Alan Sears
Alan Sears | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Louisville University of Louisville School of Law |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Alan E. Sears is an American lawyer. He served as the president, CEO, and general counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom until January 2017.[1] Sears was the staff executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, popularly known as the "Meese Commission".
Education
Sears graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville.[2] He earned a law degree from the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.[2]
Career
Government
Sears served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office for western Kentucky. During his time as a federal prosecutor Sears served as staff executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography also known as the Meese Commission. This commission was established by Attorney General William French Smith at the direction of President Reagan in early 1985. The commission became popularly known as the Meese Commission after Edwin Meese III, Smith's successor, announced the names of its eleven members in May 1985. Although he was not a voting member, Sears was influential on the commission and vigorously supported strengthening anti-obscenity laws.[2][3][4]
Sears served as associate solicitor under Secretary Donald Hodel at the Department of the Interior.
Alliance Defending Freedom
Alan Sears was the leader of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian right legal advocacy group, for more than twenty years. Under his leadership, the ADF won a string of victories in lawsuits on behalf of the conservative Christian movement.[5] By 2014, the ADF had an annual budget of $40 million and more than 40 staff attorneys, and had "emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country."[5] Sears retired as ADF's president and CEO in 2017.[6]
In June 2017, Sears was named a knight of the Papal Order of St. Gregory.[7]
Writing
The ACLU vs. America
Sears wrote the book The ACLU vs. America with Craig Osten. During an interview for Front Page Magazine, Sears said, "...Bill O'Reilly asked me: 'Mr. Sears, isn't the ACLU an organization that had noble beginnings, but just went off track over the past ten years or so?' Of course, there was not enough time to answer that question in a 'sound bite,' so I decided right then and there that we would have to write a book to provide an adequate response – that the ACLU had a VERY different vision right from the start for America than our nation's founders. Craig Osten and I saw how the organization looked 'one way from a distance but yet another way up close' so we decided to tell the real story about the ACLU, its founder Roger Baldwin, its ultra-radical roots, its promotion of socialism, and its extreme positions that few Americans know about."[8]
The Homosexual Agenda
Sears co-wrote the book The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Liberty Today with Craig Osten. In this book Sears and Osten analyze success of the gay rights movement. Sears and Osten say the moral decline of the United States is the result of activists who have "taken us toward their goal of unbridled sexual behavior and silencing of the church."
The book was described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "an anti-LGBT call to arms that links homosexuality to pedophilia and other 'disordered sexual behavior.'"[9]
Bibliography
- Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2003). The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-2698-4.
- Sears, Alan; Craig Osten (2005). The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values. B&H Books. ISBN 978-0-8054-4045-4.
References
- ^ "ADF Names New CEO - Alliance Defending Freedom". www.adflegal.org. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
- ^ a b c Ferrisi, Sabrina Arena (1 November 2014). "Fighting the good fight". Legatus. United States. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ^ Vaughn, Stephen (2006). Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 0521676541. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ McFeely, Tom. "Alliance Defense Fund's Chief Convert". National Catholic Register. United States. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- ^ a b Erik Eckholm, [Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement], New York Times (May 11, 2014).
- ^ ADF Founder Alan Sears named 2017 Wilberforce Award recipient, Alliance Defending Freedom (press release) (May 23, 2017).
- ^ "Alan Sears, religious liberty advocate, named to Papal Order of St. Gregory". Catholic Business Journal.
- ^ Glazov, Jamie (26 September 2005). "The ACLU vs. America". Front Page Magazine. United States. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ "'Religious Liberty' and the Anti-LGBT Right". Southern Poverty Law Council. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
External links
- Alliance Defense Fund's Biography for Alan Sears at the Wayback Machine (archived 2012-06-21)
- Appearances on C-SPAN