John Kramer
Since joining the Institute for Justice in 1992, John Kramer’s strategic media relations work—coupled with IJ’s litigation—has protected the individual rights of Americans nationwide.
He helped property owners successfully challenge eminent domain for private gain, secured the rights of entrepreneurs who fought against government-enforced monopolies, helped extend First Amendment protections to the Internet, and directed the successful PR effort to strike down a federal law that made it a felony to compensate bone marrow donors—a victory that has the potential to save thousands of American lives each year.
Kramer has directed the media relations in 10 landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases.
His work has been featured by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes as well as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times. Kramer was portrayed in the Hollywood movie Little Pink House, starring Catherine Keener. (He was paid a fifth of bourbon for his life rights for the movie, the same amount paid to John Wayne when he appeared on the television show The Beverly Hillbillies.)
He has earned numerous national awards for his PR and media relations. He was featured as a “Voice of Authority” in the nation’s leading public relations textbook, The Practice of Public Relations by Fraser Seitel.
Kramer graduated from New Mexico State University and was named a distinguished alumnus in 2014. In 2018, Kramer received The Thomas Roe Award, the highest honor presented by the State Policy Network.
In addition to being an accomplished oil painter, Kramer’s novel, Blythe, has been transformed into a three-act opera in Italian, titled Isabella, which earned the following unsolicited review from Maestro János Ács—who conducted with The Three Tenors— “Isabella is a masterpiece! From its story to its orchestration and vocal writing, this opera will leave audiences inspired, deepened in their faith in humanity and themselves, and moved by the bravura of its creators.”
Kramer is a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.