Andrew Schlafly | |
|---|---|
 Schlafly in 2007 | |
| Born | Andrew Layton Schlafly (1961-04-27)April 27, 1961 (age 64) Alton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Princeton University (BS) Harvard University (JD) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Mother | Phyllis Schlafly |
Andrew Layton Schlafly (/ˈʃlæfli/; born April 27, 1961) is an American lawyer andChristianconservative activist.[1] He is the founder and owner of thewiki encyclopedia projectConservapedia. He is the son of the conservative activist and lawyerPhyllis Schlafly.[2]
Schlafly was the lead counsel for theAssociation of American Physicians and Surgeons'efforts to bring thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act before theUnited States Supreme Court.
Schlafly is one of six children.[3] His great-great-grandfather August Schlafly was aSwiss immigrant to the United States. His father Fred Schlafly was an attorney, and his motherPhyllis (née Stewart) spearheaded the movement opposing theEqual Rights Amendment and was founder of theEagle Forum.
Born and raised inAlton, Illinois,[3][4] Schlafly graduated fromSaint Louis Priory School and later received aB.S.E. inelectrical engineering and certificate inengineering physics fromPrinceton University in 1981.[5][6]
After graduating from Princeton, Schlafly briefly worked as a device physicist forIntel inSanta Clara, California until 1983, when he became amicroelectronics engineer at theJohns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory.[7] Schlafly later worked forBell Labs before enrolling atHarvard Law School.[2]
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Schlafly graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 with aJ.D. in the class that included future U.S. presidentBarack Obama.[1] From 1989 to 1991, Schlafly was an editor of theHarvard Law Review.[1][8][9]
After law school, Schlafly served as an adjunct professor atSeton Hall Law School.[2] In1992, Schlafly ran as aRepublican for theUnited States House of Representatives seat ofVirginia's 11th congressional district; Schlafly came in last place in a field of five candidates in the primary.[10]
Schlafly was[when?][how?] anassociate for theWachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz law firm inNew York City before moving to private practice. Additionally, he is General Counsel at theAssociation of American Physicians and Surgeons and led its unsuccessful Supreme Court challenge to thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[11][12] In 2010, Schlafly wrote an article for theJournal of American Physicians and Surgeons about the economic effects of the legislation.[13]
In 2010, Schlafly took the role of lead counsel for a group seeking to recall US SenatorBob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey. The group, associated with theTea Party movement, argued that theUS Constitution permits arecall election for federal offices without explicitly so providing.[14] On November 18, 2010, theNew Jersey Supreme Court rejected Schlafy's arguments, finding that the New Jersey provision violated the U.S. Constitution.[15] Later that year, Schlafly represented the group RecallND inRecallND v. Jaeger before theNorth Dakota Supreme Court in another effort to recall Democratic SenatorKent Conrad.[16]
Schlafly created thewiki-based Conservapedia in November 2006 to counter what he perceived as a liberal bias present in Wikipedia.[17] He felt the need to start the project after reading a student's assignment written usingCommon Era dating notation, rather than theAnno Domini system that he preferred. Although he was "an early Wikipedia enthusiast", as reported by Shawn Zeller ofCongressional Quarterly, Schlafly became concerned about perceivedbias after Wikipedia editors repeatedly undid his edits to the article about the2005 Kansas evolution hearings.[18] Schlafly expressed hope that Conservapedia would become a general resource for American educators and a counterpoint to theliberal bias that he perceived in Wikipedia.[19][20][21][22] The site has been accused of spreadingmisinformation on scientific subjects, such asHIV/AIDS denialism,the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis,climate change denial,relativity denial, andvaccine/autism connections,[23][24][25] and has advocatedYoung Earth creationism,[26]Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories[27] and conspiracy theories that theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack was staged. Additionally, it features extensive criticisms ofatheism,feminism,homosexuality, and theDemocratic Party.
In 2009, Schlafly appeared onThe Colbert Report to discuss hisConservative Bible Project, a project hosted on Conservapedia that aims to rewrite English translations of theBible in order to remove or alter terms advancing a "liberal bias".[28]
Richard Lenski, anevolutionary biologist[29] known for his work on theE. coli long-term evolution experiment, was contacted by Schlafly in 2008 regarding a set of results that showed one population ofE. coli evolved the novel trait of being able to metabolizecitrate. Conservapedia supportscreationism and objects to evolution, so Schlafly disputed that bacteria could evolve via beneficialmutations. The correspondence was commented on across the Internet. Schlafly was criticized by Lenski onArs Technica, among other sites, for not reading Lenski's paper properly, for not understanding the experimental data he requested, and for not taking notice of people on Conservapedia itself who considered the paper well researched.[30]
In 2011, Schlafly led a lawsuit on behalf of the family of his activist mother, Phyllis, to blockThe Saint Louis Brewery from acquiring a trademark on the name "Schlafly". In 2018, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of The Saint Louis Brewery.[31]
In 1984, Schlafly married Catherine Kosarek, a medical student and fellow Princeton alum.[32] They live inFar Hills, New Jersey.[33]
unsuccessfully ran in a Republican congressional primary in 1992 and also volunteered for [gubernatorial candidate]Steve Lonegan in 2009.
Media related toAndrew Schlafly at Wikimedia Commons
