Sekulow built a legal and media business over a thirty-year period by representing conservative, religious, and anti-abortion groups. He hosts a syndicated radio show and is a frequent guest commentator on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Fox News Channel television networks.[2]
After graduating from law school, Sekulow worked at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)[11] as a prosecutor with the tax litigation division[10] for "about 18 months."[12]
In 1982,[12] he opened a law firm in Atlanta, Georgia, with former Mercer classmate Stuart J. Roth[12] which soon evolved into a business buying, renovating, and selling historic properties as a tax shelter for wealthy investors.[10][11][13] IRS regulations changed in the mid-eighties, and the firm collapsed when investors sued the owners for fraud and securities violations.[10][11][13] Sekulow and Roth filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief in 1987,[14] with Sekulow listing $13 million in liabilities and $638,000 in assets,[10] and leaving "a trail of angry investors and employees."[13]
In 1987 Sekulow became general counsel for Jews for Jesus.[15] In 1988 he founded the nonprofit group Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE)[15][16] whose president he is and whose board members are him, his wife, and their two sons.[17][18]
In 1992, Sekulow became the director of the ACLJ, where he was chief counsel and principal officer in 2018.[19] In the early 1990s he also joined the faculty at Regent University Law School.[7][20]
Sekulow is half-owner of the for-profit professional corporation Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, P.C., incorporated in 2003, whose governor and executive officer is Roth.[18][21][11] From 2011 to 2016, the ACLJ paid the group $23 million, "its largest outside expense."[18]
Sekulow owns Regency Productions, the company that produces his radio show and was paid $11.3 million by the two charities for production services between 2000 and 2017.[17]
Sekulow hosts Jay Sekulow Live!, a syndicated daily radio program broadcast on terrestrial radio, and XM and Sirius satellite radios. This live call-in program focuses on legal and legislative topics.[22] Sekulow is the host of ACLJ This Week, a weekly television news program broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network[23] and Daystar.
In November 2005, Legal Times published an article which alleged that Sekulow "through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle—complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia." In the article, former donors and supporters claimed that Sekulow engaged in a pattern of self-dealing to finance his "high-flying lifestyle." According to a ranking by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog group, Sekulow was the thirteenth highest-paid executive of a charitable organization in the United States.[8]
ACLJ's and CASE's tax returns show that between 1998 and 2011, they paid more than $33 million to Sekulow, members of his family, and businesses owned or co-owned by them;[29] from 2011 to 2015, the two charities paid $5.5 million to Sekulow and members of his family and $23 million to their businesses.[18] Since 2011, donations to ACLJ are routed through Sekulow's family-run CASE,[18][30] and many "transactions that benefit members of the Sekulow family are disclosed on the CASE returns, but not the ACLJ's."[29][30] Between 2011 and 2015, the ACLJ, the "public face of the two nonprofits," collected nearly $230 million in charitable donations.[18]
On June 27 and 28, 2017, The Guardian reported that documents obtained by them confirmed later that "millions in donations" were steered to his family members;[31] that Sekulow "approved plans to push poor and jobless people to donate money to his Christian nonprofit, which since 2000 has steered more than $60m to Sekulow, his family and their businesses";[31] and that attorneys general in New York and North Carolina opened investigations of Sekulow's CASE for possibly using pressure tactics in telemarketer calls to raise money which was allegedly misdirected to Sekulow and his family.[32]
