Mathew D. "Mat" Staver is an American lawyer and former pastor of several

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

churches who became a

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestantism in the United States, Pr ...

. He is a former dean of

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

's law school. In 1989, he founded the nonprofit organization

Liberty Counsel Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) Christian ministry that engages in strategic litigation to promote evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L. Staver, who are attorney ...

, where he serves as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

called him "a leading Christian legal theorist."

Education

Staver received a B.A. in theology from Southern Missionary College, an M.A. in religion from

Andrews University Andrews University (Andrews) is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists and is the flag ...

, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. During college he began a process which led him to later leave the SDA church and eventually attend a Southern Baptist church.God on Trial: Dispatches from America's Religious Battlefields
by Peter H. Irons

Career

He was the pastor of three churches in Kentucky that belonged to an evangelical Protestant denomination known as the Christian Church. In 1990, he criticized the ACLU's efforts that led to removal of a Latin cross from the top of the St. Cloud, Florida water tower, stating that Liberty Counsel would be "a Christian antithesis to the ACLU." In 2000, he represented absentee voters in the ''

Bush v. Gore ''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W ...

'' election case. A

Young Earth creationist Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between about 10,000 and 6,000 years ago, contradicting established ...

who believes that

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

should be taught in public schools, Staver also denies

Darwinian evolution ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sele ...

.Darwin Was Right! Or Was He?
''

Orlando Weekly ''Orlando Weekly'' is a liberal progressive alternative newsweekly distributed in the Greater Orlando area of Florida. Every Thursday, 40,000 issues of the paper are distributed to more than 1,100 locations across Orange, Osceola and Semino ...

'', September 1, 2005 He has argued before the

Supreme Court of the United States 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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

twice, before most of the federal courts of appeals, and has testified before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. In 2005, he opposed the nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court. Staver served as the dean of the

Liberty University School of Law The Liberty University School of Law is the law school of Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school offers the J.D., L.L.M., and J.M. degrees. History The Liberty University School of L ...

from 2006 to 2014. In 2011 he was added to the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations, which was established by Iowa Senator

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...

. In October 2015, Staver claimed that 100,000 people gathered in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

to support

Kim Davis Kimberly Jean Davis (née Bailey; born September 17, 1965) is an American former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses ...

in support of her refusal to issue marriage licenses. The event was shown to have happened more than a year earlier and was unrelated to Davis.

issued a press release, stating that Staver had relied on a member of the

Congress of the Republic of Peru The Congress of the Republic of Peru () is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru. Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the Constitution of Peru, the President of Peru can be Vacancy due to moral incapacity (Per ...

for the information on the rally. In 2016, Staver served on the resolutions committee for the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

. In late 2018 he voiced his opposition to including gender identity and sexual orientation in a senate bill that would make lynching a federal crime. Staver "pushed back against mainstream media coverage, and explained that while no one can or should oppose a bill banning lynching, there were provisions in it that served an ill purpose." In 2020, he represented a

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

pastor who was arrested for holding church services when the county had mandated churches to close. Charges against the pastor were later dropped. Staver favors allowing religious exemptions to Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Staver practices law on behalf of Liberty Counsel.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Staver, Mathew D Living people University of Kentucky alumni Andrews University alumni Southern Adventist University alumni American lawyers Liberty University people Year of birth missing (living people) Former Seventh-day Adventists Southern Baptists American Christian Young Earth creationists