The Goldwater Institute is expanding its nationwide reach and ability to defend liberty in courtrooms across the country with the hire of attorney Dave Roland of Missouri as our new Director of Allied Litigation.
Roland will work hand in hand with other like-minded organizations on strategic litigation that advances the principles of limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty. His efforts will bolster Goldwater’s decades of work as a national leader in public interest litigation.
In 2007, the Goldwater Institute became the first state-based policy organization to launch a litigation arm, operating on the principle that constitutional rights are not abstractions, but are living guarantees that ordinary citizens deserve in full, whether they can afford a lawyer or not. Today, Goldwater attorneys are actively engaged in 40 public-interest lawsuits aimed at protecting individual rights and enforcing constraints on government power guaranteed by our state and federal constitutions. Additionally, the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network matches clients with nearly 1,000 pro-bono attorneys in all 50 states who work closely with us on meaningful cases that advance liberty.
Roland will help Goldwater in its mission to empower Americans to live freer, happier lives, including by going to court to protect parents’ and patients’ rights, advocate for taxpayers, fight government overreach, and defend free speech and the right to earn a living.
“Dave Roland has an impressive track record of advancing freedom in Missouri courthouses—experience that will prove indispensable as the Goldwater Institute expands its mission of defending individual liberty nationwide,” said Jon Riches, the Goldwater Institute’s Vice President of Litigation. “In his role, Dave will be a vital resource to our liberty-oriented allies around the country and will help them to identify and pursue important legal cases aimed at protecting freedom in their communities and standing up to overreaching government.”
Roland joins Goldwater after more than 15 years leading the Freedom Center of Missouri, which he founded in 2010. He is one of Missouri’s most prominent constitutional attorneys, fighting numerous high-profile cases focused on securing individual liberty and transparent, accountable, and constitutionally limited government.
Over the years, Roland has achieved several key legal victories, including proving legal violations in local elections, confirming that citizens have access to certain election-related public records, and ensuring that drug task forces are transparent and accountable to the public. He now brings that extensive expertise to his new role, where he will work with Goldwater allies around the country to ensure their states continue as the nation’s “laboratories for democracy.”
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve Missouri’s citizens through my work at the Freedom Center,” Roland said. “Joining the Goldwater Institute will allow me to marshal even more resources as well as the organization’s expertise to continue pursuing freedom-oriented cases all across the country, just as I’ve done in Missouri.”
In 2024, the Missouri Press Association honored Roland with a Sunshine Hero award, and last year Missouri Lawyers Media named him one of the state’s most influential appellate attorneys.
