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Brian Fallon

Nationality:

American
Occupation:

Executive Director, Demand Justice

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Brian Fallon is a Democratic political communications operative and the founder and former executive director of the left-of-center judicial advocacy group Demand Justice. Fallon’s career includes service in the Obama administration as well as campaign work for Democratic presidential nominees Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry; U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY); and former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). 1 2 3

In his role as Demand Justice executive director, Fallon was an outspoken critic of United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy in July 2018. 4

In 2023, Fallon stepped down as executive director of Demand Justice to become a senior communications adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, first for the then-Joe Biden 2024 presidential campaign and subsequently the her own 2024 presidential campaign. 5 6 He was named as a potential press secretary if Harris had won the 2024 presidential election. 7 8

Education and Early Career

Brian Fallon received a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Harvard University and graduated in 2003. 1

In 2004, Fallon served as a press aide on the presidential campaign of then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and later served as the campaign secretary in 2006 for the Senate campaign of then-U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). 9 Fallon worked as the communications director for U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) from 2007 to 2010. 1

From 2011 to 2013, Fallon served as the communications director for the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center before joining the Obama administration U.S. Department of Justice as director of the Office of Public Affairs in 2013. In that role, he served as the spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder. 1 Fallon was quoted defending the Obama administration’s eventual agreement to not assassinate U.S. citizens with drones despite the administration fighting against public disclosure of its internal legal analysis. That analysis included the claim that the administration could assassinate U.S. citizens without due process because of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force that launched the U.S. military’s invasion of Afghanistan after the Al-Qaeda terror attacks that year. The authorization was used to justify the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who was part of Al-Qaeda. 10

Hillary Clinton Campaign

In 2016, Fallon joined former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as its press secretary. 11 Fallon defended Clinton’s use of private e-mail servers for official U.S. State Department business, saying the then-presidential candidate had been transparent and engaged with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during its investigation. 12

Fallon was also in touch with the U.S. Department of Justice about the investigation, which raised questions of potential collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Department. 13 Fallon later demanded that the FBI release more information about the investigation into Clinton’s e-mails for voters to see before Election Day 2016. 14 Fallon and Clinton claimed that the information released to U.S. Congress in the days before the election was insufficient. 15

During the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Fallon was criticized by a contributor to the socialist magazine The Nation for attacking U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over the his support for closer relations with Iran. 16

Between 2016 and 2018, he worked as president of Barracks Row Media, a Washington, D.C. public relations firm. He also worked as a political commentator for CNN, and served as a senior advisor for the Hillary Clinton-aligned political action committee Priorities USA. 1

Demand Justice

Brian Fallon founded Demand Justice, a left-wing organization dedicated to making the U.S. Supreme Court more left-leaning, in 2018 under the fiscal sponsorship of the Sixteen Thirty Fund. In addition to leading much of the attacks on then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after his nomination by President Donald Trump the same year, Demand Justice has pushed Democratic Party U.S. Senators to work less cooperatively with Republican U.S. Senators, to “pack” the U.S. Supreme Court by adding liberal justices to the traditional nine justices, and to achieve other far-left priorities. This left Demand Justice alienated from many Washington, D.C. power brokers even as it gained credibility with far-left allies and activists. 7

Demand Justice received millions of dollars both in its initial start-up phase and later in its existence from the George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations. 17  18

In July 2024, Demand Justice announced a $10 million effort to shape the U.S. Supreme Court related to that year’s presidential elections. 19

Demand Justice staff have been part of previous teams for Democratic Party candidates. Former communications director Jen Psaki became President Joe Biden’s press secretary and later an MSNBC host. Paige Herwig was an early staffer who later worked for President Biden on judicial nominations. 17

2024 Presidential Campaign

In 2023, Brian Fallon stepped down as executive director of Demand Justice to join President Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign as a communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris. 5 After Vice President Harris replaced President Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, Fallon became her senior communications advisor. 20  Media headlines suggested he was the frontrunner to become VP Harris’ Press Secretary had she won the 2024 presidential election. 21

In September 2024, Fallon was a guest on the Politico’s Playbook Deep Dive podcast for an interview about the 2024 election and his role in the Harris campaign. He defended Vice President Harris’s policy changes on issues like natural gas fracking, immigration, and gun control as related to seeking bipartisan support for polarizing issues. He also said Vice President Harris was committed to the Inflation Reduction Act as an extension of the Green New Deal, and said she backed Medicare reform through the Affordable Care Act. 6

Fallon also defended Vice President Harris’s decision to delay interviews and media appearances after she became the presidential nominee for the 2024 presidential election. 6 He also accused the Donald Trump presidential campaign of trying to avoid controversy by keeping microphones muted at a September 2024 presidential debate. Muted microphones were part of an agreement between what was the Biden campaign and the -Trump campaigns; after Vice President Harris replaced Trump, her campaign tried to change the agreement. 22

