known as Alliance Defense Fund) was introduced to the nation at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Washington, D.C., with Alan Sears as President, CEO, and General Counsel.
First Funded Supreme Court Victory
ADF began as a network to provide funding to attorneys to litigate key cases across the country. Within only a few short weeks of its launch, ADF was funding a case at the U.S. Supreme Court and secured its first victory that June in Madsen v. Women’s Health Center.
ADF Legal Academy Established
Marking the beginning of the ADF Allied Attorney program, the first-ever ADF Legal Academy began training Christian attorneys in constitutional law so they could provide pro bono and dedicated service to the Body of Christ. Today, there are over 4,900 attorneys in ADF’s network.
Blackstone Legal Fellowship Launched
The Blackstone Legal Fellowship was established to cultivate and nurture the leadership talent among Christian law students from across the globe. Over the course of 25 years, Blackstone has empowered and developed more than 3,000 law students in all areas of the legal profession.
ADF International Founded
Launched as a global partner of Alliance Defending Freedom, ADF International protects fundamental freedoms and promotes the inherent dignity of all people across the world. In just 14 years of existence, it has had over 1,700 victories, including 35 wins at the European Court of Human Rights.
Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn
ADF secured its first win at the Supreme Court in a case it litigated. The decision created a national precedent that protects school choice programs from unfounded legal attacks, supporting parents’ right to choose the best school for their children, including private schools that share their religious beliefs.
New Name, Same Mission
Founded as Alliance Defense Fund, the ministry changed its name to Alliance Defending Freedom to better highlight who we are—an alliance—and what we do—defend freedom. The name change also reflects ADF’s shift toward direct litigation and representing clients with in-house attorneys.
Areté Academy Launched
Areté Academy was started as a training program designed to equip and engage the next generation of leaders to take up positions of influence in law, government, public policy, media, academia, and other culture-shaping institutions worldwide.
Church and Ministry Alliances Founded
ADF launched the Church Alliance in 2017 to give Christian churches of all sizes access to affordable legal and educational resources to empower them to freely live out their missions and boldly speak the truth in the face of growing cultural opposition. The program was expanded in 2018 to support all Christian ministries. Today, the Church and Ministry Alliance has over 4100 members.
Viewpoint Diversity Score & Business Index Created
ADF started the Viewpoint Diversity Score and annual Business Index to address the growing threat to free speech and religious freedom from major American corporations. The Index measures corporate respect for religious and ideological diversity in the market, workplace, and public square across 43 benchmarks and has a suite of model policies designed to stop viewpoint-based cancellations.
15 U.S. Supreme Court wins and counting!
By God’s grace, ADF has become one of the nation’s most respected and successful United States Supreme Court advocates. Since 2011, ADF has served as lead or co-counsel in 15 victories at the Supreme Court on behalf of a pastor, a pro-life pregnancy center, a church, a student, family-owned businesses, religious colleges, religious organizations, and creative professionals.
ADF’s Achievements in the Last 5 Years
ADF has continued to achieve astonishing results with God’s blessing and the support of generous Ministry Friends. The past five years have seen some of our greatest challenges and some of our greatest victories:
Overturning Roe v. Wade
After nearly 50 years of tireless efforts from pro-life advocates, Roe v. Wade was finally overturned. ADF was honored to work with Mississippi to help draft and defend its pro-life law all the way to the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Thankfully, states now have the freedom to protect mothers and their unborn children from the harms of abortion. ADF will continue to protect life as a human right from conception to natural death.
Protecting Free Speech and Creative Freedom
For over a decade, Alliance Defending Freedom stood up for clients like Jack Phillips, Barronelle Stutzman, and Lorie Smith to protect their right to free speech and from being compelled to express messages they disagree with. The 303 Creative v. Elenis decision will stand as a monumental achievement that protects the free speech of all Americans.
COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some government officials applied double standards imposing greater restrictions on places of worship than they did on secular institutions. ADF litigated numerous cases across the country to ensure that churches, ministries, and individuals were treated fairly, and their First Amendment rights were protected.
30 Years of Faithful Leadership
Alan Sears (1994 – 2017)
“From a one-person shop with meager funding came a ministry that stands today as a major advocate for life, liberty, conscience, and family across the globe. John 15:5. Only God could do this.”
Michael Farris (2017 – 2022)
“At ADF, there are opportunities for real, generational victories. And if we stand up, speak up, and show up, I believe that we can keep the doors open for the Gospel today—and for future generations.”
Kristen Waggoner (2022 – present)
“ADF will walk boldly into the wind with resilience and with courage. We will do—as we have done—the hard things to which God has called us with the expectation that He will accomplish His purposes.”
