Jonathan H. Adler is a conservative American legal commentator and

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practition ...

at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has been recognized as one of the most cited professors in the field of environmental law. His research is also credited with inspiring litigation that challenged the

Obama Administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

's implementation of the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

, resulting in the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

's decision in '' King v. Burwell''.

Early life and education

Adler was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He graduated from Friends' Central School in

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township, D ...

, then studied

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, graduating in 1991 with a B.A., ''magna cum laude''. From 1991 to 2000, Adler was a policy analyst at the

Competitive Enterprise Institute The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit libertarian think tank founded by the political writer Fred L. Smith Jr. on March 9, 1984, in Washington, D.C., to advance principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individ ...

, a

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. He attended the George Mason University School of Law as an evening student, becoming an editor of the '' George Mason Law Review''. He graduated in 2000 ranked first in his class with a J.D., ''summa cum laude''.

Career

After law school, Adler was a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2000 to 2001. From 1991 to 2000, he worked at the conservative

, where he directed the Institute's

environmental studies Environmental studies (EVS or EVST) is a multidisciplinary academic field which systematically studies human behavior, human interaction with the Natural environment, environment. Environmental studies connects principles from the physical sci ...

program, and worked on environmental policy matters. Although a proponent of "

free-market environmentalism Free-market environmentalism is a type of environmentalism that argues that the free market, property rights, and tort law provide the best means of preserving the environment, internalizing pollution costs, and conserving resources. Free-ma ...

," Adler has also endorsed the imposition of a

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the hidden Social cost of carbon, social costs of carbon emissions. They are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emis ...

and other measures to address the problem of climate change. He is also credited with helping to convince some former climate change deniers to accept the scientific evidence for global warming and the associated threat. Adler is currently one of the most cited law professors in the fields of administrative and environmental law. Adler supported former Republican

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Senator

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

in the 2008 presidential election. In 2012, Adler headed a screening committee appointed by Ohio governor

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...

to assist him in selecting an appointee to fill an open seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. Adler again participated in the selection process to fill an open Ohio Supreme Court seat in 2017. Hs has also served on the Bipartisan Judicial Advisory Commission appointed by Ohio Senators

Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown ( ; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as a United States senator from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2007 and the 47t ...

and

Rob Portman Robert Jones Portman (born December 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Portman was the 35th director of the Office of Management ...

to advise on federal district court nominations. In 2018, Adler was a founding member of

Checks and Balances The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state power (usually law-making, adjudication, and execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishabl ...

. As part of Checks and Balances, Adler has joined multiple statements criticizing former President Trump and defending rule of law values.

Affordable Care Act litigation

Adler's research and writing on the

is credited with inspiring litigation that led to a

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

challenge to the lawfulness of tax credits in states that failed to create their own health insurance exchanges. Adler first wrote an article for a 2011 health care symposium in which he argued that the text of the Affordable Care Act did not authorize tax credits in states that refused to set up their own health insurance exchanges. At the time, this did not seem like a significant observation as the Supreme Court had not yet decided ''NFIB v. Sebelius'' and it appeared that most states would voluntarily create their own exchanges. As states started to resist implementing the Affordable Care Act, Adler co-authored several pieces with Michael Cannon of the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, arguing that an

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

rule authorizing tax credits in states that did not create their own exchanges would be unlawful. Adler and Cannon's arguments were controversial, and prompted significant academic response. Adler and Cannon's work also prompted several lawsuits challenging the lawfulness of the tax credits, including ''Halbig v. Sebelius'' and '' King v. Burwell.'' Adler and Cannon filed amicus briefs defending their research in several of the cases. In the end, however, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Adler and Cannon's interpretation by a 6–3 vote in '' King v. Burwell.'' Adler's scholarship has also been relied upon in other Supreme Court cases, and was cited by Chief Justice Roberts in his ''City of Arlington v. FCC'' dissent and by Justice Gorsuch in ''Kisor v. Wilkie.''

Case Western University School of Law

Adler is currently a tenured professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, where he teaches courses in environmental, regulatory, and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. He is the director of the law school's Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Regulation. In 2011, Adler was named the inaugural holder of the Johan Verheij Memorial Professorship at CWRU. Adler is a contributing editor to the conservative ''

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich Lo ...

'' and a contributor to " The Volokh Conspiracy". He blogged anonymously under the pseudonym "Juan Non-Volokh" at "The Volokh Conspiracy" until May 1, 2006.The Volokh Conspiracy website
accessed October 31, 2014. Adler serves on the advisory board of the NFIB Legal Foundation, and the Environmental Law Reporter and ELI Press Advisory Board of the

Environmental Law Institute The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., that seeks to "make law work for people, places, and the planet" through its work as an environmental law educator, convener, pub ...

.Jonathan H. Adler official website
accessed October 31, 2014. In 2004, Adler received the Paul M. Bator Award. In 2007, the Case Western Reserve University Law Alumni Association awarded Adler their annual "Distinguished Teacher Award."

Personal life

In 2001, Adler moved to

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, where he met his wife, Christina.

Books

* ''Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane'' (2020), * ''Business and the Roberts Court'', Editor (2016), * ''A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case'', co-author (2013), * ''Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform'' (2011), * ''Ecology, Liberty & Property: A Free Market Environmental Reader'', Editor (2000) * ''The Costs of Kyoto: Climate Change Policy and Its Implications'', Editor (1997), * ''Environmentalism at the Crossroads: Green Activism in America'' (1995),

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Jonathan H. Living people 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American male writers American male bloggers American bloggers American legal scholars American legal writers Antonin Scalia Law School alumni Case Western Reserve University faculty Cato Institute people Ohio lawyers Ohio Republicans People from Hudson, Ohio Writers from Philadelphia Yale College alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Friends' Central School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)