Travis Barham

Travis C. Barham serves as senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a key role with the ADF Center for Academic Freedom.

Since joining ADF in 2006, Barham has focused his legal efforts on preserving and reclaiming religious freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of association for students and faculty at universities throughout the country. His work has been instrumental in securing several strategic appellate court victories. In Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 8–1 that officials at a public college cannot get a free pass after they violate a student’s constitutional rights. In Meriwether v. Hartop, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that public universities cannot compel professors to say things they do not believe. In Adams v. Trustees of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the 4th Circuit ruled that public universities cannot discriminate or retaliate against Christian and conservative professors in promotion decisions. In Badger Catholic v. Walsh, the 7th Circuit ensured that public universities must grant religious student organizations equal access when distributing student activity fee funding. And in DeJohn v. Temple University, the 3rd Circuit eliminated an unconstitutional speech code that restricted Christian and conservative students from speaking freely on campus.

Barham has also testified before several state legislatures on the importance of protecting First Amendment freedoms in higher education. And he comments on free speech and religious freedom issues in numerous media outlets, including The Federalist and Townhall.

Barham earned his Juris Doctor in 2006 from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude. Before graduating from law school, he completed the ADF leadership development program to become a Blackstone Fellow in 2004. Barham is a member of the bars of Georgia and Arizona. He is also admitted to multiple federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.