Mark Chenoweth

Mark Chenoweth is the president and chief legal officer of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public-interest law firm established to protect constitutional freedoms from what it views as unlawful exercises of administrative power. Chenoweth has led the organization since its founding, initially serving as executive director and general counsel before being appointed president by the board of directors. Under Chenoweth's leadership, the New Civil Liberties Alliance has become recognized for its work as a Supreme Court litigator, with legal scholar Jonathan H. Adler noting the organization's significant impact.

Chenoweth has experience in all four branches of the federal government. He served as chief of staff to Congressman Mike Pompeo, legal counsel to Commissioner Anne Northup at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, attorney advisor in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, and law clerk to Judge Danny J. Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In the private sector, Chenoweth began his legal career as a regulatory associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, served as in-house counsel for Koch Industries, and was general counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation. He is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Chicago Law School, where he co-founded the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship and was named a Tony Patiño Fellow.

Chenoweth played a central role when the New Civil Liberties Alliance participated in persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Chevron deference in the landmark tandem cases "Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce" and "Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo." This decision addressed the requirement for courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes. The New Civil Liberties Alliance received the inaugural Chip Mellor Prize for Excellence in Public Interest Litigation from State Policy Network and the Institute for Justice for its work. The organization has also litigated cases involving government-induced social media censorship, the SEC's gag-rule orders, the ATF's bump stock ban, and challenges to presidential tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Chenoweth is a commentator on constitutional law and the administrative state. He created and co-hosts the podcast "Administrative Static," later rebranded as "Unwritten Law," a weekly legal affairs program examining administrative power abuses and featuring expert guests. He has testified before the House Judiciary Committee on agency adjudication and has been quoted and published in outlets including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes.com, and Los Angeles Daily Journal. Chenoweth regularly addresses legal and constitutional issues related to American governance and civil liberties.