Michael Reitz is general counsel of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and director of EFF's Constitutional Law Center. He is a member of the Washington and California Bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His research has been published and cited by the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, and numerous other newspapers and periodicals. He is a co-author of To Protect and Maintain Individual Rights, a reference guide to the Declaration of Rights in the Washington Constitution, and he maintains the Supreme Court of Washington Blog. Michael is a graduate of the Oak Brook College of Law.

Reported Cases

Michael has represented the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in a number of state and federal cases.

Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association, 129 S.Ct. 1093 (2009). Counsel for amici curiae EFF, American Legislative Exchange Council, and Independence Institute before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court upheld as constitutional an Idaho law that prohibits unions from using state payroll deductions to collect political contributions.

Lisa Brown v. Brad Owen, 165 Wash.2d 706 (2009). Counsel for amici curiae EFF, Washington State Farm Bureau, Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union, and NFIB Small Business Legal Center before the Supreme Court of Washington. The Court rejected a state senator’s writ of mandamus seeking to invalidate the state’s popularly-enacted supermajority requirement for tax increases.

Horne v. Flores, 129 S.Ct. 2579 (2009). Counsel for EFF as amicus curiae. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the principle of federalism by ruling that lower courts incorrectly forced the State of Arizona to continue funding an specific bilingual education program.

West v. Port of Olympia, 146 Wash.App. 108 (2008). Counsel for EFF as amicus curiae. The Washington Court of Appeals ruled in favor of citizen who requested public records from a municipal entity, which had refused to disclose records claiming the exemptions of trade secrets, research data, and deliberative process.

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 (2008). Counsel for EFF as amicus curiae. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld as constitutional an Indiana state law that required voters to present government-issued photo identification before voting.