John E. Kramer

John Kramer is the Vice President for Strategic Relations at the Institute for Justice.  Since joining the Institute for Justice in 1992, Kramer’s 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.

Kramer directed the media relations in 10 landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases.  His work has been featured by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, The Wall Street Journal and nearly every other general news outlet in the nation.

Kramer was portrayed in the Hollywood movie Little Pink House.  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.

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.”  “The Seven Sisters,” his second opera, is being turned into a film by Miami University of Ohio’s opera program in conjunction with the Dayton Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra.

Kramer is a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C.