Mike Davis (American lawyer)

Mike Davis
Mike Davis speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
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Mike Davis is an American conservative strategist, adviser and provocateur; the former Chief Counsel for Nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and the founder and president of the Article III Project (A3P).[1]

He is a staunch defender and ally of Donald Trump and was rumored to be one of his candidates for Attorney General.[2]

Early Life and Career

Davis grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and attended Catholic schools. His parents worked in the Des Moines school district.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in political science and a minor in journalism in 2000 and Juris Doctor in 2004, both from the University of Iowa.[3] While in college, he was an intern for Newt Gingrinch during the lead-up to President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998 and he built a student organization in support of George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.[2]

After law school, he worked on the George W. Bush re-election campaign which got him a job, in 2005, in Bush's Office of Political Affairs. There he met Neil Gorsuch who helped him land a job at the Justice Department in 2006 as a special assistant US Attorney.[2] Later Davis gave Gorsuch's resume to the White House as Gorsuch sought a seat on a Colorado federal appeals court - a job he got. After 7 months at Justice, Davis started clerking for Gorsuch in Colorado.[2][1][4]

In 2007 he stopped clerking and worked for Greenberg Taurig as a litigation associate and in 2010 he took the same job for the Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell Law firm.[4]

In 2012, Davis left Wheeler and started his own law practice - MRDLaw where he worked until 2017 and then returned to in 2023.[1][4] His law firm's website claims that from 2013 to 2017 he was also a Special Assistant Attorney General of Colorado.[4]

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Davis pushed to have Gorsuch nominated to fill the vacancy held open by Mitch McConnell; and when Gorsuch was nominated, he campaigned for his confirmation.[1] He then clerked for Gorsuch again during his first four months on the court.[2]

Davis moved from clerking for Gorsuch to the position of Chief Counsel for Nominations for Chairman Grassley and other senators on the judiciary committee in July 2017. He was staff lead for 30 hearings and 41 markup meetings over the next two years. He oversaw the floor votes for 278 nominees, including the contentious confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.[1] He unsuccessfully tried to keep Christine Blasey Ford's testimony about Kavanaugh from being heard, but was able to keep Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale University with Kavanaugh and said he had thrust his penis in her face at a dorm party, from being called to testify.[2] He was also “key in withholding documents relating to Kavanaugh’s work in the White House.”[5]

Davis left Grassley’s staff in January 2019 to create the Article III Project, which claims to defend "constitutionalist judges and the rule of law" and was originally to work closely with the Federalist Society.[1]

In 2020, when Trump's relationship with the Federalist Society frayed over his efforts to overturn the election, Davis took advantage of the opening, distanced himself from them, echoed Trump's calls for "retribution" and during the 2024 campaign vowed to help him pick "fearless" judges who were less impartial.[2]

In 2021, Davis founded the Unsilenced Majority, a group committed to challenging Cancel Culture and pushing back against liberal influencers, alongside the Internet Accountability Project (IAP), which advocates for stricter oversight of Big Tech.[4] The Article III Project and the Internet Accountability Project together raised about $1 million as of 2022, of which nearly $700,000 was routed to Davis or to a business he owns, according to IRS filings.[2]

For part of 2024, he served on the University of Iowa's Alumni Advisory Board - individuals who gather annually on campus and annually online - but left after Trump was re-elected. They also contribute to a fund that supports the department and assist with various tasks, such as “selecting the undergraduate paper award winners, advising the department on undergraduate programs/internships, and assisting with fundraising for internship programs.”[5]

Controversies

Davis is a 2020 election denier.[6]

Media Matters compiled a list of what they called his “racist, misogynistic, and authoritarian remarks” in February 2024.[7]

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Davis said "We're going to put kids in cages. It's going to be glorious" and he threatened a "reign of terror" and to throw journalists into the "gulag." Though he has said that his extreme rhetoric is meant to troll the left.[2][5] He also wrote that he wanted to “build a special gulag for leftwing white women. The laundry ward.” He also called for indicting President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and his brother James Biden prior to the pardons for the latter two.[5]

Davis has been kicked off social media several times for "hateful conduct."[2]

In 2024, The Post notified him that it has his organization was not authorized to raise money in Virginia since August 2022, which he promised to correct.[2]

After the 2024 election, Rolling Stone put him on their “Twelve Worst People in Trump’s Orbit” list.[8]

The day after Trump was re-elected, he posted, “Here’s my current mood: I want to drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall. (Legally, politically, and financially, of course.)”[5]

In 2025 he posted a plan to get back at the Supreme Court justices for not ruling in line with MAGA. "The Supreme Court still has an illegal injunction on the President of the United States, preventing him from commanding military operations to expel these foreign terrorists," Davis wrote. "The President should house these terrorists near the Chevy Chase Country Club, with daytime release."[9]

Personal Life

Davis is a "lapsed" Irish-Catholic.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Mike Davis". Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Marianne LeVine (October 19, 2024). "Mike Davis trolls the left online. He could also help Trump pick MAGA judges". Washington Post.
  3. ^ Sarah Watson (October 25, 2019). "How a University of Iowa grad became a central Republican strategist in the Kavanaugh hearings, Trump impeachment". The Daily Iowan.
  4. ^ a b c d e "MRDLaw". Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e Belin, Laura (7 January 2025). "Trump ally Mike Davis no longer on U Iowa alumni board". Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Davis Tweet Dec 26, 2024". Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  7. ^ ""Trump's viceroy of DC": The violent threats and bigotry of MAGA media favorite Mike Davis". Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  8. ^ Garber-Paul, Elizabeth; Mccann Ramirez, Nikki; Lachance, Naomi; Greene, Andy; Bort, Ryan (11 November 2024). "The 12 Worst People in Trump's Orbit". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  9. ^ Baio, Ariana (17 May 2025). "Trump endorses idea that Supreme Court ruling blocking his deportations under Alien Enemies Act is 'illegal'". Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  10. ^ Wren, Adam (20 September 2024). "Trump's Chief Legal Defender Vows a 'Reign of Terror' — Or Is It All an Act?". politico. Retrieved 8 August 2025.

See also


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