Jonathan Turley (born May 6, 1961) is an American attorney, legal scholar, writer, commentator, and legal analyst in broadcast and print journalism. A professor at George Washington University Law School, he has testified in United States congressional proceedings about constitutional and statutory issues. He has also testified in multiple impeachment hearings and removal trials in Congress, including the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and both the first and second impeachments of President Donald Trump. Turley is a First Amendment advocate and writes frequently on free speech restrictions in the private and public sectors. He is the author of the book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, as well as Rage and the Republic.
As an attorney, Turley has worked on notable cases in civil rights defense including the defenses of Sami Al-Arian, NSA whistleblower David Faulk, protesters at the World Bank/IMF demonstrations in 2000, and the Brown family in their challenge to Utah polygamy laws. Turley has also served as counsel on prominent federal cases including the defense of Area 51 workers, and as lead counsel in the 2014 challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
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Early life and education
Turley grew up in a politically active Chicago family as the youngest of five children. His father, John (Jack) Turley was an international architect, partner at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and the former associate of famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Turley has written about his father's influence on his constitutional theories. His mother, Angela Piazza Turley, was a social worker and activist who was the former president of Jane Addams Hull-House in Chicago. He is of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is the author of the book The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.
Turley served as a House leadership page in 1977 and 1978 under the sponsorship of Illinois Democrat Sidney Yates.
Turley graduated from the Latin School of Chicago. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1983, and a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1987. He served as Executive Articles Editor of Northwestern University Law Review.
During the Reagan Administration, Turley worked as an intern with the general counsel's office of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Career
Turley holds the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches torts, criminal procedure, and constitutional law. He is the youngest person to receive an academic chair in the school's history. He runs the Project for Older Prisoners (POP), the Environmental Law Clinic, and the Environmental Legislation Project.
Prior to joining George Washington University, he was on the faculty of Tulane University Law School.
His articles on legal and policy issues have appeared in national publications; he has had articles published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears in the national media as a commentator on a multitude of subjects ranging from the 2000 U.S. presidential election controversy to the Terri Schiavo case in 2005. He often is a guest on Sunday talk shows, with more than two-dozen appearances on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox News Sunday. He served as a contributor on Countdown with Keith Olbermann from 2003 until 2011 on MSNBC, and later on Current TV in 2011 and early 2012.
Since the 1990s, he has been a legal analyst for NBC News, CBS News, the BBC and Fox News, covering stories that ranged from the Clinton impeachment to presidential elections. He is on the board of contributors of USA Today and is a columnist with The Hill. He is currently a legal analyst with Fox News. Due to his decades of work as a columnist and network analyst, media reporter Paul Farhi, writing in the Washington Post, has described Turley as "the Dean" of legal analysts.
Politics
In appearances on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show, he called for criminal prosecution of Bush administration officials for war crimes, including torture.
In USA Today in October 2004, he argued for the legalization of polygamy, provoking responses from writers such as Stanley Kurtz.
In October 2006, in an interview by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, he expressed strong disapproval of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Commenting on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which he contends does away with habeas corpus, Turley says, "It's something that no one thought—certainly I didn't think—was possible in the United States. And I am not too sure how we got to this point. But people clearly don't realize what a fundamental change it is about who we are as a country. What happened today changed us."
When the U.S. Senate was about to vote on Michael Mukasey for U.S. attorney general, Turley said, "The attorney general nominee's evasive remarks on 'water-boarding' should disqualify him from the job." On the treatment of terrorism suspect José Padilla, Turley says, "The treatment of Padilla ranks as one of the most serious abuses after 9/11... This is a case that would have shocked the Framers. This is precisely what many of the drafters of the Constitution had in mind when they tried to create a system of checks and balances." Turley considers the case of great import on the grounds that "Padilla's treatment by the military could happen to others."
Turley has said, "It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right."
When Congressional Democrats asked the Justice Department to investigate the CIA's destruction of terrorist interrogation tapes Turley said, "these are very serious allegations, that raise as many as six identifiable crimes ranging from contempt of Congress, to contempt of Justice, to perjury, to false statements."
Turley disagrees with the theory that dealing with bullies is just a part of growing up, claiming that they are "no more a natural part of learning than is parental abuse a natural part of growing up" and believes that "litigation could succeed in forcing schools to take bullying more seriously".
Obama administration views
In another commentary, Turley defended Judge Henry E. Hudson's ruling declaring the individual mandate in health insurance unconstitutional for violating the Commerce Clause of the Constitution: "It's very thoughtful—not a screed. I don't see any evidence this is motivated by Judge Hudson's personal beliefs... Anybody who's dismissing this opinion as a political screed has obviously not read the opinion."
Turley described U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in an op-ed as President Barack Obama's sin-eater, writing:
For Obama, there has been no better sin eater than Holder. When the president promised CIA employees early in his first term that they would not be investigated for torture, it was the attorney general who shielded officials from prosecution. When the Obama administration decided it would expand secret and warrantless surveillance, it was Holder who justified it. When the president wanted the authority to kill any American he deemed a threat without charge or trial, it was Holder who went public to announce the "kill list" policy. Last week, the Justice Department confirmed that it was Holder who personally approved the equally abusive search of Fox News correspondent James Rosen's e-mail and phone records in another story involving leaked classified information. In the 2010 application for a secret warrant, the Obama administration named Rosen as "an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator" to the leaking of classified materials. The Justice Department even investigated Rosen's parents' telephone number, and Holder was there to justify every attack on the news media.
