Tenn. lawyer’s family, firm collect millions from charities
Then he got a lifeline from a surprising source — the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sekulow’s client, San Franscisco-based Jews for Jesus, was locked in a legal dispute with commissioners at the Los Angeles airport. The group wanted to hand out religious literature there. Airport officials said no. Sekulow argued the commission’s actions violated the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in Jews for Jesus’ favor, a victory that launched Sekulow’s new calling as a crusader for Christians who believed their legal rights were being threatened.
Sekulow’s story was chronicled in major newspapers.
For Sekulow, it was like being born again.
“I almost feel like God raised me back from the dead,” he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1991. “It was a spiritual rebirth.”
Sekulow, a celebrity among conservative Christians, now sits as the principal officer of two closely related multimillion-dollar legal charities: Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, which he founded in San Francisco, and the better-known American Center for Law and Justice, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson and based in Virginia Beach.
Jay Sekulow Live — a call-in radio show — draws millions of listeners. He’s a regular commentator on Fox News and splits his time living between Franklin, Tenn., and the Washington, D.C., area. Attorneys from his two charities are suing to rescind national health care reform and to block the proposed mosque near ground zero.