The Hawley and Alliance Defending Freedom Agenda: Dobbs first, LGBTQ rights next

Erin Hawley, wife of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R), was part of the legal team that helped restrict abortion rights in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.

Erin Hawley is a member of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an ultra-conservative legal advocacy group that has worked on several Supreme Court cases in the last ten years. According to the ADF’s website, Erin Hawley serves as senior counsel to their appellate team.

This same team helped draft merits and reply briefs defending the 2018 Mississippi law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in last month’s Dobbs decision and set the legal precedent to make abortion an issue decided by state governments.

“I’m so pleased it’s a 6-3 decision. The Supreme Court has taken the shackles of Roe off of states,” Erin Hawley told Axios last month.

According to ProPublica, ADF senior counsels like Erin Hawley make as much as $240,000 annually, and Josh Hawley has previously taken money from the organization.

The ADF was founded in 1994 by far-right Christians. It has programs to train lawyers in  efforts against not just abortion, but also LGBTQ equality and the separation of church and state, the latter of which they consider to be a “myth.” The tax-exempt non-profit is linked to several high-profile conservatives like former Attorney General Bill Barr and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Organizations like ADF will likely continue to push issues like abortion even further right, likely extending into suppressing LGBTQ rights. Their website lists “generational wins,” which are significant victories that change the law and culture, as one of their main priorities.

“We must continue to these crucial efforts to protect life until all of our laws as well as the broader culture recognize that life is always valuable,” Erin Hawley wrote in a recent USA Today op-ed.

Josh Hawley himself opposes LGBTQ rights, condemning a 2020 Supreme Court decision that protected LGBTQ people against workplace discrimination. He also pushed a bill in May to strip Disney’s long-standing copyrights as punishment for its LGBTQ advocacy.

Both Hawleys have backgrounds in law and previously clerked for Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who was one of the concurring justices in the Dobbs decision. The Hawley’s also have a history of anti-LGBTQ beliefs, including disapproval of gender-inclusive language and rights for gay workers.