About Jonathan

“The one who presents his case first seems right, until another steps forth to challenge him.”  These powerful words from the Book of Proverbs are words that I live by.  I was raised here in Texas,  on tried and true principles of hard work, service to others, family values and obedience to God.  Throughout my life, I have seen too many good people and principles suffer because no one was there to speak up for truth and respond to the other side.  I have also seen too many people and groups try to change what we stand for in our great state.  These experiences led me to law school and to my calling, to be an advocate for our most precious liberties and principles; the protection of innocent human life, religious liberty and free speech, family values and traditional marriage, and free market principles of economics.  As a native Texan (5^thgeneration), I am committed to fighting to keep our people and state a pro-family, pro-life, and pro-religious liberty treasure for the rest of the country to admire.

At Liberty Institute (formerly Free Market Foundation), we are committed to these principles, and we have a long history of effective advocacy in the courts and media.  By now expanding our legislative advocacy to include a full-time, year-round presence at the Capitol, you can expect that no bad idea will be left unchallenged.  I pledge to you that we will be on the front lines of every part of the legislative process.  Whether it’s providing constitutional legal analysis, testifying in committee hearings, or talking directly to legislators and their staff, we’ll be covering it all and tell you how you can make an impact on the process.  We bring legal experience to the legislative process that no other group in Texas can match.   With this blog, we’ll take you with us inside the Capitol and beyond to read and see more about legislative battles as they take place.  We also hope you’ll use this information to be empowered to act on this information and fulfill your own civic duty as a Texan and as an American.

Whether it’s the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or any other destructive person or group, we’re ready to go head to head with them.  I can’t promise you that we’ll always win, but I can promise you that we’ll show up!

God Bless you and God Bless Texas!

Jonathan

“If we ever forget that we’re One Nation Under God, we will truly be a nation gone under.” Ronald Reagan

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Jonathan’s Bio

Jonathan Saenz is Director of Legislative Affairs and licensed attorney for Liberty Institute and heads the Austin Office, right across from the Texas Capitol. Mr. Saenz began his work with Liberty Institute in 2005.  He is licensed by the State of Texas to practice law, beginning in November of 2003, and was in private civil litigation practice prior to joining Liberty Institute.  He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center in 2003.  He received his B.A. in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1998.

While at the University of Houston Law School, Mr. Saenz was named a Public Interest Law Fellow in 2002 and 2003, and completed an internship for the Honorable Justice Tim Taft, of the First Court of Appeals of Texas.

Mr. Saenz has worked on cases to protect our constitutional freedoms at the Texas Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Saenz frequently testifies before Texas Legislature and State Board of Education on issues affecting families, freedoms and unborn children.

Mr. Saenz fights for limited government, liberty and Texas values.  Last session, Mr. Saenz helped in the defeat of legislation that would have increased taxes by 20 billion dollars over 10 years. Mr. Saenz has also helped the effort to put the words “Under God” in our Texas pledge, he’s protected religious free speech of students in public school, helped add a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man, one woman, and he has helped the State Board of Education adopt social studies teaching about the Constitution, our Founding Fathers, and America as an exceptional country. He has been featured in local, national and international media such Fox News, CNN, Dallas Morning News, Austin-American Statesman and many others.  He can be heard live, every Thursday on the Ryan Rush Show in Austin, on The Word-98.5, from 4-4:30 p.m.

Before completing law school, Mr. Saenz helped secure victory for the free speech rights of the University of Houston pro-life group (Pro-Life Cougars), a group for which he was the president.  He was also the vice president of the Christian Legal Society.