NCJW opposes Justin Smith. Here’s why:
Justin Smith is a partisan loyalist who served as President Trump’s personal attorney, working on the Supreme Court case which granted presidential immunity, and the case seeking to overturn the civil judgement against Trump in the sexual assault case involving E. Jean Carroll. His role in these cases, which the president cited in a social media post nominating Smith, calls into question his ability to be fair and independent.
Justin Smith’s stance on important issues:
Reproductive Rights
Justin Smith is co-owner of the Otis Law Group where he represented Arizona lawmakers who tried to block the state’s constitutional amendment, approved by the voters, that enshrines Arizonans’ fundamental right to abortion. At the Missouri Attorney General’s office, he represented a county official who repeatedly misinformed a 17-year-old pregnant teen that she could not obtain an abortion without parental consent despite a Missouri law that allowed judicial bypass in certain instances.
LGBTQ+ Rights
Justin Smith represented the American College of Pediatricians (labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) in an amicus brief defending a Missouri law banning medically necessary gender-affirming care for minors and defended Arizona’s attempt to ban transgender girls from competing in high school sports consistent with their gender identity.
Voting Rights
During his time as an official in the Missouri Attorney General’s office, Justin Smith supported efforts to restrict voting rights, including joining nine other state attorneys general in challenging Pennsylvania’s decision to count mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day. Mr. Smith was the Missouri Attorney General’s Chief of Staff when, along with 16 Republican attorneys general, he sued swing states Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in an attempt to invalidate their 2020 electoral votes
Education and Career Highlights:
Justin Smith has a BA from University of Missouri-Kansas City (2007) and earned a JD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2010. Smith co-owns and serves as an attorney at a Missouri law firm, James Otis Law Group. He served as deputy counsel in the Missouri Governor’s Office and held several positions in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office: Assistant Deputy Attorney General for Special Litigation, Deputy Attorney for Special Litigation, Chief of Staff, and First Assistant.