Ryan Bangert serves as senior vice president for strategic initiatives and special counsel to the president at Alliance Defending Freedom. He oversees ADF’s Government Affairs and Corporate Engagement teams as well as the Blackstone Legal Fellowship Program. He also advises executive leadership with strategic initiatives and appears as counsel for ADF clients.
Before joining ADF, Bangert served as deputy first assistant attorney general and deputy for legal counsel in the office of the Texas attorney general. In those roles, he oversaw the state’s Special Litigation Unit, which handled critical litigation against the federal government, and oversaw multiple divisions within the office. Prior to that, he served as deputy for civil litigation for Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, overseeing the state’s civil litigation divisions, including the consumer protection and antitrust divisions, with over 200 attorneys and staff. During his time in government service, Bangert handled a diverse array of matters involving Big Tech, election law, civil rights, multistate antitrust and consumer protection investigations, and many other issues.
Prior to his government service, Bangert was a litigation partner at Baker Botts L.L.P., where he was a member of the firm’s commercial litigation and appellate practice sections. A seasoned trial attorney, The Texas Lawyer ranked the verdict Bangert achieved in the Janvey v. Maldonado case as the #1 verdict in the securities category for 2015-2019, and The National Law Journal ranked it in its “Top 100 Verdicts of 2015.” He was named a “Texas Rising Star” for multiple years by Texas Lawyer and Law and Politics magazines. While at Baker Botts, he was a volunteer attorney for ADF and served as amicus counsel in numerous cases, including Trinity Lutheran v. Comer and Salazar v. Buono, receiving the firm’s Opus Justitae Award in recognition of his outstanding commitment to pro bono service.
Bangert earned his J.D. from Southern Methodist University, where he was a Hatton Sumner’s scholar and graduated first in his class. He also participated in ADF’s Blackstone program and is a Blackstone Fellow. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bangert is a member of the Philadelphia Society and Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice law in Texas, California (inactive), Missouri (inactive), the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal district and appellate courts. A frequent op-ed contributor, his work has appeared in National Review, Daily Wire, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, Fox News, and RealClear Religion. He speaks nationally on constitutional, cultural, and religious liberty issues.
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Panel II: The Intersection Between Individual Expression and Parental Rights
2024 Texas Chapters Conference
Omni Fort Worth Hotel1300 Houston St
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Mifepristone Goes to SCOTUS: Navigating Agencies, Abortion, and Standing in a Post-Dobbs World
Texas A&M Student Chapter
Texas A&M University School of Law1515 Commerce Street
Fort Worth , TX 76102
The State of Free Speech in a Tolerant Society: Examining 303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis
Texas Student Chapter
The University of Texas School of Law727 E Dean Keeton St
Austin, TX 78705
303 Creative and the Future of Free Speech
Tyler Lawyers Chapter
Willow Brook Country Club3205 West Erwin Street
Tyler, TX 75702
Panel 3: Corporate Speech and the First Amendment
State Power Review Conference
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
NetChoice and the Future of State Regulation of Big Tech
A panel of experts from a variety of political perspectives will discuss the range of...
NetChoice and the Future of State Regulation of Big Tech
A panel of experts from a variety of political perspectives will discuss the range of...
Panel 3: Corporate Speech and the First Amendment
State Power Review Conference
How does the First Amendment apply to corporations? Do First Amendment interests and protections apply...
Parental Rights and Religious Liberty: Examining New Conflicts Between Parents and the State
The Supreme Court has articulated that parents have the unenumerated right rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment...
Parental Rights and Religious Liberty: Examining New Conflicts Between Parents and the State
The Supreme Court has articulated that parents have the unenumerated right rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment...