As I sat listening to last November’s Supreme Court oral argument in SEC v. Cochran, it occurred to me that NCLA had been litigating cases for barely four years. This unheard-of timeline for a new public-interest firm to reach the legal world’s commanding heights attests to NCLA’s dynamism, so our team is justifiably proud of the progress we have made toward dismantling unlawful administrative power. 

Five years in, NCLA has played a leading role in calling out unconstitutional administrative law judges, unwinding the CDC’s nationwide eviction moratorium, vindicating natural immunity to Covid, stopping experimental vaccine mandates, reversing ATF’s criminal bump stock ban, and now opposing Biden’s lawless student loan debt cancellation. Before NCLA arrived on the scene, other groups were not pursuing the kinds of cases and arguments NCLA uses to prevail. Now they are. That’s fantastic because our Alliance needs all the help we can muster against the Administrative State, and our combined efforts will bring down Leviathan sooner.

Our own successes have accelerated NCLA past the proof-of-concept stage, beyond the prototype phase, and right into full-scale production of original lawsuits. In fact, one media detractor this past year labeled NCLA a “right-wing litigation factory.” Our nonpartisanship aside, we don’t take that as a criticism. After all, despite a smaller budget and fewer attorneys, NCLA surpasses even long-established rivals in identifying, filing, and ultimately winning strategically important cases.

Like any good organization though, we test and learn as we go, constantly looking for ways to improve our case selection, enhance our litigating efficiency, scale our efforts, better message our ideas, and grow our base of support. This past year’s successes taught us that, despite losses in lower courts, our arguments frequently will prevail as we appeal to higher ones. Confirmation of that working theory engenders optimism about our docket and emboldens belief in our entire strategic litigation approach. 

Exposing the lack of due process of law and other pathologies of administrative rule has allowed NCLA to hold the “administrative statists” at bay. By insisting that judges judge, legislators legislate, and—crucially—that bureaucrats do neither, NCLA is leading the long march to take back the institutions of American self-government. 

None of the accolades NCLA has enjoyed since our founding in 2017 would have been possible without numerous brave clients and generous supporters. These farsighted friends of freedom—some of whom received richly deserved recognition at our Fifth Anniversary Gala—have enabled NCLA to stop the government from violating many people’s civil liberties. Philip Hamburger and I hope you enjoy reading about the achievements this annual report chronicles and will pass it along to others who might join the new civil liberties movement. Much work remains to be done!