J. Justin Wilson

J. Justin Wilson is the Vice President of Communications at the Institute for Justice (IJ), where he leads the organization’s storytelling, media strategy, and public-facing communications to advance economic liberty, free speech, private property rights, and educational opportunity—helping IJ “litigate in the court of public opinion” alongside its courtroom advocacy.

For more than ten years at IJ, Wilson has worked with attorneys, clients, and others to translate complex constitutional disputes into clear, human stories—supporting litigation and policy campaigns that challenge overreaching government power and defend the right of ordinary Americans to live, work, and speak freely. He also helps lead IJ’s broader brand and messaging across earned media, digital content, video, and major organizational communications.

Wilson, who wrote his first program in BASIC in 1988, also helps lead the marketing and technical aspects of IJ’s external digital communications, including strategy and management for IJ’s websites and other core public-facing digital platforms. He serves on IJ’s AI Working Group and has helped integrate AI into much of IJ’s work.

Wilson has been a contributor to leading print and broadcast outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times, and his work and commentary have appeared on outlets such as NPR, BBC, ABC, NBC, CNN, MS Now and CNBC.

Before joining IJ, Wilson served as a vice president at a Washington, D.C.-based integrated public affairs firm, where he advised clients on communications campaigns that blended traditional public affairs with emerging digital tools to reach broader audiences and shape narratives in fast-moving news environments.

Wilson grew up in Minnesota and graduated from the University of Michigan, where he studied public policy, political science, and philosophy. He lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Although he goes by “Justin,” the “J.” stands for James. He’s the fifth in a line of James Wilsons dating back to James “Tama” Wilson—the longest-serving Cabinet members in U.S. history—who led the Department of Agriculture under Presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft.