David J. Hacker, joined the Office of Special Litigation for the Attorney General of Texas in October 2016. Prior to that he served for over a decade as Senior Counsel and Director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom.
At ADF, Hacker focused on constitutional litigation and appeals at all levels of the federal courts. Many of his cases set new precedent protecting student and faculty speech on college campuses. He is a sought-after speaker on First Amendment and other constitutional issues.
Prior to working at ADF, Hacker was an associate in the litigation department of Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Chicago, where he litigated complex commercial, product liability, and employment cases in state and federal court.
Hacker completed the ADF leadership development program to become a Blackstone Fellow in 2002. While interning for the program at the Pacific Justice Institute, he was awarded the Brandt Gustavson award for demonstrating outstanding character, leadership, and exceptional work in religious freedom.
Hacker earned his J.D. in 2004 from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., where he was an editorial board articles and notes editor of the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy and published the law review article, “Warning! Evolution Lies Within: Preserving Academic Freedom in the Classroom with Secular Evolution Disclaimers.” He was also president of the law school’s Christian Legal Society chapter and a founding board member of Law Students Pro
Life. He received his B.A. in English and philosophy at Northwestern University in 2001.
Hacker has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Journal Science, and the Drudge Report. The stories of discrimination suffered by his clients inspired a major motion picture.
Hacker is a member of the bar in Illinois and California. He is also admitted to practice at the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal district and appellate courts.
