David D. Kirkpatrick on gaining unprecedented access to Alliance Defending Freedom. If court victories are any measure, it is hard to imagine a more influential organization than the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom. Its lawyers have won fifteen Supreme Court decisions in the past dozen years, including overturning Roe v. Wade. A.D.F. has won the right of bakers and Web-site designers to refuse to perform work for same-sex weddings; it will be back soon before the Court arguing for a ban on the abortion pill mifepristone. Yet Kristen Waggoner, the group’s chief executive and general counsel, has given few, if any, in-depth interviews. I wanted to take the time to understand her world view, the tactics that have made A.D.F. so effective, and where she saw the next battle. At its founding, thirty years ago, A.D.F. set out to take down two precedents—Roe and Lemon v. Kurtzman, from 1971, which prohibited the “excessive entanglement” of government and religion. It has now accomplished both goals. I spent many hours in conversation with Waggoner and other A.D.F. lawyers, and listened to dozens of hours of leaked recordings of internal A.D.F. lectures and conference calls. I was surprised to learn that, despite A.D.F.’s many victories—and the open encouragement it now receives from the current conservative Court majority—Waggoner believes that the legal threats to the religious freedom of traditional Christians are “more significant than ever before.” She told me, “I see a lot of darkness.” The fight now, she said, was against “the radical gender-identity ideology infiltrating the law”—that is, transgender rights. Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
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