On February 27, 2019, Michael Cohen reported in testimony before Congress that Jay Sekulow and other members of Trump's legal team made “several” changes to his false statement to the House Intelligence Committee, including a change to the “length of time that the Trump Tower project stayed and remained alive.” Sekulow disputed the testimony "Today’s testimony by Michael Cohen that attorneys for the president edited or changed his statement to Congress to alter the duration of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations is completely false".[38] The Intelligence Committee announced on May 14, 2019, that it would investigate whether Sekulow “reviewed, shaped and edited” Michael Cohen's false testimony to Congress.[39]The Washington Post reported on May 20, 2019, that Cohen testified in closed session before the Intelligence Committee that Sekulow instructed him to falsely testify that the Trump Tower Moscow discussions ended in January 2016.[40] The Senate Intelligence Committee's August 2020 final report on 2016 election interference noted that after his indictment, Cohen discussed a presidential pardon with Sekulow more than six times, and that "he understood that the pardon discussions had come from Trump through Sekulow."[41]
The New York Times reported in December 2019 that people close to Sekulow said he told them he voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.[11] In 2020, January, he was named as part of the counsel team that represented Donald Trump in the impeachment case in the Senate.[42]
Personal life
Sekulow and Pamela McPherson married in 1978 and have two adult sons, Jordan and Logan.[43][44]Jordan Sekulow is an attorney with the ACLJ and Director of International Operations. He also co-hosts the radio and television programming with his father. Logan briefly starred in the Nickelodeon series U-Pick Live in 2005.[45]
Sekulow is a Messianic Jew and a convert to Christianity.[46] Sekulow's youngest brother Scott was the founder and Rabbi of the Messianic Jewish Congregation Beth Adonai in Atlanta, Georgia,[47] until his death in August 2021 of COVID-19.[48][49][50]
In 1997, he was named to The American Lawyer's Public Sector 45, a list dedicated to legal public servants who have had the greatest effect in their respective fields.[55]
Legal Times profiled him as one of the "90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 years".[56]
Publications
1990: From Intimidation to Victory, Creation House
1993: Knowing Your Rights: Taking Back Our Religious Liberties
1996: And Nothing But the Truth
1997: Christian Rights in the Workplace, The American Center for Law and Justice
2000: The Christian, The Court, and The Constitution, The American Center for Law and Justice
2005: Witnessing Their Faith: Religious Influence on Supreme Court Justices and Their Opinions, Rowman & Littlefield
2014: Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore (with Jordan Sekulow, Robert W. Ash, and David A. French), Howard Books
2015: Undemocratic: How Unelected, Unaccountable Bureaucrats Are Stealing Your Liberty and Freedom, Howard Books
2016: Unholy Alliance: The Agenda Iran, Russia, and Jihadists Share for Conquering the World
2018: Jerusalem: A Biblical and Historical Case for the Jewish Capital
Cases before the Supreme Court
Sekulow has argued in front of the United States Supreme Court 12 times, specializing in issues of the First Amendment.[57] Sekulow most recently argued before the Supreme Court on November 12, 2008, in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, case No.07-665. Sekulow represented the city in this case concerning government control over monuments and memorials in government-owned public places, which ended the following February with the Court ruling in the city's favor. On March 2, 2009, the Supreme Court issued a summary disposition in the companion case of Summum v. Duchesne City. The Court vacated the Tenth Circuit opinion and remanding the case for an opinion consistent with Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 555 U.S. 460 (2009).
Arguing on behalf of Jews for Jesus, Sekulow argued that LAX's policy banning all "First Amendment activities" violated the organization's right to free speech.
Sekulow argued on behalf of United States anti-abortion activists who were originally found as violating a statute by conducting demonstrations at abortion clinics.
In another case involving the use of school property, Sekulow represented Lamb's Chapel and their right to show religious-oriented films in a school after-hours.
Sekulow argued on behalf of Schenck, challenging a District court ruling that provided for speech-free floating "bubble zones" surrounding abortion clinics.
This case revolved around protesters' rights to distribute literature in front of abortion clinics and a statute that barred them from approaching a non-consenting person. Sekulow, representing the protesters, argued that Colorado's "eight-foot rule" was unconstitutional.
Sekulow, representing the school district, argued that prayer, initiated and led by students at football games, did not violate the Establishment Clause.
In a highly publicized case, Sekulow, on behalf of a group of students including Emily Echols, argued that a portion of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 violated the First Amendment and was thus unconstitutional.
_(cropped).jpg)
