Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a US-based Christian nonprofit legal organization founded in 1993 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Until 2012, the organization was called Alliance Defense Fund. ADF litigates cases and drafts model legislation from conservative Christian perspectives.
What you will find
The website features case files on ongoing and concluded cases, press releases and legal analyses. On gender-related issues, it mainly covers legal proceedings concerning transgender women's participation in women's sports, schools and conscientious objections. ADF has, among other things, represented parties in Little v. Hecox, a case concerning a ban in Idaho. The US Supreme Court issued its ruling in the case on June 30, 2026; see the article about the ban on transgender athletes in sports.
Background and criticism
ADF is controversial. The organization also opposes same-sex marriage and abortion and has been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a characterization ADF rejects. The site is therefore primarily useful as a source on the views and legal filings of one side in the US social debate.
Founding and leadership
ADF was founded in 1993 by a group of evangelical leaders, including Bill Bright, Larry Burkett, James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, Marlin Maddoux and Alan Sears. Sears led the organization until 2017. Michael Farris succeeded him, and since October 2022, Kristen Waggoner has been president. According to its tax return for the financial year ending in June 2022, ADF had $104.5 million in revenue and employed 395 people. ADF describes itself as the world's largest legal organization dedicated to religious freedom, freedom of speech, the protection of life, marriage and family, and parental rights. Its international branch, ADF International, is headquartered in Vienna.
Key cases
ADF says it has won twenty cases before the US Supreme Court and works with a network of more than 5,200 attorneys. Notable cases include Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018), National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra (2018) and 303 Creative v. Elenis (2023). ADF also drafted the model legislation for Mississippi's ban on abortion after fifteen weeks, which led to the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022). Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives since October 2023, previously worked as an attorney for ADF.
How to assess this source
ADF's legal filings and press releases are advocacy documents and present the facts in the way most favorable to its own client. In 303 Creative, ADF cited a request from a man who wanted a website for his marriage to a man. According to The New Republic, that man said in 2023 that he had never submitted the request and had married a woman. The Guardian reported in 2025 that ADF had misrepresented research on conversion therapy in Chiles v. Salazar, a case concerning a ban on conversion therapy. Therefore, compare ADF's filings with the ruling itself and the opposing party's filings. For the topic of sports, see gender and sports, and for legislation in other countries, see policies by country.