A WIRED investigation reveals that one of two lawyers known to have worked for or with Lawfair, a firm working on a case that could affect minors’ access to gender-affirming care, has ties to accounts with long histories of posting white supremacist content. Lawfair, founded by the well-known litigator Adam Mortara, is a boutique right-wing firm currently engaged by the state of Tennessee to provide counsel on a contentious Supreme Court case that could affect the availability of gender-affirming care for transgender minors across the country. Aside from Mortara, the only other lawyer known to have worked or done work for the firm is a project-based contract attorney named Christopher Roach. He no longer does so, after WIRED asked questions about his apparent ties—revealed exclusively in this story for the first time—to online accounts with a long history of posting white supremacist and antisemitic content. “America, frankly, would be a much more civilized, safe, wealthy, and orderly place, but for its minorities,” wrote one of the accounts. Mortara, a former Clarence Thomas clerk and current lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, founded Lawfair in 2020. While working with a different firm, he was the lead trial lawyer representing Students for Fair Admissions in its case against Harvard, which later advanced to the Supreme Court—a ruling that gutted affirmative action. He is also, according to an appointment letter provided to WIRED by Tennessee’s attorney general’s office that was addressed to him through Lawfair LLC, currently being retained for $10,000 a month by Governor Bill Lee to “assist the State and the Office of the Attorney General with complex and sophisticated litigation, regulatory matters, and client advice.” Specifically, the firm is working on a case about whether the state’s ban on gender-affirming hormone care for transgender minors is in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. If the court sides with Tennessee, it would significantly impact access to treatments like puberty blockers and hormone treatment. The case was picked up by the Supreme Court in June, and arguments are set to be heard this fall.
