JONATHAN TURLEY
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Professor Jonathan Turley is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal theory to tort law. He has written over three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals at Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and other schools. He is a New York Times best-selling author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (available here) and “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution” (#2 on NY Times Bestseller List).
After a stint at Tulane Law School, Professor Turley joined the George Washington faculty in 1990 and, in 1998, was given the prestigious Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law, the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history. In 2024, a G.W. alum endowed a fellowship after him, “The Professor Jonathan Turley Public Interest and Public Service Summer Fellowship.”
In addition to his extensive publications, Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades including the representation of whistleblowers, military personnel, judges, members of Congress, and a wide range of other clients. He is also one of the few attorneys to successfully challenge both a federal and a state law — leading to courts striking down the federal Elizabeth Morgan law as well as the state criminalization of cohabitation.
In 2010, Professor Turley represented Judge G. Thomas Porteous in his impeachment trial. After a trial before the Senate, Professor Turley (on December 7, 2010) argued both the motions and gave the final argument to all 100 U.S. Senators from the well of the Senate floor — only the 14th time in history of the country that such a trial of a judge has reached the Senate floor. Judge Porteous was convicted of four articles of impeachments, including the acceptance of $2000 from an attorney and using a false name on a bankruptcy filing.
In 2011, Professor Turley filed a challenge to the Libyan War on behalf of ten members of Congress, including Representatives Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md); Dan Burton (R., Ind.); Mike Capuano (D., Mass.); Howard Coble (R., N.C.); John Conyers (D., Mich.); John J. Duncan (R., Tenn.); Tim Johnson (R., Ill.); Walter Jones (R., N.C.); Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio); and Ron Paul (R., Tx). The lawsuit was before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
In November 2014, Turley agreed to serve as lead counsel to the United States House of Representatives in its constitutional challenge to changes ordered by President Obama to the Affordable Care Act. The litigation was approved by the House of Representatives to seek judicial review of the claims under the separation of powers. On May 12, 2016, the federal court handed down a historic victory for the House and ruled that the Obama Administration violated the separation of powers in ordering billions to be paid to insurance companies without an appropriation of Congress.
Other cases include his representation of the Area 51 workers at a secret air base in Nevada; the nuclear couriers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Rocky Flats grand jury in Colorado; Dr. Eric Foretich, the husband in the famous Elizabeth Morgan custody controversy; and four former United States Attorneys General during the Clinton impeachment litigation. In the Foretich case, Turley succeeded recently in reversing a trial court and striking down a federal statute through a rare “bill of attainder” challenge. Professor Turley has also served as counsel in a variety of national security cases, including espionage cases like that of Jim Nicholson, the highest ranking CIA officer ever accused of espionage. Turley also served as lead defense counsel in the successful defense of Petty Officer Daniel King, who faced the death penalty for alleged spying for Russia. Turley also served as defense counsel in the case of Dr. Tom Butler, who is faced criminal charges dealing with the importation and handling of thirty vials of plague in Texas. He also served as counsel to Larry Hanauer, the House Intelligence Committee staffer accused of leaking a classified Presidential National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times. (Hanauer was cleared of all allegations).
Among his current cases, Professor Turley represents Dr. Ali Al-Timimi, who was convicted in Virginia in 2005 of violent speech against the United States. (He was ultimately cleared of all charges in 2026). In 2020, the federal court found that there was merit in the challenges raised by Professor Turley and his co-counsel Tom Huff. Accordingly, the judge ordered his release to protect him from Covit-19 while the Court prepared a decision on the challenges. Pursuant to a court order, Dr. Al-Timimi was released from the Supermax in Colorado and the two drove across the country so that he could be placed into home confinement. He also represented Dr. Sami Al-Arian, who was accused of being the American leader of a terrorist organization while he was a university professor in Florida. Turley represented Dr. Al-Arian for eight years, much of which was in a determined defense against an indictment for criminal contempt. The case centered on the alleged violation of a plea bargain by the Justice Department after Dr. Al-Arian was largely exonerated of terrorism charges in Tampa, Florida. On June 27, 2014, all charges were dropped against Dr. Al-Arian. He also represented pilots approaching or over the age of 60 in their challenge to the mandatory retirement age of the FAA. He also represented David Murphee Faulk, the whistleblower who disclosed abuses in the surveillance operations at NSA’s Fort Gordon facility in Georgia.
