Clint Bolick

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Clint Bolick is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and also serves as the director of the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Litigation in Phoenix.

A legal pioneer in a number of areas, Bolick is perhaps best known for his leadership in defending state-based school choice programs. He has argued and won significant cases in both state and federal courts, winning school choice victories in the Supreme Courts of Wisconsin, Ohio, and Arizona, as well as in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris before the Supreme Court of the United States. Bolick has also set landmark precedents defending freedom of enterprise and private property rights and challenging corporate subsidies and racial classifications.

Before joining the Goldwater Institute in 2007, Bolick was cofounder of the Institute for Justice and former president of the Alliance for School Choice.

Bolick helped author the Health Care Freedom Act and the Save Our Secret Ballot amendment, both of which were added to the Arizona Constitution in 2010 and adopted in several other states. He also has assisted policy activists in several states in establishing litigation centers based on the Goldwater Institute model.

Bolick is the author of several books, most recently Two-Fer: Electing a President and a Supreme Court (Hoover Institution Press, 2012), Death Grip: Loosening the Law’s Stranglehold over Economic Liberty (Hoover Institution Press, 2011) and David’s Hammer:The Case for an Activist Judiciary (2007). Other publications include Leviathan: The Growth of Local Government and the Erosion of Liberty (Hoover Institution Press, 2004) and Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle over School Choice (2003).

The recipient of many honors, Bolick was named one of three Lawyers of the Year in 2003 by American Lawyer. In 2006, Bolick was the recipient of a Bradley Prize for excellence in “strengthening American democratic capitalism.” In 2009, Legal Times named Bolick one of the “90 greatest Washington lawyers of the past 30 years.”

Bolick received his law degree from the University of California at Davis in 1982 and his undergraduate degree from Drew University in 1979.

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Recent Commentary

Featured Commentary

Nevada Places A Bet On School Choice

by Clint Bolickvia Wall Street Journal
Sunday, June 14, 2015

Education savings accounts are available to all of the state’s 385,000 public-school students.

Immigration
Featured Commentary

Jeb Bush’s Conservative Immigration Agenda

by Clint Bolickvia Wall Street Journal
Thursday, January 1, 2015

Pundits who claim he is for ‘amnesty’ are wrong. His goal is to bolster the economy and the nation’s security.

Featured Commentary

Let’s Take The Carriage-Horse Fight To Court

by Clint Bolickvia Daily News (NY)
Friday, December 12, 2014

The death sentence could be swift and absolute: If Mayor Bill de Blasio gets his way, New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry, after more than 150 years of thriving existence, will cease to exist on May 31, 2016.

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The End of FDA Paternalism?

by Clint Bolickvia Defining Ideas
Thursday, August 14, 2014

A popular state-wide initiative called “Right to Try” brings life-saving drugs to terminally ill patients.  

Chainlink fence
Featured Commentary

The Solution to Border Disorder

by Jeb Bush, Clint Bolickvia Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, July 23, 2014

In recent months, tens of thousands of young Central American refugees have illegally poured across the U.S-Mexico border. It is the latest consequence of the failure of President Obama and Congress to overhaul America's broken immigration system.

Immigration
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The Peregrine Podcast: “The Need for Skilled Immigration” with Clint Bolick

by Clint Bolickvia Peregrine
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Clint Bolick explains why immigration reform needs to focus on America’s economic needs rather than on family unification.

Visas
New IdeasFeatured Commentary

Peregrine: More Skills, Fewer Chains

by Clint Bolickvia Peregrine
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

When the annual ceiling on high-skilled visas America granted for 2014 is hit in a matter of days, we know something is wrong. Likewise, when Alabama and Georgia lose billions of dollars in agricultural output after their laws chased away illegal immigrant workers, something is wrong.

Podcast: The Peregrine Podcast: “The Need for Skilled Immigration” with Clint Bolick
Education Image
Featured Commentary

Will Minority Children Be Barred From Southern Schoolhouses Again?

by Clint Bolickvia Wall Street Journal
Friday, February 28, 2014

Despite reports of compromise or capitulation, the U.S.

Black students in a classroom
Featured Commentary

Old Desegregation Orders Undermine School Reform

by Clint Bolickvia USA Today
Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Families are now fighting for new rights.

US Department of Justice
Featured Commentary

Justice Department vs. Louisiana Voucher Kids

by Clint Bolickvia Wall Street Journal
Monday, September 23, 2013

School-choice programs have faced no shortage of legal challenges en route to their adoption in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

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