Alliance Defending Freedom

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American 501(c)3 nonprofit conservative Christian legal advocacy group. It works to expand Christian religious practices within public schools and in government, and is most known for its stance on outlawing abortion, opposing same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ rights, transgender rights, and anti-discrimination laws. As of 2025, ADF has played a role in at least 74 Supreme Court decisions and directly represented 15 parties in Supreme Court wins. 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.

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. Since the election of President Donald Trump, ADF has become "one of the most influential groups informing the [Trump] administration". It has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBT hate group.

As of 2018 ADF attorneys have won a number of cases before the Supreme Court. It has taken 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 Alliance Defense Fund was founded by members of the Christian right movement to prevent what its founders saw as threats to religious liberty in American society. ADF was incorporated in 1993 by six conservative Christian men, most of whom belonged to evangelical movements. The co-founders were Bill Bright, who also founded Campus Crusade for Christ; Larry Burkett; James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; D. James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Ministries; Marlin Maddoux; Mark Siljander; and Alan Sears. ADF is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.

In its early years, Alliance Defense Fund funded legal cases rather than litigating directly. It particularly targeted the work of the American Civil Liberties Union, which its founders saw as contributing to an erosion of Christian values.

The Alliance Defense Fund changed its name to Alliance Defending Freedom in 2012. The name change was intended to reflect the organization's shift in focus from funding allied attorneys to directly litigating cases.

By 2014, the organization had 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." ADF garnered national attention in the 2012 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. case as well as its 2014 challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

The ADF's first president, CEO and Chief Counsel was Alan Sears, who was also a founder of the organization. Sears has been described as "an ardent antipornography crusader", and had previously served as staff executive director of the Reagan administration Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, which produced the 1986 Meese Report.