Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE)

It is a sister nonprofit with the American Center for Law and Justice and focuses heavily on advocacy and litigation concerning free speech and freedom of religion. ³

The Democratic state attorneys general of New York and North Carolina investigated the finances of the groups after The Guardian newspaper from the U.K. reported on June 2017 that CASE had pushed more than $60 million to Sekulow, his family, and their businesses since 2000. ⁴

Background

Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism says it is dedicated to the view that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights. The organization says it works to “conciliate and where necessary, litigate,” to protect such rights. ³

Pastor and broadcaster Pat Robertson, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, founded the American Center for Law and Justice in 1986. Conservative attorney Jay Sekulow is the general counsel. ¹  Sekulow also represented then-President Donald Trump during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and during his 2020 Senate impeachment trial. ⁵

The organization, also known as CASE, is the sister organization of the American Center for Law and Justice. ⁶ The ACLJ website says the ACLJ is “d/b/a” or doing business as Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism. ⁷

CASE has national broadcasts that include the “Jay Sekulow Live” on 1,069 outlets nationally and on XM satellite radio; the “Jay Sekulow Weekend Edition” heard on 533 stations nationally and the one-minute “Law and Justice Journal” heard on 673 radio stations. ²

Jay Sekulow, his wife and two sons were the only voting members of the CASE board of directors, as reported by the Washington Post in 2017. ⁸

In 2011, the ACLJ arranged to have donations solicited in its name directed to CASE, the Washington Post reported. The ACLJ relies on CASE for nearly its entire budget. ⁸

Financial Controversies

The Guardian reported on June 2017 that CASE pushed more than $60 million to Sekulow, his family, and their businesses since 2000. The left-wing British newspaper reported that since 1998, the organization spent $15.4 million on the Constitutional Litigation and Advocacy Group, a law firm 50 percent owned by Jay Sekulow; $5.7 million to pay Sekulow’s brother Gary Sekulow for working as CFO of both the ACLJ and CASE; and $2.74 million in private jet lease payments to Regency Productions, a company owned by Jay Sekulow, and PFMS, a company owned by his sister-in-law, Kim Sekulow. ⁹

A spokesman for CASE and the ACLJ said that all financial arrangements concerning the entities are “regularly reviewed by outside independent compensation experts and have been determined to be reasonable.” The spokesman added that each entity has “annual independent outside audits performed by certified public accounting firms” and that the “IRS has previously conducted audits of the ACLJ and CASE and found them to be in full compliance of all applicable tax laws.” ⁹

Democratic state attorneys general in New York and North Carolina opened investigations shortly after The Guardian’s reporting, but never brought charges. ⁴