Alan Sears

Sears graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville. He earned a J.D. degree from the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.

Sears was raised in the Baptist church, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 1988 before marrying his wife, Paula.

Sears and Paula were jointly invested in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great on June 29, 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicsun.org/2017/07/06/scottsdale-couple-receive-churchs-highest-honor-for-laity/|title = Scottsdale couple receive Church's highest honor for laity|date = 6 July 2017}}

Sears served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office for western Kentucky. During his time as a federal prosecutor Sears served as staff executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography also known as the Meese Commission. This commission was established by Attorney General William French Smith at the direction of President Reagan in early 1985. The commission became popularly known as the Meese Commission after Edwin Meese III, Smith's successor, announced the names of its eleven members in May 1985. Although he was not a voting member, Sears was influential on the commission and vigorously supported strengthening anti-obscenity laws.{{cite news |last=Ferrisi |first=Sabrina Arena |date=1 November 2014 |title=Fighting the good fight |url=http://www.legatusmagazine.org/tag/pope-john-paul-ii/ |newspaper=Legatus |location=United States |access-date=14 April 2015}}{{cite book |last=Vaughn |first=Stephen |date=2006 |title=Freedom and Entertainment: Rating the Movies in an Age of New Media |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomentertain0000vaug |url-access=registration |quote=alan sears pornography. |location=United Kingdom |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/freedomentertain0000vaug/page/126 126] |isbn=0521676541 |access-date=13 April 2015}}{{cite news |last=McFeely |first=Tom |title=Alliance Defense Fund's Chief Convert |url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/alliance-defense-funds-chief-convert/ |newspaper=National Catholic Register |location=United States |access-date=14 April 2015 |archive-date=4 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504173454/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/alliance-defense-funds-chief-convert |url-status=dead }}

Sears served as associate solicitor under Secretary Donald Hodel at the Department of the Interior.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Sears led the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian right legal advocacy group founded in 1994, for more than twenty years. Under his leadership, the ADF won a string of victories in lawsuits on behalf of the conservative Christian movement.Erik Eckholm, "Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement", New York Times (May 11, 2014). By 2014, the ADF had an annual budget of $40 million and 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." Sears retired as ADF's president and CEO in 2017.[https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/press-release-details/adf-founder-alan-sears-named-2017-wilberforce-award-recipient ADF Founder Alan Sears named 2017 Wilberforce Award recipient], Alliance Defending Freedom (press release) (May 23, 2017).{{Cite web|title=Chronicle of Philanthropy|url=https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Ex-Clinton-Foundation-CEO/238957|last=Stricklan|first=Anais|date=January 27, 2017}} However, he continued to be an employee of ADF until 2020, when he earned $800,000 in the role of "Founder."{{cite web | url = https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541660459 | publisher = ProPublica | title = IRS Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax | date = May 18, 2021 | access-date = March 21, 2022 | archive-date = April 25, 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220425042116/https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541660459 | url-status = live }}

In June 2017, Sears was named a knight of the Papal Order of St. Gregory.{{Cite journal|url=https://catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/breaking-news-alan-sears-religious-liberty-advocate-named-papal-order-st-gregory|title=Alan Sears, religious liberty advocate, named to Papal Order of St. Gregory|journal=Catholic Business Journal|access-date=2017-09-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915114107/https://catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/breaking-news-alan-sears-religious-liberty-advocate-named-papal-order-st-gregory|archive-date=2017-09-15|url-status=dead}}

Sears has co-written two books with Craig Osten, both published by the Southern Baptist Convention's media and distribution division B&H Publishing Group.

The Homosexual Agenda, published in 2003, has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "an anti-LGBT call to arms that links homosexuality to pedophilia and other 'disordered sexual behavior'".{{cite web|title='Religious Liberty' and the Anti-LGBT Right|url=https://www.splcenter.org/20160211/religious-liberty-and-anti-lgbt-right#adf|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Council|accessdate=14 May 2016|date=11 February 2016}} The book was accused of claiming that allowing same-sex marriage was a part of a secret agenda by activists to “lead young men and women into homosexual behavior” and trap them in a homosexual lifestyle.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/jeff-sessions-religious-liberty-task-force-part-dangerous-christian-nationalist-ncna895941|title = Opinion | Jeff Sessions' new "religious liberty task force" is a dangerous sham| website=NBC News }} The book also accused gay-rights advocates as trying to create a nation of “broken families and broken lives.”{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/us/legal-alliance-gains-host-of-court-victories-for-conservative-christian-movement.html|title=Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 May 2014|last1=Eckholm|first1=Erik}}

Sears and Osten also co-wrote The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values, published in 2005.{{cite book | title = The ACLU vs. America| last1 = Sears | first1 = Alan | last2 = Osten | first2 = Craig | date = 2003 | url = https://books.google.com/books/about/The_ACLU_vs_America.html | access-date = August 12, 2023}}

• {{cite book |title=The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today |last=Sears |first=Alan |author2=Craig Osten |year=2003 |publisher=B&H Books |isbn=978-0-8054-2698-4 }}
• {{cite book |title=The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values |last=Sears |first=Alan |author2=Craig Osten |year=2005 |publisher=B&H Books |isbn=978-0-8054-4045-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/acluvsamericaexp00sear |url-access=registration }}

Additional books by Alan Sears: Novels "In Justice", self-published through the Christian publishing house WinePress Publishing and "Trial & Error", self-published through the Christian Xulon Press.

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• {{Cite web |url=http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/leadership |title=Alliance Defense Fund's Biography for Alan Sears |access-date=2011-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621183251/http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/leadership |archive-date=2012-06-21 |url-status=bot: unknown }}
• {{C-SPAN|60353}}

{{Alliance Defending Freedom}}

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Category:Alliance Defending Freedom people

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Category:University of Louisville alumni

Category:University of Louisville School of Law alumni

Category:American lawyers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)