Steve Aden
Senior Legal Counsel, Alliance Defense Fund
Steve H. Aden, Esq. serves as Senior Legal Counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund in its Washington, D.C. office, where he heads litigation efforts to defend the sanctity of human life. Since joining ADF in 2008, Aden has focused his litigation on issues concerning the sanctity of human life, free speech on public university campuses, and the Establishment Clause in relation to faith-based initiatives.
Aden earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, graduating with honors in 1989. He clerked for the chief justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, Herman T.F. Lum, before entering private practice in Honolulu. A full-time constitutional litigator since 1997, Aden has directed litigation for the Rutherford Institute and the Center for Law & Religious Freedom of the Christian Legal Society. Prior to serving with ADF, Aden’s litigation concentrated on First Amendment and Establishment Clause issues, Title VII employment law, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, and Fourth Amendment search and seizure matters. He graduated in 1985 from the University of Hawaii with a B.A. in English.
Practicing law since 1990, Aden is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Hawaii (inactive). He is also a member of the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal circuit and district courts. Aden and his wife, Molly, reside in Fairfax, Virginia, with their six children.
Aden is the author of many law review articles and periodical publications on constitutional law and civil rights topics. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, The O’Reilly Factor, The Today Show, and other major print and broadcast media.