Professor Turley also served as an expert defense witness in the extradition proceedings of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London. Turley was asked to testify on the likely pre-trial, trial, and appellate issues facing Mr. Assange as well as the prison conditions that he could expect upon extradition to Northern Virginia for trial.
Professor Turley also agreed to serve as lead counsel representing the Brown family from the TLC program “Sister Wives, a reality show on plural marriage or polygamy. On December 13, 2013, the federal court in Utah struck down the criminalization of polygamy — the first such decision in history — on free exercise and due process grounds. On September 26, 2014, the court also ruled in favor of the Browns under Section 1983 — giving them a clean sweep on all of the statutory and constitutional claims. In April 2015, a panel reversed the decision on standing grounds and that decision is now on appeal.
Professor Turley was also lead counsel in the World Bank protest case stemming from the mass arrest of people in 2002 by the federal and district governments during demonstrations of the IMF and World Bank. Turley and his co-lead counsel Dan Schwartz (and the law firm of Bryan Cave) were the first to file and represented student journalists arrested without probable cause. In April 2015, after 13 years of intense litigation, the case was settled for $2.8 million, including $115,000 for each arrestee — a record damage award in a case of this kind and over twice the amount of prior damages for individual protesters. The case also exposed government destruction and withholding of evidence as well as the admitted mass arrest of hundreds of people without probable cause.
Professor Turley also served as the legal expert in the review of polygamy laws in the British Columbia (Canada) Supreme Court. In the latter case, he argued for the decriminalization of plural union and conjugal unions. In 2012, Turley also represented the makers of “Five Wives Vodka” (Ogden’s Own Distillery) in challenging an effective ban on the product in Idaho after officials declared the product to be offensive to Mormons. After opposing the ban on free speech and other grounds, the state of Idaho issued a letter apologizing for public statements made by officials and lifting the ban on sale for “Five Wives Vodka.”
Turley has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues, including with the Florida House of Representatives. He also served as the consultant to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives on the impeachment of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.
Professor Turley is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. He has testified over 100 times in the House and the Senate. That testimony includes the confirmation hearings of Attorney General nominees Loretta Lynch and William Barr as well as Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Professor Turley is also a nationally recognized legal commentator. Professor Turley was ranked as 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in the recent study by Judge Richard Posner. Turley was also found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He has been ranked in the top five most popular law professors on Twitter and has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys (including in the latest rankings by LawDragon) – one of only a handful of academics. In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases as well as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40. He was also selected in the last five years as one of the 100 top Irish lawyers in the world. In 2016, he was ranked as one of the 100 most famous (past and present) law professors.
Professor Turley is one of only two academics to testify at both the Clinton and Trump impeachment hearings. In December 2019, Professor Turley was called as the one Republican witness in the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings. He appeared with three Democratic witnesses. Professor Turley disagreed with his fellow witnesses in opposing the proposed articles of impeachments on bribery, extortion, campaign finance violations or obstruction of justice. He argued that these alleged impeachable acts were at odds with controlling definitions of those crimes and that Congress has historically looked to the criminal code and cases for guidance on such allegations. The committee ultimately rejected those articles and adopted the only two articles that Professor Turley said could be legitimately advanced: abuse of power, obstruction of Congress. Chairman Jerrold Nadler even ended the hearing by quoting his position on abuse of power. However, Turley opposed impeachment on this record as incomplete and insufficient for submission to the Senate. He argued for the House to wait and complete the record by seeking to compel key witnesses like former National Security Adviser John Bolton. His testimony was later relied upon in the impeachment floor debate by various House members and he was cited by both the White House and House managers in their arguments before the United States Senate in the Trump impeachment trial, including videotaped remarks played at the trial.
