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Reilly Stephens serves as Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, litigating cases in state and federal courts around the country covering a wide range of expertise including free speech and association, campaign finance, labor law, search and seizure, property rights, educational freedom, federalism, equal protection, due process, and separation of powers.
After joining LJC as a Staff Attorney in 2018, Reilly filed more than a dozen cases around the country to enforce the First Amendment rights of public employees across the country, building on the Center’s landmark Supreme Court victory in Janus v. AFSCME. Along the way, he developed a litigation strategy to revive the nondelegation doctrine, eventually winning only the second appellate nondelegation victory in 80 years. Reilly also serves as one of the lead attorneys for LJC’s amicus practice, contributing to important constitutional cases before the Supreme Court and lower appellate courts throughout the country.
Over the course of the pandemic, Reilly contributed to a number of legal challenges to the excesses of government COVID rules, including a key role in defeating the OSHA vaccine mandate. However, the most important one to Reilly was personal: representing his own bride against the District of Columbia to win the First Amendment right to dance at his own wedding—in the end, the first song inviting guests to the dance floor was “Footloose.” Most recently, he successfully represented a pair of California doctors in challenging the State’s threat to take the licenses of anyone disagreeing with California’s official views about pandemic science.
A 2023-2024 Antonin Scalia Fellow, Reilly has contributed scholarship and commentary on important constitutional issues to many outlets, including National Review, The Federalist, the Washington Examiner, Real Clear Policy, and Gray Television.
Prior to joining LJC, Reilly served as a legal associate in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, where he drafted amicus briefs, and provided research, commentary, and other scholarship important to Cato’s mission. During law school, Reilly served as a law clerk at the Institute for Justice and for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness.
Reilly holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, which selected his student note for publication—an examination of the potential challenges to drug prohibition from the development of 3D-Printing. He received a M.A. in International Relations, Upper Second Class, from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where he played defense for the Men’s Lacrosse Team. A native of Baltimore, he now lives in our nation’s capital with the aforementioned bride, their daughter, and a very, very spoiled rescue mutt.
Reilly Stephens serves as Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, litigating cases in state and federal courts around the country covering a wide range of expertise including free speech and association, campaign finance, labor law, search and seizure, property rights, educational freedom, federalism, equal protection, due process, and separation of powers.
After joining LJC as a Staff Attorney in 2018, Reilly filed more than a dozen cases around the country to enforce the First Amendment rights of public employees across the country, building on the Center’s landmark Supreme Court victory in Janus v. AFSCME. Along the way, he developed a litigation strategy to revive the nondelegation doctrine, eventually winning only the second appellate nondelegation victory in 80 years. Reilly also serves as one of the lead attorneys for LJC’s amicus practice, contributing to important constitutional cases before the Supreme Court and lower appellate courts throughout the country.
Over the course of the pandemic, Reilly contributed to a number of legal challenges to the excesses of government COVID rules, including a key role in defeating the OSHA vaccine mandate. However, the most important one to Reilly was personal: representing his own bride against the District of Columbia to win the First Amendment right to dance at his own wedding—in the end, the first song inviting guests to the dance floor was “Footloose.” Most recently, he successfully represented a pair of California doctors in challenging the State’s threat to take the licenses of anyone disagreeing with California’s official views about pandemic science.
A 2023-2024 Antonin Scalia Fellow, Reilly has contributed scholarship and commentary on important constitutional issues to many outlets, including National Review, The Federalist, the Washington Examiner, Real Clear Policy, and Gray Television.
Prior to joining LJC, Reilly served as a legal associate in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, where he drafted amicus briefs, and provided research, commentary, and other scholarship important to Cato’s mission. During law school, Reilly served as a law clerk at the Institute for Justice and for the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Class Action Fairness.
Reilly holds a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, which selected his student note for publication—an examination of the potential challenges to drug prohibition from the development of 3D-Printing. He received a M.A. in International Relations, Upper Second Class, from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where he played defense for the Men’s Lacrosse Team. A native of Baltimore, he now lives in our nation’s capital with the aforementioned bride, their daughter, and a very, very spoiled rescue mutt.
To schedule an interview with a member of our team, please contact us.
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