Committed to Victory
When Alan Sears was approached to lead ADF, he wanted to make sure of one thing: Alliance Defending Freedom would be committed to winning. True to this commitment, we have won nearly 80% of all our cases. Since our founding, we’ve played a role in 74 Supreme Court victories and have won 15 cases serving as lead or co-counsel directly representing clients at the Supreme Court. Some of our most significant Supreme Court wins include:
Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)
A sign code in Gilbert, Arizona, severely restricted the size of signs and the duration they could remain posted based on their content. Pastor Clyde Reed could post signs for his church only 12 hours before the service started, and they had to be removed within an hour of the service ending. The same restrictions did not apply to organizations like homeowners’ associations and political campaigns. The Court unanimously ruled that the sign code violated Pastor Reed’s First Amendment rights.
Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer (2017)
In Missouri, a state program provided grants to qualified organizations to use recycled tires for resurfacing playgrounds. Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a grant for its preschool and daycare, the Learning Center. Despite satisfying all the eligibility criteria and initially being awarded the grant, Trinity Lutheran was subsequently denied—solely because it was a church. The Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot exclude religious organizations from generally available public benefits simply because of their religious identity.
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)
In 2012, two men walked into Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, and requested a custom cake celebrating a same-sex wedding. Jack Phillips, the shop’s owner and a devout Christian, politely declined to design the cake because of its message but offered to sell the men any item in his store. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission said Jack had violated the state’s public-accommodation law, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Commission had acted with “impermissible hostility” toward Jack’s Christian beliefs.
National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018)
A law in California forced pro-life pregnancy centers to offer free advertising for the abortion industry, informing pregnant women that the state offered free or low-cost abortion services. In addition, the law required medically unlicensed centers to publish large disclosures on advertisements stipulating that they were not medically licensed. The Court overturned California’s law, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing that “the people lose when the government is deciding which ideas should prevail.”
Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski (2019)
Chike Uzuegbunam, a student at Georgia Gwinnett College, was sharing the Gospel on campus when he was approached by college officials who stopped him because he was outside of the two tiny “speech zones.” Weeks later, as Chike was speaking in one of the zones, college officials again censored him. After ADF filed suit, the college changed its policies but argued that the officials should get a free pass for their actions. Rejecting this argument, the Court ruled that government officials can be held accountable for violating constitutional rights.
Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta (2021)
In 2010, the California attorney general’s office changed its rules to require charitable organizations to disclose to the state the names and addresses of their largest donors—a violation of the freedom of association guaranteed by the First Amendment. ADF represented the nonprofit Thomas More Law Center in challenging the AG’s new requirements, and in a ruling consolidated with Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, the Supreme Court confirmed that Americans are free to peacefully support causes they believe in without fear of government intimidation.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022)
When Mississippi passed a law protecting unborn children after 15 weeks gestation, the governor joked that “we’ll probably be sued here in about half an hour.” He was right: the state’s only abortion facility sued the state, and the case progressed all the way to the Supreme Court. In 2022, the Court not only upheld Mississippi’s law but also overturned Roe v. Wade entirely, returning the power to regulate abortion to the people of all 50 states and their elected representatives. ADF attorneys served on the Mississippi legal team that litigated the case.
303 Creative v. Elenis (2023)
A public-accommodation law in Colorado—the same one used by the state to target Jack Phillips—would have forced graphic artist Lorie Smith to design and publish custom websites expressing messages that violate her religious beliefs about marriage. ADF challenged this unconstitutional law in court, and the Supreme Court ruled that Colorado cannot punish Lorie for creating art consistent with her beliefs. The landmark decision affirmed the right of all Americans to speak freely without fear of government punishment.
Securing Freedom’s Future
In the past 12 years, ADF has been blessed by God and the generosity of Ministry Friends with 15 U.S. Supreme Court wins as lead or co-counsel. Thanks to these monumental victories, our First Amendment freedoms and God-given rights are more protected today than they were 30 years ago. Securing Freedom’s Future is a look back at those victories and the impact they have had—and will continue to have—on our great nation.
DownloadLooking Forward
Though we’ve been blessed with incredible success, ADF’s work is far from over. Attacks from the opposition remain steady.
- This year, we will be arguing before the Supreme Court to hold the FDA accountable for removing crucial safety standards for women who take abortion drugs and leaving young girls to take these drugs all alone in their homes or dorm rooms without any ongoing medical attention.
- Schools are increasingly attempting to “socially transition” children by treating them as the opposite sex, and then hiding it from their parents. ADF recently won a case against a school that did this in Wisconsin, and other schools in states like Michigan are trying to do the same.
- With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the effort to protect the sanctity of life in all 50 states continues to march forward. ADF recently defended the pro-life laws of Arizona, Wyoming, and New Mexico in court.
- Government censorship in the U.S. and abroad is becoming increasingly prevalent. Last year, ADF International secured a victory on behalf of Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen who was charged with “hate speech” for quoting the Bible to her own church. And in the UK, the government is using so-called “buffer zones” to fine and arrest its citizens for praying silently within the vicinity of an abortion facility.
- After ADF’s victory in 303 Creative v. Elenis, Jack Phillips is heading to the Colorado Supreme Court to seek justice in his third lawsuit in 10 years.
The legal landscape is ever-changing, and there is no certainty when such challenges will end. For however long they last, ADF will stand ready to defend and protect the freedoms that we cherish.