In a December 2013 congressional hearing, responding to a question from Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) about presidential power in the Obama administration, Turley said:
The danger is quite severe. The problem with what the president is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the constitutional system. He's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid. That is the concentration of power in every single branch. This Newtonian orbit that the three branches exist in is a delicate one but it is designed to prevent this type of concentration. There is [sic] two trends going on which should be of equal concern to all members of Congress. One is that we have had the radical expansion of presidential powers under both President Bush and President Obama. We have what many once called an imperial presidency model of largely unchecked authority. And with that trend we also have the continued rise of this fourth branch. We have agencies that are quite large that issue regulations. The Supreme Court said recently that agencies could actually define their own or interpret their own jurisdiction.
Testimony before Congress
The conceptual thread running through many of the issues taken on by Turley is that they involve claims of executive privilege. For example, he said that the president's claim of executive authority based on Article Two "would put our system on a slippery slope." He has argued against national security exceptions to fundamental constitutional rights.
He is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues, as well as tort reform legislation.
Turley has testified regularly during national controversies. He testified at the confirmation hearings of Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Attorney General William Barr. He also testified during the Clinton impeachment hearings. Turley, in his capacity as a constitutional scholar, testified in favor of the Clinton impeachment. He was quoted extensively by congressman James Rogan during the Clinton impeachment hearings.
Turley also testified in Congress against President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic surveillance program and was lead counsel in a case challenging it. In regard to warrantless wiretaps he noted that, "Judge Anna Diggs Taylor chastised the government for a flagrant abuse of the Constitution and, in a direct message to the president, observed that there are no hereditary kings in America."
On December 4, 2019, Turley testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment in the impeachment inquiry against then-President Donald Trump, arguing against a Trump impeachment.
In his testimony, Turley objected to the effort to craft articles of impeachment around four criminal allegations: bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice, and campaign finance violations. He argued that the evidence did not meet the standard definitions of those crimes, contrary to the testimony of three witnesses that such legal definitions have always been used as a measure for impeachment deliberations. Turley characterized the charges against Trump as a lowering of impeachment standards to "fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger." The Committee ultimately rejected all four of those articles and adopted the two that Turley argued could be legitimate if proven: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Where the Committee departed from the testimony was the rejection of Turley's call for more time to develop a more complete record rather than fulfill a promise to impeach by Christmas—an issue that was rekindled by the delay in the submission of the articles to the Senate as new evidence emerged in 2020.
Biden administration views
In August 2024, Turley asserted that the Biden-Harris administration made attacks on free speech ranging from a massive censorship system to funding blacklisting operations to silence voices it disagreed with, adding that the policies were supported by Kamala Harris. He described Tim Walz as one of the "most enthusiastic supporters of censorship and blacklisting systems", and asserted that Walz made a false claim about free speech and the claim was rejected by the Supreme Court. As Harris tapped Walz as her running mate, Turley argued that free speech was the key issue in 2024 United States presidential election, comparing it to the 1800 United States presidential election.
Trump administration views
In a February 2025 post to X, Turley strongly objected to a suggestion made by Trump Administration border affairs advisor Tom Homan that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be criminally charged for hosting a webinar for illegal migrants titled "Know Your Rights" if it were determined the webinar had impeded the efforts of federal law enforcement officers. Turley contended Homan's comments were a "baseless threat" and that such a move would be "an assault on free speech rights".
Awards
Turley was ranked as 38th in the top 100 most cited "public intellectuals" (and second most cited law professor) in a 2001 study by Judge Richard Posner of intellectuals referenced in the media and public debates. In 2024, the Washingtonian recognized Turley as one of the most influential persons in shaping policy.
In 2005, Turley was given the Columnist of the Year award for Single-Issue Advocacy for his columns on civil liberties by the Aspen Institute and The Week magazine.
In 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from John Marshall Law School in recognition of his career as an advocate of civil liberties and constitutional rights.
He was ranked among the nation's top 500 lawyers in 2008. Turley was found to be the second most cited law professor in the country as well as being ranked as one of the top ten military lawyers.
In 2008 his blog was ranked as the top law professor blog and legal theory blog by the American Bar Association Journal survey of the top 100 blogs. His work with older prisoners has been honored in various states, including his selection as the 2011 recipient of the Dr. Mary Ann Quaranta Elder Justice Award at Fordham University. He has also been ranked in the top five most popular law professors on Twitter. He has received other awards including the James Madison award and was declared one of four university fellows at the Utah Valley University in 2019.
Prominent cases
Turley has served as counsel in notable cases; representing whistleblowers, military personnel, and a wide range of other clients in national security, environmental, and constitutional law cases. His cases as lead counsel have secured decisions striking down both a federal and a state law, among them:
Larry Hanauer, a House Intelligence Committee staff member falsely accused of leaking classified information to The New York Times
David Faulk, a whistleblower who revealed abuses at NSA's Fort Gordon surveillance programs
Dr. Eric Foretich, in overturning the Elizabeth Morgan Act in 2003
Former Judge Thomas Porteous's impeachment trial defense Turley characterized Porteous's chronic bribe-taking as merely being a "moocher", convicted on four articles of impeachment, removed as judge by a Senate vote of 94-2
Defendants in terrorism cases, including Ali al-Tamimi (the alleged head of the Virginia Jihad/Paintball conspiracy)- On September 1, 2020, a federal court found that his challenges to his conviction had merit and ordered his release to Turley at Supermax in Colorado to drive back to Virginia to avoid risks of COVID-19.
Area 51 workers at a secret air base in Nevada.
Lead counsel in the litigation over the mass arrests at the World Bank/IMF protests in Washington.
Turley represented the Rocky Flats grand jury in Colorado
Turley testified on December 4, 2019, regarding the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, regarding constitutional issues not supporting the impeachment of Trump.
Turley filed a challenge to the Libyan War on behalf of ten members of Congress. The lawsuit was before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Personal life
Turley married his wife, Leslie, in 1997. They have four children.
Swatting
On December 29, 2023, Turley was targeted as part of the 2023 swatting of American politicians.