Washington, DC (June 8, 2022) – The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil liberties organization, is celebrating five years since it was founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. Members of the legal community, academics, and supporters gathered on Tuesday to commemorate the occasion at the NCLA 5th Anniversary Gala in Washington D.C., featuring special guest, the Honorable Mike Pompeo, 70th Secretary of State of the United States. NCLA released a video highlighting the history of the organization, its cases, and the stories of the clients who have stood up to unlawful abuses of administrative power by state and federal agencies.
At the Gala, NCLA awarded Dr. Anthony Fauci with the ignominious “King George III Prize” for the bureaucrat who violated the most civil liberties last year. In a year when public health officials misled the American people for fear they could not handle the truth, only one man had the temerity to claim, “Attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science.” Dr. Fauci also actively participated in efforts to undermine public understanding of naturally acquired immunity to Covid-19, pretending for many months—in a way that led thousands or more people to lose their jobs—that a vaccine should still be mandated for those with antibodies from natural immunity. So much for following the science.
NCLA also announced the winners of the coveted George Washington Awards—the Georgies!—for their partnership with NCLA’s mission and bravery in standing up to the Administrative State. George Washington Award winners include: Raymond J. Lucia, Sr., for Client Bravery; Latham & Watkins LLP and Cooper & Kirk PLLC for Outstanding Pro Bono Service; and Allyson N. Ho and her Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP team for Best Amicus Curiae Brief. Karen Cook and Michael McColloch were awarded the Cincinnatus Award for Selfless Service to NCLA. Avi Weiss of Columbia Law School won the NCLA Student Note Competition and a $10,000 prize to be split with the Columbia Law Review, which is publishing his piece.
Since its founding, NCLA has evolved into a nationally renowned public-interest law firm specializing in filing original lawsuits and amicus curiae briefs against government agencies and defending targets of administrative enforcement. Just in the last month, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Michelle Cochran, NCLA’s first original lawsuit to be argued before the Court, and the Second and Third Circuits ruled in NCLA’s favor in lawsuits concerning the violation of our clients’ First Amendment and Due Process rights. NCLA currently has three cases with pending petitions for writ of certiorari: Aposhian v. Garland, et al., Romeril v. SEC, and Buffington v. McDonough.
Excerpts from the video:
“The Administrative State used to be just a marginal element of power in this country. Now it is the dominant mode of power. It undermines one right after another, and so it has to be fought for the sake of all of us. … When our arguments before the Supreme Court get picked up by one Justice and then another Justice, we know we’re making headway. We are on the verge of bringing down part of this edifice, and that will free us.”
— Philip Hamburger, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NCLA
“NCLA was different from other organizations right from the very beginning, both because we had the intellectual leadership of Philip Hamburger and Janice Rogers Brown, and because we had this focus on civil liberties. We recognized that the violation of civil liberties is the core problem with the Administrative State. … When NCLA sees these administrative agencies violating people’s civil liberties, we’re going to step in for many years to come and cut the Administrative State down to size.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President and General Counsel, NCLA
ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.