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Person

Mark Levin

Occupation:

TV and Radio commentator, author, constitutional lawyer
Host:

The Mark Levin Show (Radio) Life, Liberty & Levin (Fox News), Levin TV (TheBlazeTV)
Government Positions:

Former Chief of Staff to U.S. Attorney General; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and former Deputy Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior
Education:

J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law
Wife:

Julie Levin

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Mark Levin is a nationally syndicated radio host. He also hosts the Fox News show, Life Liberty & Levin. Levin is a New York Times bestselling author and is the editor-in-chief of the Conservative Review. 1 2 Levin previously held several senior positions in the Reagan administration, including Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. 3 4

He was formerly the president of the Landmark Legal Foundation (LLF).

Personal Life

Levin was born in Pennsylvania in 1957. 5 At age 19, he graduated magna cum laude from Temple University with a B.A. in political science. 6 In 1977, the same year he graduated and started law school, Levin won a seat on the Cheltenham school board. He ran on a platform of lowering property taxes. 7

Levin earned his J.D. from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1980. 8 Immediately after law school, he worked briefly for Texas Instruments before going to Washington D.C. to work for President Ronald Reagan’s administration. 9

Levin is married to Julie Levin and has two children, Chase and Lauren. 10

Reagan Administration

After law school, Levin held several senior level positions in President Ronald Reagan’s administration in the 1980s. Most notably, Levin was the Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. 11

During the Reagan administration, Levin was also the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and Deputy Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 12

In 1992, Levin joined the Landmark Legal Foundation, a nonprofit conservative legal group. In 1996, he became president of the LLF, and was a board member. He remained president until 2017. He has remained on the board of directors, according to the organization. 13

Under Levin, the Landmark Legal Foundation in 2002 sought investigations from the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor into political spending by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, both teacher unions. In 2006, the two organizations amended their reporting to the government agencies to show both organizations spent about $54 million on “representational activities” such as bargaining contracts, resolving grievances, and recruiting members. Levin said at the time, “The whole purpose [of the disclosure] is to help the union members, to bring internal transparency to the finances of these unions.” 14

In 2012, Levin worked on behalf of the foundation to call for an investigation into the IRS’s alleged targeting of conservative groups making the organization among the first to call for an investigation. The investigation later revealed that the IRS singled out groups with terms including “tea party” and “patriot” in their names. 15

Media Career

Levin was a frequent guest in the 1990s and early 2000s on the radio shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. In 2002, WABC-AM in New York offered Levin his own show, 16 giving him the 6 p.m. time slot in September 2003. 17

In 2006, the “Mark Levin Show” went into national syndication. 18 The national radio show is broadcast on 400 stations. 19

In 2015, Levin became the editor-in-chief of the website Conservative Review. 20

In November 2017, Fox News announced that “Life, Liberty and Levin” would premiere on Sunday nights in February 2018. 21 In September 2023, “Life, Liberty, and Levin” was moved to Saturday night. 22

Levin also hosts “Levin TV” on TheBlazeTV. 23

He has written multiple New York Times bestselling books including The Democrat Party Hates America,  American Marxism,  Liberty and Tyranny, Unfreedom of the Press, and The Liberty Amendments. 24

Political Views

Foreign Policy

As public support for United States assistance to Ukraine waned among Republicans and other conservative commentators, Mark Levin was a solid supporter, and warned during a speech at the 2022  CPAC, “You want a world war? Then become an ostrich, put your head in the sand and let the Russians roll through one country after another, violate our own treaty agreements, pretend nothing is going on.” 25

Donald Trump

In April 2016, when the Republican presidential primary was still happening, Levin said that he would not support Donald Trump in a general election. Levin supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the presidential primary. Levin at the time said, “I am not voting for Donald Trump. Period.” He was labeled as part of the Never Trump faction of the Republican Party. 26

By September 2016, Levin yielded and told his listeners, “I’m going to wind up voting for Donald Trump on election day.” He added, “I take no responsibility for the dumb things he says or the dumb things his surrogates say.” He noted the country faced a Supreme Court vacancy that could tilt the majority and the alternative was Hillary Clinton. 27

After Trump was elected, Levin supported his conservative policies and defended him against what he saw as bogus investigations. 28 Levin said in August 2023 that if Trump were elected president again, he could pardon himself of both the federal and state indictments against him. 29

Charitable Activities

Levin has helped raise money for pet-related charities. The Levin family established the Barney, Pepsi, Griffen and Sprite Legacy Gift, named for his dogs, that helps older dogs and dogs with special needs that are in shelters get homes. He wrote a book, Rescuing Sprite, about one of his dogs. 30