Professor Turley’s articles on legal and policy issues appear regularly in national publications with hundreds of articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. He is a columnist for USA Today and writes regularly for the Washington Post. In 2005, Turley was given the Columnist of the Year award for Single-Issue Advocacy for his columns on civil liberties by The Aspen Institute and the Week Magazine. Professor Turley also appears regularly as a legal expert on all of the major television networks. Since the 1990s, he has worked under contract as the on-air Legal Analyst for NBC News, CBS News, BBC and Fox News. Professor Turley has been a repeated guest on Sunday talk shows with over two-dozen appearances on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox Sunday. Professor Turley has taught courses on constitutional law, constitutional criminal law, environmental law, litigation, and torts. He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS). His work with older prisoners has been honored in various states, including his selection as the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Mary Ann Quaranta Elder Justice Award at Fordham University.
In 2024, the Washingtonian recognized Turley as one of the most influential persons in shaping policy. His award-winning blog is routinely ranked as one of the most popular legal blogs by AVVO. His blog was selected as the top News/Analysis site in 2013, the top Legal Opinion Blog in 2011 as well as prior selections as the top Law Professor Blog and Legal Theory Blog. It was also ranked in the top 20 constitutional law blog in 2018. It has been regularly ranked by the ABA Journal in the top 100 blogs in the world. In 2012, Turley was selected as one of the top 20 legal experts on Twitter by Business Insider. In 2013, the ABA Journal inducted the Turley Blog into its Hall of Fame. In addition to teaching a course on the Supreme Court and the Constitution, he is on the board of the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Professor Turley received his B.A. at the University of Chicago and his J.D. at Northwestern. In 2008, he was given an honorary Doctorate of Law from John Marshall Law School for his contributions to civil liberties and the public interest.
Twitter: @jonathanturley
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” and “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Icon made by DinosoftLabs from Flaticon
What is the criminal penalty for knowingly accepting donations from foreigners for use in a United States election?
Does the Obama campaign know that simply disabling credit card security functions does NOT mean the donations over the internet are untraceable?
I do hate that, drive the fish into the net feeling.
Dear Professor Turley,
Please share your perspective about the book, “The End of America” by Naomi Wolf. There is a film of the same title by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern. Here is the movie link: http://www.endofamericamovie.com/guerilla.php
Is Vincent Bugliosi accurate when he states that a U.S. Attorney could charge Messrs. Bush and Cheney? Before Martial law is declared
Thanks for what you do for our country!
SNL has Ben Afleck playing the part of overweight wacko lefty Keith Olbermann who just stopped living with his mother.
Rashid Khalid is playing the part of Jonathan Turley, Olbermann’s trusty sidekick and “Constitutional Law Expert” on Countdown.
Saturday Night Live has Ben Afleck playing the part of overweight wacko lefty Keith Olbermann who just stopped living with his mother.
Rashid Khalid is playing the part of Jonathan Turley, Olbermann’s trusty sidekick and “Constitutional Law Expert” on Countdown.
AP REVEALS: OBAMA AUNT LIVING IN U.S. ILLEGALLY…
Boston Housing Authority ‘flabbergastered’ Zeituni Onyango living in Southie…
Obama Aunt says made $260 donation to Obama subjecting her to immediate deportation if in America illegally…
Kenyan Government orders Obama’s family in Kenya to stop media interviews…
Obama’s brother STILL living in 9 by 9 hut on $12 per year…
ZOGBY SATURDAY: Republican John McCain outpolled Obama 48% to 47% in Friday polling. He is beginning to cut into Obama’s lead among independents, is now leading among blue collar voters, has strengthened his lead among investors and among men, and is walloping Obama among NASCAR voters. Joe the Plumber may get his license after all…
THE BIG PURGE: SKEPTICAL REPORTERS TOSSED OFF OBAMA PLANE…
Suicide jumper left ‘note for Obama’…
State employee says she was ordered to check out ‘Joe the Plumber’…ACLU ignores violations…
“The use of electrical shock without any warning is a potential form of battery under tort and assault under criminal law. Any child could have innocently come into contact with the sign”
uhm, tell that to one of the many liberal judges that you’ve come across over the years. Trespassing (what the little shit did) is also against the law.
Mr. TURLEY WHERE IS YOUR OUTRAGE:
State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:21 PM
By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch
Vanessa Niekamp said that when she was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.
Niekamp didn’t know she just had checked on “Joe the Plumber,” who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain’s example in a debate of an average American.