Political Positions

In addition to representing campaigns and other organizations, Brian Fallon has a prominent personal profile. In 2017, for example, he accused then-President Donald Trump of attempting to distract the public from “very serious allegations” about the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia to help the campaign win the White House. 23

Dobbs Decision

In 2022, an unknown person leaked a draft of the majority opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization showing that the court intended to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, returning the question of abortion regulation to the states. Fallon tweeted that “SCOTUS leaks are good. Rip the veil off.” 24 He told Vanity Fair that intimidation protests outside the homes of conservative justices were acceptable “as long as they’re peaceful.” 25

“I don’t think that you should tell people that are on the front lines of having to bear the brunt of the impact of these decisions that they don’t get any redress, that they have no ability to protest, or that we don’t like the style of how you’re registering your dissent.” 25

After the decision was delivered in June 2022, Fallon urged Democrats to add additional new “progressive” justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the conservative majority “illegitimate.” 26

2018 Brett Kavanaugh Protests

In early 2018, Brian Fallon began his role as executive director of Demand Justice, a left-leaning 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that aims to influence the leanings of America’s courts by supporting the appointment of left-leaning judicial nominees and opposing right-of-center nominees. Demand Justice was active in the confirmation process of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and lobbied against his confirmation in the U.S. Senate with the aid of other left-wing activist groups such as People for the American Way and Alliance for Justice. 27

As executive director, Fallon is the primary spokesperson for Demand Justice. Fallon’s stated goal for Demand Justice is to “make the [U.S. Supreme Court nominee] controversial out of the gate by virtue of the fact that they came off the list” of proposed nominees that President Donald Trump had offered while campaigning. 28

In July 2018, Fallon stated his goal of postponing confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh in the U.S. Senate. According to Fallon, Demand Justice would pressure the U.S. Senate to review all of Kavanaugh’s work on the various investigations of President Bill Clinton as well as his work as a clerk for former Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, before beginning confirmation hearings. 29

Fallon advocated his belief that support for the constitutional protection of abortion on demand and attempts to declare Obamacare unconstitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court would be an issue that could pressure Democratic U.S. Senators into voting against Kavanaugh. 30

On X (then called Twitter), Fallon criticized U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) claims that any U.S. Supreme Court nominee can follow legal precedent. 31 In a follow up interview, Fallon commented that, “The idea that she would ask generic questions about precedent and try to have that suffice as a reassurance on Roe [v. Wade] is unacceptable.” 32

Spring 2018 Democracy Alliance Conference

For more information see Democracy Alliance Conferences

Brian Fallon participated in the Democracy Alliance‘s Spring 2018 investment conference. He was a panelist on a panel entitled “Preserving the Role of Our Courts,” the purpose of which was to “highlight a new organization and new approaches to fight back and protect our courts against the Trump Administration and their congressional allies’ extremist takeover.” 33

