[16] ADF is one of the most organized and influential Christian legal interest groups in the United States[17] based on its budget, caseload, network of allied attorneys, and connections to significant members of the political right.

[23][24] Others who have been associated with ADF include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett,[18][25] former vice president Mike Pence,[26] former attorneys general William Barr[27] and Jeff Sessions,[19][28] and Senator Josh Hawley.

[29][30] ADF attorneys have argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, taking positions including support for religious activity in public school and Christian prayer at town meetings, narrowing insurance coverage for contraceptives, prohibiting same-sex marriage, and supporting businesses in the wedding industry that refuse to service gay marriages.

[31] ADF lawyers wrote the model for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation, leading to the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overrule Roe v. Wade that had established a right to abortion in America in 1973.

[13][35][36] The Alliance Defense Fund was founded by members of the Christian right movement to prevent what its founders saw as threats to religious liberty in American society.

[41] By 2014, the organization had more than 40 staff attorneys, and had "emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country.

"[20][42][43][44] ADF garnered national attention in the 2012 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. case[45][46] as well as its 2014 challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

[48] Sears has been described as "an ardent antipornography crusader",[49] and had previously served as staff executive director of the Reagan administration Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, which produced the 1986 Meese Report.

ADF's positions include supporting religion in public institutions, opposing LGBTQ rights, opposing abortion and contraception, and other positions aligned with conservative Christianity in the United States.Issue advocacy as a function of press releases (2017)[11] According to materials for its donors, ADF seeks to spread a belief in "the framers' original intent for the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights as it reflects God's natural law and God's higher law.

"[9] Before taking the oath of office as Speaker of the House of Representatives, current[update], former ADF lawyer Mike Johnson stated, "The Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority ... each of you, all of us.

[78][79][80][81] The case, which names the State of Tennessee as a defendant for its law permitting religious organizations to reject applicants based on faith, was dismissed on technical grounds.

"[88] At the request of South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, the Trump administration granted the organization a waiver of federal non-discrimination law.

An ADF spokesperson indicated that the organization is "grateful [to] HHS and South Carolina" for granting the waiver, which allows the agency to continue to restrict fostering and adoption work to those who endorse evangelical beliefs.

"[90][91] ADF provided legal support to the defendants in two Supreme Court cases dealing with the intersection of freedom of religion against Colorado's anti-discrimination laws for public-serving businesses, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018) and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2022); in both cases, the underlying issue was whether Christian business owners, under the anti-discrimination law, were compelled to create works with LGBT messaging that they said went against their Christian faith.

In 2021, the Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal from ADF attorneys on behalf of a florist who refused to serve her clients' same-sex wedding, with three of the nine justices indicating they were willing to hear the case.

[102] In Europe, ADF International has supported mandatory genital surgery (and consequent sterilization) of transgender people before they are allowed to change the gender marker on government IDs.

[103] In June 2022 several groups opposing trans rights, including Alliance Defending Freedom, WDI USA, Family Research Council and Women's Liberation Front, organized an anti-trans rally in Washington D.C.[104] In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the plaintiff, represented by ADF, for the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case.

In the 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that was the nation's first-ever 15-week abortion ban, thereby overturning Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the Court ruled that the birth control mandate in employee-funded health plans when the company is "closely-held" violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

[131][132] In 2014, lawyers from the organization represented parents who wanted public schools to remove pages from a biology textbook that mentioned abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.

[134] The organization takes the position that healthcare workers have a right to refuse to provide care for abortion and other practices the individual finds morally objectionable.

[145] In Uganda, ADF joined a Texas libertarian organization in backing a campaign to end restrictions on large gatherings that the government had implemented to reduce COVID-19 spread.

[149] In the US Supreme Court decision Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021), ADF argued that non-profits should not be required to disclose the identities of their donors on California state tax returns.

[151] The program is made up of interns, called Fellows, from a diverse selection of law schools as well as elite institutions such as Harvard and Yale.

[151] Amy Coney Barrett, who went on to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was a paid speaker at Blackstone on five occasions between 2013 and 2017.

[158] Pulpit Freedom Sunday is an initiative aimed to overturn the Johnson Amendment, which restricts political campaigning by tax-exempt non-profit organizations, which includes most churches.

"[20] In the first year about 35 pastors participated, in what they consider an act of civil disobedience, endorsing political candidates in their sermons and defying the Internal Revenue Service regulations.

[166][167] Some opponents of the Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement have voiced concern about permitting churches to endorse politicians because it would allow political donors to remain anonymous and to get tax breaks for their donations.

"[37] The ADF has opposed its inclusion on the SPLC's list, with senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco describing it as "a stranglehold on conservative and religious groups that is just hovering over us and that can continue to constrict and limit our ability to simply voice our opinion.

Dominic Holden wrote in BuzzFeed News that ADF's growing influence within the federal government can be attributed to Sessions' support.