Overview

Background

Davis grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and attended Catholic schools. His parents worked in the Des Moines school district. Before returning to public service in 2017, Davis spent nearly ten years as a civil litigator in Denver, working at one of the largest law firms in the world and one of the top-ranked law firms in Colorado, before running his own law practice for more than five years. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 2000 and Juris Doctor in 2004, both from the University of Iowa.

Davis has served in all three branches of the federal government, including for President George W. Bush, the Justice Department, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and current Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. His most consequential government role was as Chief Counsel for Nominations, where Davis advised Chairman Grassley and other senators on the confirmation of federal judges and senior Executive Branch appointees, serving as staff lead for 30 hearings and 41 markup meetings. He oversaw the floor votes for 278 nominees, including the confirmations of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the record number of circuit judges confirmed during President Trump's first two years in office. Those battles cemented his reputation: the New York Times reported that Justice Gorsuch privately called Davis "the general" of his confirmation, while Justice Kavanaugh referred to him as "a warrior" on his behalf.

Davis founded the Article III Project in 2019 after helping Trump win the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh confirmation fights. The Article III Project is a 501(c)(4) non-profit advocacy organization that aims to promote the confirmation of right-wing justices to the Supreme Court. Most of A3P's funders are currently unknown. Open Secrets has noted that A3P was launched as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, indicating it will not disclose its donors, and that funding from individuals or opaque entities like limited-liability companies may remain hidden from the public. In 2021, Davis also founded the Unsilenced Majority, a group committed to challenging cancel culture, alongside the Internet Accountability Project (IAP), which advocates for stricter oversight of Big Tech.

Public Role in the Second Trump Administration

Judicial Nominations and the Article III Project

Davis's most prominent institutional role during the second Trump term has been as the leading outside advocate for the administration's judicial nominees. A close ally of Davis, the Republican National Committee's lead elections attorney Stephen Kenny, joined the White House Counsel's office to work on judicial nominations — a move that signaled the potential influence Davis and the Article III Project were expected to have on lifetime judicial appointments during Trump's second term. Davis has said publicly that he is helping President Trump find the best judicial and Justice Department picks he can find.

A3P has led what it describes as the largest grassroots campaigns in Supreme Court history, claiming over two million citizen contacts pressuring senators to support Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. With Trump back in office for a second term, the organization has positioned itself to reprise that role, mobilizing grassroots pressure and media campaigns in support of new nominees. A3P also offers clerkships to young lawyers seeking to pursue a textualist and originalist interpretation of the Constitution, aiming to form the next generation of the judiciary.

Anti-Judicial Rhetoric and the "Lawfare" Campaign

Beyond organizing, Davis has been one of the most vocal public voices attacking federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration, characterizing their decisions as illegitimate acts of political warfare. In media appearances throughout 2025, he argued that courts issuing injunctions against administration policies on immigration and executive power were "lighting their legitimacy on fire." As the Federalist Society frayed over Trump's efforts in the post-2020 period, Davis distanced himself from that establishment, echoed Trump's calls for "retribution," and during the 2024 campaign vowed to help pick "fearless" judges who were less impartial. His posture represents a sharper break from conventional conservative legal thinking than the Federalist Society mainstream, substituting institutional loyalty to Trump for the society's traditional emphasis on judicial independence.

Antitrust Lobbying and the "Fixer" Role

Alongside his advocacy work, Davis has developed a parallel role as a private lobbyist and fixer with direct access to Trump. Despite having little experience in antitrust law, Davis was an influential figure in getting controversial mergers approved by the second Donald Trump administration, and spoke frequently to Trump. In 2026, the Wall Street Journal reported that Davis's clients included companies like Walmart, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Compass, and that Davis was earning as much as $300,000 a month to protect these firms from antitrust regulations.

Davis's role as a fixer started with the very first antitrust case of Trump's second term. In January 2025, newly installed Trump officials at the Justice Department signed off on a lawsuit to block HPE's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks — a deal that Davis was involved in navigating. Bloomberg Law reported in February 2026 that Davis played a role in the abrupt ouster of Abigail Slater, the administration's antitrust chief, posting frequently in support of Trump and Attorney General Bondi and making social media posts implying that Slater had leaked confidential information about DOJ investigations.

Recent Developments

The Bloomberg Law reporting on Davis's antitrust activities in early 2026 drew significant attention to the blurring of lines between his advocacy organization, his private lobbying practice, and his informal advisory role inside Trump's orbit. Davis founded the conservative legal group Article III Project, which advocates for judges friendly to the Trump administration. He is particularly active on X, which suspended him for "hateful conduct" multiple times before Elon Musk's 2022 takeover. His social media presence remains a primary vehicle for his influence, used to reward allies, punish perceived enemies within the administration, and set the terms of debate on judicial and legal matters for a right-wing audience.

PBS Frontline featured Davis in a documentary on Trump's power and the rule of law, conducting a substantive interview with him in April 2025. The appearance underscored his emergence as a recognized spokesman for the wing of Trump's movement that views the federal judiciary not as an independent check but as a contested battleground in a broader political war.

Outlook

Davis's trajectory illustrates a broader evolution in conservative legal politics during the Trump era: the movement of advocacy from the Federalist Society's institutionalist model toward a more openly combative, personality-driven style tied directly to Trump. His dual role — as the head of a 501(c)(4) pressing for ideologically aligned judicial nominees while simultaneously lobbying for private corporate clients on antitrust matters — raises questions about conflicts of interest that are likely to attract continued scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal's 2026 reporting on his fee arrangements has already generated significant coverage, and the tension between his self-styled role as a constitutional guardian and his work as a highly paid corporate fixer remains unresolved. Whether the Article III Project can sustain its influence over judicial selection as Trump's second term matures, or whether Davis's expanding commercial activities dilute his standing in that arena, remains an open question.