Thread by @sarahposner

*Very* important reporting from @nytpolitics on Mike Farris's role in drafting lawsuits eventually brought by Republican AGs to overturn election results.

A thread: 1/x

Christian Conservative Lawyer Had Secretive Role in Bid to Block Election Result nytimes.com/2021/10/07/us/…

Farris is the president/CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, although he claims here that this work was separate from his role at ADF. Not often you see the president of a huge non-profit with a budget in the tens of millions moonlighting on an issue the non-profit can't touch. 2/x

ADF saw its power and influence grow in multiple ways during Trump's presidency. It had serious influence over policy, its lawyers were appointed to key roles in admin., and Trump's nominees to federal judiciary not only were likeminded, but had real relationships with ADF. 3/x

For more on ADF's role in Trump's Washington, see this piece I did with @TPM @typeinvestigate in 2019:

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talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/inside…

For more on its influence on the judiciary, and Amy Coney Barrett specifically, see this piece from 2020 @RollingStone @typeinvestigate

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rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

ADF, then, played a central role in solidifying the Trump-religious right relationship. The organization played a key role in shaping policy, and providing the personnel that makes that policy. 6/x

So when you hear religious right figures laud Trump as "the most pro-religious freedom president in history," a lot of that is because his administration embraced the views and positions of ADF on abortion, LGBTQ rights, religious freedom, and church-state separation. 7/x

What makes Farris' role here even more noteworthy is that, as the Times piece notes, he opposed Trump in 2016.

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He actually told me:

Link:

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rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

He's come a long way from refusing to screen candidates because of his disdain for Trump. Now he is willing to subvert the Constitution, the law, and the will of the voters to keep Trump in office.

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As I reported last week for @reveal @vox, since Trump's re-election loss in 2020, the religious right has become increasingly committed to his stolen election lie, and is increasingly pressing state legislatures to pass voter suppression laws. 11/x

vox.com/22696286/evang…

Here I reported that Farris told a religious right gathering that he conducted a “thorough study” of the 2020 election and to have found “constitutional irregularities in many, many states,” particularly in those where the election was close. 12/x

He claimed Trump would have won if these supposed irregularities did not take place. He did not specify what these were, nor did he reveal his role in helping to draft the lawsuits. 13/x

The religious right pulled out all the stops for Trump's reelection campaign, with evangelical and Catholic outreach, GOTV efforts, and more. He still lost, and with the loss of the House and Senate, too, they saw their influence deeply eroded. (Still have SCOTUS, tho). 14/x

New strategy is to buy into Trump's Big Lie, and suppress Democratic votes. The lawyers are working one piece of it, and the activist groups and their grassroots supporters another: 15/15

vox.com/22696286/evang…