The senior manager would not learn about “Joe” for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.
The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are “thrust into the public spotlight,” amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.
Niekamp told The Dispatch she is unfamiliar with the practice of checking on the newly famous. “I’ve never done that before, I don’t know of anybody in my office who does that and I don’t remember anyone ever doing that,” she said today.
Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland and Jones-Kelley, both supporters of Democrat Barack Obama, have denied political motives in checking on Wurzelbacher. The Toledo-area resident later endorsed McCain. State officials say any information on “Joe” is confidential and was not released.
Today, Strickland press secretary Keith Dailey said neither the governor’s office nor Job and Family Services officials could comment due to an ongoing investigation by Ohio’s inspector general.
Republican legislators have called the checks suspicious and Jones-Kelley’s reason for them flimsy. They are demanding to know whether state computers were accessed in an attempt to dig up dirt on Wurzelbacher.
Jones-Kelley has revealed that her agency also checked to see if Wurzelbacher was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes. “Joe the Plumber” has said he is not involved in a child-support case.
About 3 p.m. on Oct. 16, Niekamp said Carrie Brown, assistant deputy director for child support, asked her to run Wurzelbacher through the computer. Citing privacy laws, Niekamp would not say what, if anything, was found on “Joe.”
On Oct. 23, Niekamp said Doug Thompson, deputy director for child support, told her she had checked on “Joe the Plumber.” Thompson “literally demanded” that she write an e-mail to the agency’s chief privacy officer stating she checked the case for child-support purposes, she said.
Thompson told her that Jones-Kelley said Wurzelbacher might buy a plumbing business and could owe support. Thompson said he replied that he “would check him out.”
Niekamp, 38, a senior child-support manager, said she never heard any discussion of politics amid what her supervisors told her about the checks on Wurzelbacher.
Worried about her $69,000-a-year job and potential criminal charges, the 15-year state employee said she went to Inspector General Thomas P. Charles on Oct. 24. She has seen employees fired, and dismissed one herself, for illegally accessing personal information in support cases. Niekamp, a registered Republican, said politics played no role in what she told investigators.
The e-mail that Niekamp said she wrote was not among records provided today to The Dispatch in response to a public-records request. Nor did the agency, as required by state law, say it withheld any records.
Strickland spokesman Dailey later said one e-mail was withheld from The Dispatch because its release is prohibited by federal or state laws that forbid the release of information on the state’s child-support system. Daily said he was neither confirming nor denying the existence of a case on Wurzelbacher.
todays headlines:
OBAMA SAYS TAKE ‘DAY OFF’ WORK FOR ELECTION…
Mississippi’s voter rolls stuffed with dead and absent registrants…
Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses…
Effigy of Palin hanging by noose creates uproar..
Obama Campaign Accepting Untraceable Donations…
Obama broke promise on campaign finance..spending over $600,000,000
ACORN investigated under RICO Act for Voter Fraud.
Biden lowers tax cut claim to under $150,000 a year…
Palestinian Hamas Call America for Obama…
LA TIMES suppreses video of Obama toasting terrorist…
Pelosi: Congress ‘will be more bipartisan’ with substantial Dem majorities…!
Obama’s ‘Redistribution’ Constitution; Courts Poised For Takeover By Judicial Left…
VIDEO: Gun Sales On Rise In FL On Fear Of Obama Presidency…
Jeez christ.
Thank you Walter. However, I do expect to keep my current job. Tenure is a wonderful thing for the irredeemably unemployable.
I noticed that you made the top 500 lawyers again in Law Dragon. I voted for you. I have been a great fan of yours for almost 20 years of commentary back when you wrote for LA Times. Even though I am a Republican, you have always been fair and criticized both the Republicans and Democrats. I now am an equal fanatic about this site, which a friend told me about. This has become one of my morning and afternoon delights to check in.
I wish that both candidates would appoint you as their White House counsel. It would be a real test if they wanted to have someone who is a great lawyer and not someone who just wants to do their bidding in office.
Thanks again for what you do for our country!
Unrelated to bio or anything currently on site:
What is your take, if any, on NY State Attorney General’s threat to recover funds from AIG that have gone to lavish junkets since the government’s loan?
