Goldwater Institute Litigation Director Clint Bolick Named One of Nation's Top Lawyers

Legal Times Calls Clint Bolick a "Champion" of Law and Liberty

The newspaper Legal Times has named Clint Bolick, director of the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, a "champion" who should be honored for upholding the legal profession's core values and "fighting to expand liberties and protect civil rights." The list of Champions was compiled for the edition "The 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years" marking Legal Times' 30th anniversary.

Mr. Bolick was selected based on his work to create the legal precedents that support school choice programs. This decade-long battle culminated in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002, which Mr. Bolick won. Mr. Bolick has also been active in efforts to increase judicial scrutiny of racial preferences and restore judicial recognition of economic liberty as a civil right, an area which has resulted in several landmark rulings overturning regulatory barriers to enterprise.

"We are proud to have Clint's extraordinary legal acumen recognized by the prestigious Legal Times," said Darcy Olsen, president and CEO of the Institute. "We believe in championing liberty, and when necessary, using the courts to protect constitutional government. The government is Goliath, and Clint is our David, armed not with stones, but with the power of the law."

In addition to Mr. Bolick, the Legal Times list includes U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and activist lawyer Ralph Nader.

Before joining the Goldwater Institute in 2007, Mr. Bolick was co-founder and vice president of the Institute for Justice and president and general counsel of the Alliance for School Choice. He is the author of several books, including Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle Over School Choice and Leviathan: The Growth of Local Government & the Erosion of Liberty. His most recent book, David's Hammer: The Case for an Activist Judiciary, was released in 2007 by the Cato Institute and received the Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty.

In addition to his role at the Goldwater Institute, Mr. Bolick is of counsel to the Rose Law Group in Scottsdale, Arizona and serves as a research fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. This most recent award by the Legal Times is one of many recognitions of Mr. Bolick's work. In 2003 he was named one of three "Lawyers of the Year" by American Lawyer. In 2006 he was the recipient of the Bradley Prize for Excellence for "strengthening American democratic capitalism."

The Goldwater Institute is a Phoenix-based charitable research and litigation organization dedicated to protecting and expanding economic freedom, constitutional liberty and educational opportunity. The Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation was founded in 2007 to vindicate principles of state constitutions that protect and advance individual liberty. The Institute's work is made possible by the generosity of its supporters. To support the Institute's work, please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution.