Alliance Defending Freedom
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to protect religious liberty, expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights. In 2014, ADF literature described part of its mission as "[seeking] to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries." ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in several locations including Washington, D.C., and New York. Its international subsidiary, Alliance Defending Freedom International, with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, operates in over 100 countries.
| Abbreviation | ADF |
|---|---|
| Formation | March 25, 1993 |
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| 54-1660459 | |
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, Arizona |
| Terry Schlossberg | |
| Kristen Waggoner | |
Revenue (2022) | $104,490,113 |
| Expenses (2022) | $81,311,475 |
| Endowment (2022) | $20,295,829 |
Employees (2022) | 395 |
Volunteers (2022) | 1,351 |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | Alliance Defense Fund |
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| Conservatism in the United States |
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ADF is one of the most organized and influential Christian legal interest groups in the United States based on its budget, caseload, network of allied attorneys, and connections to significant members of the political right. Mike Johnson, a former ADF attorney, was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on October 25, 2023. Others who have been associated with ADF include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, former vice president Mike Pence, former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions, and Senator Josh Hawley.
ADF attorneys have argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, taking positions including support for religious activity in public school and Christian prayer at town meetings, narrowing insurance coverage for contraceptives, prohibiting same-sex marriage, and supporting businesses in the wedding industry that refuse to service gay marriages. ADF lawyers wrote the model for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation, leading to the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overrule Roe v. Wade that had established a right to abortion in America in 1973.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designates ADF as an anti-LGBT hate group, saying in 2017 that since the election of President Donald Trump ADF had become "one of the most influential groups informing the [Trump] administration's attack on LGBTQ rights." The ADF has taken many anti-LGBT positions: it opposes same-sex marriage, decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity, and anti-discrimination laws, and takes an active role in writing model anti-transgender bills for state legislators.