Levin also promotes the Friends for Life Animal Rescue, the Good Dog Rescue of Virginia, Homeless Animals Rescue Team, the Montgomery County Humane Society, PetFinder.com, Dogs in Danger, and National Council of Aging Care’s Guide on Pets for Seniors. 31

References

  1. “Mark Levin.” Newsweek. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/topic/mark-levin
  2. “Mark Levin.” Premier Speakers. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://premierespeakers.com/mark-levin/bio
  3. “Mark Levin.” Premier Speakers. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://premierespeakers.com/mark-levin/bio
  4. “About.” Mark Levin Show. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.marklevinshow.com/about-the-show/
  5. “Mark Levin.” Radio Hall of Fame.” Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/mark-levin
  6. “Mark Levin.” Radio Hall of Fame.” Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/mark-levin
  7.  Carey, Art. “Looking at liberty and tyranny.” Philadelphia Inquirer. July 16, 2009. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20090718194424/http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/50920827.html
  8. “Mark Levin.” Radio Hall of Fame.” Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/mark-levin
  9. Carey, Art. “Looking at liberty and tyranny.” Philadelphia Inquirer. July 16, 2009. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20090718194424/http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/50920827.html
  10.  “Mark Levin.” The Hill. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://thehill.com/people/mark-levin/
  11. “Mark Levin.” Premier Speakers. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://premierespeakers.com/mark-levin/bio
  12. “Mark Levin.” Premier Speakers. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://premierespeakers.com/mark-levin/bio
  13.  “About Landmark Legal.” Landmark Legal Foundation. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://landmarklegal.org/about-landmark-legal-foundation/
  14. Keller, Bess and Hanowar, Vaishaili. “Union Filings Give In-Depth Look at Spending Patterns.” Education Week. January 10, 2006. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/union-filings-give-in-depth-look-at-spending-patterns/2006/01
  15. Poor, Jeff. “Mark Levin may have prompted IRS-conservative group revelations.” May 10, 2013. Accessed January 28, 2021. https://dailycaller.com/2013/05/10/mark-levin-may-have-prompted-irs-conservative-group-revelations/
  16. “Mark Levin.” Radio Hall of Fame.” Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/mark-levin
  17. “About.” Mark Levin Show. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.marklevinshow.com/about-the-show/
  18.  “Mark Levin.” Radio Hall of Fame.” Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/mark-levin
  19.  “About.” Mark Levin Show. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.marklevinshow.com/about-the-show/
  20. “Mark Levin.” Premier Speakers. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://premierespeakers.com/mark-levin/bio
  21. Schwartz, Jason. “Fox adds another pro-Trump host.” Politico. November 21, 2017. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/21/mark-levin-fox-trump-host-255549
  22.  Steinberg, Brian. “Fox News Expands Mark Levin’s Weekend Show.” Variety. September 7, 2023. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/fox-news-mark-levin-weekend-expand-1235716688/
  23. “About Landmark Legal.” Landmark Legal Foundation. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://landmarklegal.org/about-landmark-legal-foundation/
  24. Mark Levin Books. Accessed October 7, 2023. https://www.amazon.com/mark-levin-Books/s?k=mark+levin&rh=n%3A283155
  25.  Shapiro, Dmitriy. “Mark Levin rallies conservatives to support Ukraine at CPAC.” JNS. February 28, 2022. https://www.jns.org/mark-levin-rallies-conservatives-to-support-ukraine-at-cpac/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw4P6oBhBsEiwAKYVkq5TfyKYMwIRqhTAFW3wRKbrgXnWaijVT-qkVNiFT55l3MBsQG6hC_hoCzLwQAvD_BwE
  26. Trudo, Hanna. “Mark Levin: I won’t back Trump in the general.” Politico. April 8, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/mark-levin-i-wont-back-trump-in-the-general-221754
  27. Chaitin, Daniel. “Mark Levin: ‘I’m gonna wind up voting for Donald Trump.’” Washington Examiner. September 6, 2016. Accessed October 6, 2023.
  28. Concha, Joe. “Mark Levin: Trump more conservative than Bush 41 and Bush 43.” The Hill. February 25, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2023. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/375490-mark-levin-trump-more-conservative-than-bush-41-and-bush-43/
  29. Fung, Katherine. “How Trump Can Pardon Himself in Georgia, According to Mark Levin.” Newsweek. August 16, 2023. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/how-trump-pardon-himself-georgia-mark-levin-1820330
  30. “Barney, Pepsi, Griffen & Sprite Legacy Gift.” Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://www.lostdogrescue.org/donate-now/pepsi-griffen-sprite-legacy-gift/#:~:text=Barney%2C%20Pepsi%2C%20Griffen%20%26%20Sprite’s,and%20dogs%20with%20special%20needs
  31. “Pet Corner.” The Mark Levin Show. Accessed October 6, 2023. https://sprite.marklevinshow.com/links/
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