References

  1. Fallon, Brian. “User Profile.” LinkedIn, https://linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/.
  2. Correll, Diana Stancy. “Brett Kavanaugh Critics: Nomination a Trump Scheme to Combat Mueller Investigation.” Washington Examiner. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/brett-kavanaugh-critics-nomination-a-trump-scheme-to-combat-mueller-investigation.
  3. Thayer, Parker. “The Suspicious Rise of Brian Fallon, the Left’s Narrative Czar.” Capital Research Center, August 8, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-suspicious-rise-of-brian-fallon-the-lefts-narrative-czar/.
  4. Brian Fallon Twitter Post. Twitter.com. July 9, 2018. 6:09 P.M. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1016489456042471427
  5. Pager, Tyler. “Brian Fallon to join Biden campaign as Harris’s communications director.” Washington Post. December 12, 2023. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/12/brian-fallon-harris-campaign-communications/
  6. Daniels, Eugene. “Surprising Predictions From Inside the Kamala Harris Campaign.” Politico. September 21, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/09/21/brian-fallon-harris-campaign-predictions-00180331
  7. Resnick, Gideon, and Tani, Maxwell. “How Hillary Clinton’s Press Secretary Self-Radicalized and Became a Resistance Leader.” The Daily Beast. May 16, 2024. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-brian-fallon-hillary-clintons-press-secretary-self-radicalized-and-became-a-resistance-leader
  8. Thayer, Parker. “The Suspicious Rise of Brian Fallon, the Left’s Narrative Czar.” Capital Research Center. August 8, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-suspicious-rise-of-brian-fallon-the-lefts-narrative-czar/
  9. “Brian Fallon.” Office of Public Affairs & Communications. March 24, 2017. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://communications.yale.edu/poynter/brian-fallon.
  10. al-Awlaki, Anwar. “US cited controversial law in decision to kill American citizen by drone.” The Guardian. June 23, 2014. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/us-justification-drone-killing-american-citizen-awlaki
  11. Gearan, Anne, and Philip Rucker. “Clinton Team Picks Justice Spokesman Brian Fallon as Lead Press Secretary.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Mar. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/03/17/clinton-team-picks-justice-spokesman-brian-fallon-as-lead-press-secretary/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.93b1648943ce
  12. McCaskill, Nolan. “Clinton spokesman says campaign prioritizing responses to FBI probe.” Politico. May 25, 2015. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-fbi-emails-223584
  13. Winter, Tom and Timm, Jane C. “Clinton Camp Spoke With Justice Dept. During Email Lawsuit.” NBC News. October 11, 2016. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-camp-spoke-justice-dept-during-email-lawsuit-n664711
  14. “Clinton campaign wants email probe information released.” CNN. October 28, 2016. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/28/brian-fallon-james-comey-new-emails-tied-to-clinton-sot-tsr.cnn
  15.  Lee, MJ and Merica, Dan. “Clinton campaign wages new war against James Comey.” CNN. October 30, 2016. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/29/politics/hillary-clinton-campaign-james-comey/index.html
  16. Gharib, Ali. “Why Is Hillary Clinton Using Republican Talking Points to Attack Bernie Sanders?” The Nation. January 25, 2016. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-is-hillary-clinton-using-republican-talking-points-to-attack-bernie-sanders/
  17. Schoffstall, Joe and Cawthorne, Cameron. “Kamala Harris’ new campaign spokesman called for defunding the police, packing the Supreme Court.” FoxNews. December 12, 2023. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-campaign-spokesman-defunding-police-packing-supreme-court
  18. Markay, Lachlan. “Progressive legal advocacy group spinning off from sponsor.” Axios. May 13, 2021. Accessed October 14, 2021. https://www.axios.com/2021/05/14/progressive-demand-justice-group-spin-off
  19. Przybyla, Heidi. “Progressive advocacy group plans $10M offensive targeting Supreme Court.” Politico. July 2, 2024. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/02/demand-justice-supreme-court-reform-00166142
  20.  Korecki, Natasha, Lee, Carol E., and Alcindor, Yamiche. “’This is the A-team’: Harris campaign brings on big new hires as it sprints to Election Day.” NBC News. August 2, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-campaign-big-new-hires-sprint-election-day-rcna164383
  21. Allen, Mike and VandeHel, Jim. “Behind the Curtain: The Harris Cabinet.” Axios. August 7, 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024. https://www.axios.com/2024/08/07/kamala-harris-cabinet-election
  22. Birle, Jack. “Harris team fighting muted mics at ABC debate after Biden requested rule.” The Washington Examiner. August 26, 2024. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3133999/harris-team-fighting-muted-mics-abc-debate/
  23. Conway, Madeline. “Fallon responds to Trump: He’s trying to distract from ‘very serious allegations’ about Russia.” Politico, February 15, 2017, Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/brian-fallon-responds-trump-clinton-russia-235044
  24. Brian Fallon Tweet. May 3, 2022. Accessed Jan 5, 2023. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1521377663134453760
  25. Chris Smith. ““WE ALWAYS BRING A BUTTER KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT”: HOW DEMOCRATS FAILED TO RESPOND TO THE SUPREME COURT, AND WHAT THEY NEED TO DO NOW.” Vanity Fair. July 5, 2022. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/07/how-democrats-failed-to-respond-to-the-supreme-court-what-they-need-to-do-now
  26.  “Demand Justice Statement on Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade.” Demand Justice. June 24, 2022. Accessed Jan. 5, 2023. https://demandjustice.org/demand-justice-statement-on-supreme-court-overturning-roe-v-wade/
  27. Demand Justice. “Re: We expect more.” July 2, 2018. E-mail message.
  28. Stolberg, Sheryl Gay, and Jonathan Martin. “Conservative and Liberal Groups Gird for Battle Over Kavanaugh.” The New York Times. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/10/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-battle.html.
  29. “Cuomo Prime Time.” CNN. July 10, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1807/10/CPT.02.html.
  30.  Venkataramanan, Meena. “‘Look in the Mirror and Do the Right Thing’: Brian Fallon to Red-state Democrats on SCOTUS Nominee.” ABC News. July 11, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mirror-thing-brian-fallon-red-state-democrats-scotus/story?id=56509234.
  31. Brian Fallon Twitter Post. Twitter.com. July 1, 2018. 3:03 P.M. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://twitter.com/brianefallon/status/1013543583553671168
  32. Wheeler, Lydia. “The Buzzword at Center of Supreme Court Clash.” TheHill. July 03, 2018. Accessed July 18, 2018. http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/395396-the-buzzword-at-center-of-supreme-court-clash.
  33. Democracy Alliance. “2018 Democracy Alliance Spring Conference Agenda.” Posted to Scribd by The Washington Free Beacon. April 2018. Accessed October 21, 2020. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/document/376835956/2018-Democracy-Alliance-Spring-Conference-Agenda
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