Carroll "Beau" Correll Jr. (born July 20, 1982) is an American attorney and

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

. In 2016, Correll was a leader in the effort to deny

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

the Republican nomination through the use of a federal lawsuit, amendments to Convention rules, and floor action at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...

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

. On April 16, 2016, Correll was elected as a national delegate to represent the 10th Congressional District of Virginia to the convention. At the time of his election, Va. Code § 24.2-545(D) required national delegates to "be bound to vote on the first ballot at the national convention for the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary." Voting in opposition could have resulted in a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine. Donald Trump won the Virginia primary, thereby entitling him to all of that state's delegate votes at the national convention under state law. Approximately 20 states had similar laws to Virginia's that would bind national delegates under state law at the time. Trump, in the lead in national delegate totals, publicly opposed efforts to unbind delegates and called it "illegal" for delegates not to vote for him. Arguing that Trump's nomination would lead to a Republican loss to Clinton and, if successful, a weak, chaotic presidency and that he would risk jail rather than vote for Trump, Correll sued Virginia's Attorney General

Mark Herring Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, ...

in Correll v. Herring, an effort to unbind the delegation under state law. The suit was filed in federal court in the

Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

. Correll was represented by David Rivkin of

BakerHostetler BakerHostetler is an American law firm founded in 1916. One of the firm's founders, Newton D. Baker, was U.S. Secretary of War during World War I, and former Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. History , the firm was ranked the 73rd-largest law firm in t ...

. Correll is also the founder of

Free The Delegates Free the Delegates was an American political effort within the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, formed in June 2016 by delegate and Rules Committee member Kendal Unruh to the 2016 Republican National Convention (July 18–21, 20 ...

, a Super PAC, created to oppose the ascent of Trump to the Republican nomination and paving the way for a new nominee. In addition to Correll v. Herring, Correll and the PAC supported both favorable modifications to RNC rules and actions voted on by delegates at large, rather than members of the Rules Committee. In order to aid in the selection of a different nominee, the organization supported efforts to allow delegates to vote their conscience, secret balloting, and the selection of their own vice-presidential candidate. On July 11, 2016, the federal court ruled in Correll's favor, striking down the binding statute on First Amendment grounds, thus, unbinding delegates under state law. Correll's efforts to oppose Trump were chronicled b
VICE News
as well as th
Washington Post
He has been a commentator for Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS, NBC, and ABC and resides in

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the northwesternmost Administrative divisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of Frederick County, Virginia, Frederi ...

. Correll graduated from

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

with a bachelor's degree in international studies and political science. He earned a J.D. from

Widener University Commonwealth Law School Widener University Commonwealth Law School (Widener Law Commonwealth) is a law school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and part of Widener University, a private university in Chester, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separate ABA-accredited l ...

in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Correll, Beau 1982 births Living people Widener University Commonwealth Law School alumni