John Wrench

John Wrench is the Assistant Director of the Center for Judicial Engagement (CJE) at the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ in 2019. At CJE, he helps lead the Center’s public education and scholarly work on constitutional rights, structure, and history through scholarship, popular writing, podcasts, and live events that bring together judges, practitioners, academics, and students.

John’s scholarship focuses on the Fourth Amendment and the First Amendment. Most recently, he has written on the Fourth Amendment and the Supreme Court’s search doctrine, and his article on the original meaning of “searches” is forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law. He was counsel of record on IJ’s amicus brief in Chatrie v. United States, the Supreme Court’s 2026 case on geofence warrants, and wrote on the decision for the Cato Supreme Court Review. On the First Amendment, John has written on professional speech and professional licensing for the Texas Review of Law & Politics and SCOTUSblog. His commentary has also appeared in The Dispatch and the Federalist Society’s State Court Docket Watch. He speaks on these subjects and hosts IJ’s Unpublished Opinions podcast, a roundtable discussion among IJ attorneys.

Before joining CJE in 2024, John litigated for IJ in state and federal courts across the country, representing clients in cases involving free speech, property rights, warrantless searches, and fines and fees. John received his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2019, where he served as editor in chief for the Case Western Journal of International Law, and his undergraduate degree in philosophy and religious studies from Pace University.

His work focuses on educating the public about the role of courts in enforcing constitutional limits on government. John joined IJ’s headquarters office in 2019 as a Constitutional Law Fellow. He received his law degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was a member of the Federalist Society and served as editor in chief of the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. John also interned in his law school’s First Amendment Litigation Clinic and was a judicial extern to the Honorable Paul E. Davison in the Southern District of New York. Before law school, John graduated from Pace University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religious Studies.