Mary E. McAlister, Esq.

Mary McAlister, Esq. is Senior Litigation Counsel with Child & Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. She is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer, having advocated for parental rights and First Amendment rights at all levels of federal and state courts. She has been an advocate for children’s rights, particularly protection from the harms of early sexualization and sexual exploitation. She brings to this role nearly three decades of experience as an attorney, as well as a passion for protecting the innocence of children. Mary received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor of science degree, summa cum laude, in journalism from California Polytechnic State University.

Prior to law school, Mary worked as a journalist in California. She has worked as a commercial and real property litigator, including as part of a team overseeing complex environmental contamination litigation, in California. She also worked as senior litigation counsel for a national public interest law firm defending constitutionally protected civil liberties. Mary is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and in every federal Circuit Court of Appeals throughout the country, and is licensed to practice in Virginia, California, and Florida. Mary has authored and co-authored numerous academic articles and white papers on the subject of gender identity, girls’ body image, sexually explicit materials in public schools, child protection, and the family and civil society, as well as columns in national news magazines. She and her husband have two children.

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