Law and democracy

I'm Chief Counsel at American Oversight, where our team of dedicated lawyers fights for truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public's right to government records. Previously, I served for a decade as the Legal Director at Free Speech For People, and before that at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Ron Fein, you are literally on the front lines of saving our democracy" - MSNBC (Jason Johnson)

"His knowledge of case law seemed encyclopedic" - The New Yorker (Sue Halpern)

"Communist...scumbag lawyer" - Marjorie Taylor Greene

In the news

The 'Chilling' Trump Plan That Could Pave The Way For Authoritarianism - Huffington Post, June 11, 2024

How much does it cost DeSantis to travel from one place to another? Florida won't tell you - USA Today, May 20, 2024

Removing Trump - MSNBC (appearance on All in with Chris Hayes, guest host Jason Johnson), Dec. 27, 2023

A High-Risk Legal Effort to Keep Trump Off the Ballot - New Yorker, Nov. 9, 2023

Minnesota trial to remove Trump from 2024 election ballot begins - NBC News, Nov. 2, 2023

Appellate argument in constitutional challenge to candidacy of Donald Trump (courtroom video) - Nov. 2, 2023

Effort to disqualify Trump from WH gains traction - MSNBC (appearance on Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace), Aug. 31, 2023

14th Amendment, Section 3: A new legal battle against Trump takes shape - ABC News, Aug. 25, 2023

This issue could knock Trump off ballots nationwide. Get ready for it to dominate primary season - L.A. Times, Aug. 18, 2023

1870s racism echoes through Trump and Colorado cases - Colorado Newsline, Aug. 3, 2023

Trump team prepares to fight efforts to block him from ballots over Jan. 6 - Washington Post, Apr. 18, 2023

Limits on super PACs stump top Massachusetts court - Courthouse News Service, Feb. 6, 2023

A Long-Shot Push to Bar Trump in 2024 as an “Insurrectionist” - N.Y. Times, Sept. 7, 2022

Opening argument in constitutional challenge to candidacy of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (courtroom video) - C-SPAN, Apr. 22, 2022

What Marjorie Taylor Greene will be asked when she testifies under oath - MSNBC (appearance on All In with Chris Hayes, guest host Ayman Mohyeldin), Apr. 20, 2022

Ron Fein: Madison Cawthorn is Disqualified for Future Public Office - CNN (appearance on New Day with Brianna Keilar), Feb. 10, 2022

New legal case may threaten Rep. Cawthorn’s reelection bid - CNN (appearance on Erin Burnett Out Front), Jan. 27, 2022

Cawthorn Challenge Raises the Question: Who is an “Insurrectionist”? - N.Y. Times, Jan. 25, 2022

How Jan. 6 Gave the 14th Amendment New Life - N.Y. Times, Jan. 19, 2022

The Case for Barring Madison Cawthorn from the Ballot - CNN (appearance on CNN Newsroom with Victor Blackwell & Alisyn Camerota), Jan. 14, 2022

Cases

LaBrant v. Benson - candidate eligibility challenge to Donald Trump under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause

Growe v. Simon - candidate eligibility challenge to Donald Trump under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause

In re challenge to constitutional qualifications of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene - candidate eligibility challenge under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause (first case to compel a U.S. Representative to testify under oath about their involvement in January 6, 2021)

In re challenge to constitutional qualifications of Representative Madison Cawthorn - candidate eligibility challenge under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause (first such challenge since Reconstruction)

Lieu v. Federal Election Commission - constitutional challenge to the lower court decision that created super PACs (with Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Laurence Tribe, Albert Alschuler, Richard Painter, and others) (read the petition for certiorari)

CAIR-Minnesota v. Atlas Aegis - challenge to private voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was only the third case in the act’s history to yield injunctive relief for the plaintiffs, and the first in the act’s history to result in a post-election consent decree following a pre-election injunction

Mi Familia Vota v. Trump - challenge to voter intimidation by the president of the United States under the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Amicus brief in Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (constitutional case involving anti-solicitation rule for judicial candidates) (2014)

Amicus brief in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius (constitutional companion case to Hobby Lobby) (2014)

Op-eds

Merrick Garland Has Abandoned Prosecuting Trump’s Pre-2020 Crimes - JURIST, Jan. 6, 2023 (with John Bonifaz & Ben Clements)

No conviction needed to bar Trump from the ballot - CommonWealth Magazine, Aug. 22, 2022 (with Ben Clements)

Voting Rights Under Threat - BillMoyers.com, Mar. 18, 2021 (with John Bonifaz & Ben Clements)

An obscure Alaska court case could end super PACs and reshape our democracy - Business Insider, Feb. 14, 2021 (with John Bonifaz & Ben Clements)

Impeach Trump again—and bar him from future office - Boston Globe, Jan. 5, 2021 (with John Bonifaz & Ben Clements)

The public has a right to hear Stormy Daniels, Mr. President - Wash. Post, Mar. 23, 2018 (with Laurence Tribe)

Equifax deserves the corporate death penalty - WIRED, Oct. 20, 2017

Donald Trump Abused Pardon Power When He Freed Joe Arpaio - TIME, Oct. 3, 2017 (with John Dean)

Time to dissolve the Trump Organization: New York courts have the power to shut the corporation down - N.Y. Daily News, Mar. 14, 2017

How Apple Could Best the FBI - U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 22, 2016

Goldwater would have hated Citizens United - Wash. Post, Oct. 15, 2014

Books and book chapters

Fixing the Supreme Court’s Mistake: The Case for the Twenty-Eighth Amendment - in Democracy by the People: Reforming Campaign Finance in America (Eugene Mazo & Timothy Kuhner, eds., Cambridge Univ. Press 2019)

The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump (with John Bonifaz & Ben Clements) (Melville House Publishing 2018)