Brian Fallon is the founder and executive director of the left-wing judicial advocacy group Demand Justice. Fallon’s career includes service in the Obama administration as well as campaign work for 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, former Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). ^{1 2}

In his role as Demand Justice executive director, Fallon is an outspoken critic of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy in July 2018. ³

Demand Justice is a former project of the 501(c)(4) funding and fiscal sponsorship group Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Personal Background and Career

Fallon received a B.A. in Political Science and Government from Harvard University and graduated in 2003. ⁴

In 2004, Fallon served as a press aide on former Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and later served as the campaign secretary in 2006 for Sen. Robert Menendez. ⁵ Fallon worked as the communications director for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) from 2007-2010. ⁶

From 2011-2013, Fallon served as the communications director for the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center before joining the Obama administration’s Department of Justice as director of the Office of Public Affairs in 2013. In that role, he served as the spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder. ⁷

In 2016, Fallon joined the Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as its press secretary. ⁸

Between 2016 and 2018, he served as president of Barracks Row Media, a Washington, D.C. public relations firm. He also worked as a political commentator for CNN, and served as a senior advisor for the Hillary Clinton-aligned political action committee Priorities USA. ⁹

Political Involvement

Dobbs Decision and Leak

In 2022, an unknown person leaked an early decision in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization showing that the court intended to overturn the previous Roe v. Wade decision, returning abortion as an issue to the states. Fallon tweeted that “SCOTUS leaks are good. Rip the veil off.” ¹⁰ He told Vanity Fair that intimidation protests outside the homes of conservative justices were acceptable “as long as they’re peaceful.” ¹¹

I don’t think that you should tell people that are on the front lines of having to bear the brunt of the impact of these decisions that they don’t get any redress, that they have no ability to protest, or that we don’t like the style of how you’re registering your dissent.

After the decision was delivered in June 2022, Fallon urged Democrats to pack the Supreme Court with new “progressive” justices, calling the conservative majority “illegitimate.” ¹²

2018 Brett Kavanaugh Protests

Also see Demand Justice (Nonprofit)

In early 2018, Fallon began his position as executive director of Demand Justice, a left-leaning 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that aims to influence the leanings of America’s courts by supporting the appointment of liberal judicial nominees and opposing right-of-center nominees. Demand Justice is active in the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and has lobbied against his confirmation in the U.S. Senate with the aid of allied judicial activist groups People for the American Way and Alliance for Justice. ¹³ Demand Justice is a project of the 501(c)(4) funding and fiscal sponsorship group Sixteen Thirty Fund.

As executive director, Fallon is the primary spokesperson for Demand Justice. Fallon’s stated goal for Demand Justice is to “make the [Supreme Court nominee] controversial out of the gate by virtue of the fact that they came off the list.”¹⁴

In July 2018, Fallon explicitly stated his goal of postponing confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh in the U.S. Senate. According to Fallon, Demand Justice will pressure the Senate to review all of Kavanaugh’s work on the various investigations of President Bill Clinton as well as his work as a clerk for Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, before beginning confirmation hearings. ¹⁵

Fallon emphasized his belief that support for constitutional protection of abortion on demand and attempts to declare Obamacare unconstitutional in the Supreme Court would be an issue which could pressure Democratic senators from voting against Kavanaugh. ¹⁶

On Twitter, Fallon openly criticized Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) insistence that any Supreme Court nominee follow legal precedent. ¹⁷ In a follow up interview, Fallon commented that, “The idea that she would ask generic questions about precedent and try to have that suffice as a reassurance on Roe [v. Wade] is unacceptable.”¹⁸

Spring 2018 Democracy Alliance Conference

For more information see Democracy Alliance Conferences

Fallon participated in Democracy Alliance‘s Spring 2018 investment conference. He was a panelist on a panel entitled “Preserving the Role of Our Courts,” the purpose of which was to “highlight a new organization and new approaches to fight back and protect our courts against the Trump Administration and their congressional allies’ extremist takeover.”¹⁹

1. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/.
2. Correll, Diana Stancy. “Brett Kavanaugh Critics: Nomination a Trump Scheme to Combat Mueller Investigation.” Washington Examiner. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/brett-kavanaugh-critics-nomination-a-trump-scheme-to-combat-mueller-investigation.
3. Brian Fallon Twitter Post. Twitter.com. July 9, 2018. 6:09 P.M. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1016489456042471427
4. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/
5. “Brian Fallon.” Office of Public Affairs & Communications. March 24, 2017. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://communications.yale.edu/poynter/brian-fallon.
6. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/
7. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/
8. Gearan, Anne, and Philip Rucker. “Clinton Team Picks Justice Spokesman Brian Fallon as Lead Press Secretary.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Mar. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/03/17/clinton-team-picks-justice-spokesman-brian-fallon-as-lead-press-secretary/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.93b1648943ce.
9. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/
10. Brian Fallon Tweet. May 3, 2022. Accessed Jan 5, 2023. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1521377663134453760
11. Chris Smith. ““WE ALWAYS BRING A BUTTER KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT”: HOW DEMOCRATS FAILED TO RESPOND TO THE SUPREME COURT, AND WHAT THEY NEED TO DO NOW.” Vanity Fair. July 5, 2022. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/07/how-democrats-failed-to-respond-to-the-supreme-court-what-they-need-to-do-now
12. “Demand Justice Statement on Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade.” Demand Justice. June 24, 2022. Accessed Jan. 5, 2023. https://demandjustice.org/demand-justice-statement-on-supreme-court-overturning-roe-v-wade/
13. Demand Justice. “Re: We expect more.” July 2, 2018. E-mail message.
14. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay, and Jonathan Martin. “Conservative and Liberal Groups Gird for Battle Over Kavanaugh.” The New York Times. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-battle.html.
15. “Cuomo Prime Time.” CNN. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1807/10/CPT.02.html.
16. Venkataramanan, Meena. “‘Look in the Mirror and Do the Right Thing’: Brian Fallon to Red-state Democrats on SCOTUS Nominee.” ABC News. July 11, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mirror-thing-brian-fallon-red-state-democrats-scotus/story?id=56509234.
17. Brian Fallon Twitter Post. Twitter.com. July 1, 2018. 3:03 P.M. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1013543583553671168
18. Wheeler, Lydia. “The Buzzword at Center of Supreme Court Clash.” TheHill. July 03, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/395396-the-buzzword-at-center-of-supreme-court-clash.
19. Democracy Alliance. “2018 Democracy Alliance Spring Conference Agenda.” Posted to Scribd by The Washington Free Beacon. April 2018. Accessed October 21, 2020. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/document/376835956/2018-Democracy-Alliance-Spring-Conference-Agenda