Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate on constitutional issues, and has won three state landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases in the past few years alone. He was recently named one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.

Jeff Mateer is the Chief Legal Officer of First Liberty Institute, where he serves as a member of the executive leadership team and oversees and directs First Liberty’s legal operations, including its litigation, media/communications, and external affairs teams. He rejoined First Liberty Institute in October 2020 after serving as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas from March 2016 through October 2020.

Jeff has served in the legal field for over 30 years, and in addition to having received an A-V rating by Martindale-Hubbell, Jeff has been honored as a Texas Rising Star and Texas Super Lawyer. He received his undergraduate education at Dickinson College, where he graduated with honors in 1987, and his legal education at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated with honors in 1990. While in law school, he served as an editor of the law review. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before all Texas State and Federal District Courts, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

First Liberty’s best resources to help you be educated on the rights pastors and churches have during elections, how your vote impacts the Supreme Court, judges and bills in Congress, and more.

First Liberty and four former U.S. Attorneys General say the Supreme Court should be a focus issue at the next presidential debate on September 10th. Debate moderators should ask where the candidates stand on court ...

By: The Editorial Board - wsj.com - September 3, 2024 The Justice gives encouragement to partisans who want to politicize the Supreme Court. She cautioned that she was discussing this as a “general matter,” not ...

a California coastal town has declared itself a “sanctuary city for parental rights.”

The father of the Apalachee High School shooting suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting that left four people dead, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Huntington Beach is set to sue California for its law requiring school districts to hide a student's gender identity from his or her parents.

Because of a new rule the Biden-Harris administration issued last spring, students in nearly half the states face some disturbing changes as they return to their schools and colleges.

What are the chances that a President Kamala Harris would resist pressuring social media companies into censorship? Based on her record: Not great.

First Liberty Institute and Consovoy McCarthy PLLC asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to reverse a lower court decision that upheld a Maine law passed to prevent religious schools from participating ...