For 34 years, John Kaempf has specialized in asserting state and federal constitutional defenses to claims against individuals and corporations in Oregon’s trial and appellate courts.
In 2020, after John filed a lawsuit in the District of Oregon federal trial court against the Governor of Oregon during the Covid pandemic on behalf of several Christian schools, the Governor agreed to reopen the schools. That occurred in response to John’s legal argument that keeping religious schools closed violated their First Amendment rights to (A) freely exercise their religion, (B) engage in free speech, and (C) freely associate. Through his legal motions and discovery efforts, including document requests and depositions of top aides to the Governor, John exposed that the Governor admitted during the pandemic that religious schools were ordered to remain closed because the Governor feared a “mass exodus” from public schools to religious schools if they remained open while public schools were closed. When John reveal this highly damaging information, the Governor than reopened the schools.
In 2022, John won a historic First Amendment victory in the District of Oregon federal trial court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, for his client, the Christian owner of the Miss USA Pageant. It was sued in Oregon federal district Court by a transgender contestant. He claimed civil rights violations when he was not allowed to participate in the pageant because it is limited to “natural born females.” You can read a short article about the court’s ruling here.
