Michael Farris Biography

Farris created the HSLDA in 1983, serving as its chairman and general counsel. His efforts resulted in a slew of judicial decisions and policy shifts in favor of homeschooling. Timmy Teepell, a homeschooled 18-year-old, was engaged by Farris to manage the Madison Project, a political action committee that gathered campaign funding for Christian conservatives, in 1993. Teepell went on to work as a Republican political strategist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as well as Alexandria, Virginia. Patrick Henry College, which he created in 2000, was also named after him. The college was created as a Christian school with the aim of teaching students via a classical liberal arts curriculum and apprenticeship system to affect the world 'for Christ and for Liberty,' according to the HSLDA. From 2000 until 2006, he served as president and professor of government. Farris resigned as president of the HSLDA to focus on these new responsibilities. Farris left his post as president in March 2006 to become the college's chancellor. Farris has over 40 recorded decisions as lead counsel in his career as a lawyer. The United States Supreme Court, five United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, seven state Supreme Courts, and five state Courts of Appeal issued these rulings. In 1985–1986, Farris successfully argued for the petitioner in the Supreme Court case Witters v. Washington Department of Services For The Blind. Farris ran for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1993 but was beaten 54–46 percent by Democrat Don Beyer. On the other hand, fellow Republicans George Allen and James Gilmore were elected Governor and Attorney General, respectively, on the same ballot. Farris' intimate ties to conservative figures such as the old Moral Majority's Jerry Falwell, the Christian Coalition's Pat Robertson, and the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly sparked strong sentiments regarding religion and politics. These worries, exacerbated by smear advertising by Beyer designed to paint him in a more radical light, are likely to have alienated enough moderate voters to lead to his loss. Farris co-founded the Conference of States Project in 2013 with Mark Meckler to urge a convention to propose changes to the US Constitution. He was a member of Citizens for Self-Legal Governance's Board of Reference and a Senior Fellow for Constitutional Studies for the project's parent organization, Citizens for Self-Governance. In January 2017, Alliance Defending Freedom announced that Farris will join the organization as its CEO and General Counsel.

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