And The Guardian is now reporting that “financial workers at Wall Street’s top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn.” Could Cuomo or others seek recovery of some portion of that?
Thanks for the blog.
Don,
I listened to and watched your video. It is a great song. Good luck with it.
Mary,
Thanks for the kind words. It is very difficult to reach any people of influence within the campaign, BUT I have now produced the song as a music video. You can check it out at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMbCo2bwWQ
If you like it, please pass it on.
All the best,
Don Coyne
Isn’t it strange that John McCain wants to delay the debate on Friday with Barack Obama, while, during the CIVIL WAR, the worst time our country was ever in, Abraham Lincoln DEBATED George McClellan! Lincoln didn’t cancel the debates or stay in Washington, because Lincoln knew that the debates would be the deciding factor of which person would be in charge of ending the Civil War!
Talk about running scared–McCain!
My mother’s grandmother was a Turley. She was an Irish immigrant, a Baptist (curiously), with very long never-cut hair, and my mother said she was “mean,” lol. Just strict with children, not very doting toward the grandkids, I think she meant. But then of course, Turley would have been her married name, so no reflection on the family!
I must say as others have, you are one of few commentators that I drop everything to listen to. Wonderful to find you here.
Welcome to cyberspace, Cousin! (Kidding you.)
Don,
What a wonderful song! Have you let the Obama/Biden campaigns hear the song? I’m sure they would enjoy having their supporters hear it.
You remind me of my late father. He was a beautiful singer. He led the church choir over 40 years and he would only sing in church. He had a bass voice that would fill the whole church and he taught me and my sister how to sing harmony.
If he and my beloved mother were still alive, they would both be cheering on Obama as President and they would certainly be enjoying your song.
I hope to hear it on Obama’s website or on TV soon. You have a winner!
Sincerely,
Mary Leon 🙂
Sorry about that link to the song. Try this one:
http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.php?userid=1808
This forum might be a strange place to post a song, but I thought I would because part of the subject matter of the lyrics has to do with the Constitution.
I wrote this song for a specific purpose, to be included on a compilation CD based on the theme ‘Change’ to be distributed in the gift bags at the Democratic National Convention. Unfortunately , the project was cancelled due to noncompliance of the rules by the ‘approved vendor’ sponsor of the project, leaving some very frustrated songwriters.
Anyone have any contacts to get it more exposure, either as a performance or a slide show presentation on YouTube?
The lyrics are below. To hear the song, go to the following link, then go to Artist Songs, and click Play for “A Time For Change.”
http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.php?userid=me
A TIME FOR CHANGE
(Verse 1)
‘We the people of the United States,
In order to form a more perfect union;’
Our founding fathers inscribed these words,
The beginning of our Constitution.
(Verse 2)
Based on justice and the welfare of all,
It gave power to people to make their best call
On who would govern and how they should,
To make sure it was for the common good.
(Pre-chorus)
Some goals can get lost along the way,
But on the horizon there’s a brand new day……
(Chorus)
It’s A TIME FOR CHANGE, a change for the better.
It’s time to live up to the Constitution’s letter.
There’s work to do, a hill to climb,
But this is our moment, this is our time,
A TIME FOR CHANGE, a time to believe
In how much together we can achieve.
(Bridge)
Changes are needed in our nation
In energy and health and education,
And we need to show a bit more sense
In our approach to world events.
If out of many, we are one,
We can get these things done!
(Repeat Chorus 2X)
(Tag)
It’s A TIME FOR CHANGE;
It’s A TIME FOR CHANGE.
(A Time For Change. Music & Lyrics by Don Coyne. Copyright 2008.)
Dear Professor Turley,
I have an issue I would like to discuss with you at your convience. It is of a legal nature and also personal. It is concerning my son. I have watched you on Fox Cable and have read your Bio and know of no other way to turn.
You appear to have all the legal knowledge that is necesary. I raalize you are a very busy man but I pray you will have at least ten minutes of time for me. I am not a crack pot but a senior citizen that is 68 years old with all my facilities in tack. I thought I would share that so you do not think this is something toher than a serious issue.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely
Carol Davis