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Activism 101 Profiles
Benjamin Flowers’ Record Against Reproductive Freedom
We strongly oppose judge Benjamin Flowers, Trump's Pick for the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Key Takeaways
- Reproductive Freedom for All strongly opposes Benjamin Flowers for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
- Reproductive Freedom for All opposes his nomination due to his record of hostility toward reproductive freedom and voting rights.
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- Benjamin Flowers also has a record of attacking other fundamental rights, including LGBTQ+ equality, immigrant rights, and voting rights.
- Trump has a deeply troubling track record of nominating judges who oppose reproductive freedom, reflecting the Trump administration’s vision for courts that are hostile to the basic reproductive rights and freedoms of all.
Who is Benjamin Flowers?
Benjamin Flowers was nominated by President Trump to a lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Reproductive Freedom for All strongly opposes his nomination due to his extensive record of hostility toward reproductive freedom.
Flowers also has a record of attacking other fundamental rights, including LGBTQ+ equality, voting rights, immigrant rights, and more.
Quick Hits: Benjamin Flowers’ Record Against Reproductive Freedom
As Ohio Solicitor General, Flowers attempted to undermine access to reproductive freedom by fighting to revive the state’s abortion ban that prohibits abortion before most people know they are pregnant, defending a ban on abortion based on the patient’s perceived reason for seeking care, and led efforts to defund family planning providers. He also led a multi-state effort to weaken federal voting rights protections and defend restrictive state election laws.
Dive Deeper: Benjamin Flowers’ Anti-Repro Record
Endorsed Attacks on Abortion
As Ohio Solicitor General, Flowers argued before the Ohio Supreme Court to revive Ohio’s 2019 abortion ban that prohibits abortion before most people know they are pregnant.
- Flowers urged the court to lift a Hamilton County trial judge’s preliminary injunction—which had paused enforcement of the ban in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision—arguing that each day the law was enjoined inflicted “irreparable harm” on the State of Ohio and analogizing the alleged harm to the irreversible disclosure of trade secrets.
- Had Flowers prevailed, Ohio’s ban on abortion before most people know they are pregnant would have taken effect, eliminating access to abortion for Ohioans. The case was ultimately dismissed in December 2023 following Ohio voters’ passage of the Reproductive Freedom Amendment (Issue 1).
In January 2019, Solicitor General Flowers argued before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, defending Ohio H.B. 214—a law that criminalized abortion care based on the perceived reason a person is seeking care. Violations were classified as fourth-degree felonies, accompanied by mandatory revocation of the physician’s medical license.
- Flowers urged the Sixth Circuit to abandon established abortion protections for pregnant patients. Instead, he argued for a weaker legal standard—a strategic move designed to chip away at abortion rights nationwide, rather than just winning this single case.
- The three-judge panel affirmed the preliminary injunction against the law in October 2019. However, on rehearing before the full appeals court in April 2021, the full Sixth Circuit reversed and upheld H.B. 214.
Solicitor General Flowers served as Counsel of Record in a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn a lower court’s award of attorney’s fees to Planned Parenthood and to challenge the legal standing of abortion providers in fighting against state abortion restrictions.
- When abortion clinics in Ohio won a temporary pause against a state abortion restriction, a lower court ordered Ohio to pay the clinics’ attorney’s fees. Flowers fought this, arguing it was unfair to make the state pay for a temporary victory. He also argued a broader point: that abortion clinics shouldn’t be allowed to file lawsuits on behalf of their patients in the first place.
- If Flowers had won, it would have created a major financial roadblock for reproductive rights groups trying to fight abortion bans in court. However, the Supreme Court declined to take the case.
Led Efforts to Defund Title X Family Planning Providers
Flowers served as Counsel of Record on a 2019 multi-state challenge defending the first Trump administration’s Title X “gag rule,” which prohibited federally funded family planning providers from referring patients for abortion care and required strict physical and financial separation between Title X-funded services and abortion-related services.
The challenged rule disproportionately targeted Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers, ultimately forcing many of them out of the Title X program and jeopardizing access to care for low-income patients seeking contraception, Sexually Transmitted Infection screening, cancer screenings, and other critical health care.
Affiliations with Anti-Reproductive Freedom Organizations
Flowers has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2010.
The Federalist Society is a well-funded, conservative legal network that exerts influence through law schools, professional networks, and conferences, and over the judiciary at large. It serves as a talent and influence pipeline for the conservative movement to cultivate young lawyers and then pack the courts with judges who will execute their unpopular agenda, which includes undermining reproductive freedom.
Flowers authored an amicus brief on behalf of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) in a case attacking gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
IWF is an anti-abortion organization that claims to offer an alternative to mainstream feminism. IWF generally opposes abortion access and has supported restrictions at both state and federal levels, in addition to opposing the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage benefit. They also oppose other policies that are essential for women’s equality, including the Violence Against Women Act, paid family leave mandates, and equal pay legislation. IWF is a member of the advisory board of Project 2025, and is partially funded by the Heritage Foundation.
Career
- Bachelor of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009
- Juris Doctor, The University of Chicago Law School, 2012
- Extern to the Hon. Joan H. Lefkow, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2010
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Sandra Segal Ikuta, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2012-2013
- Sidley Austin LLP, 2011-2014
- Summer Associate, 2011
- Associate, 2013-2014
- Law Clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court of the United States, 2014-2015
- Adjunct Professor, The Ohio State University College of Law, 2018-2019
- Associate, Jones Day, 2015-2019
- Ohio Attorney General’s Office, 2019-2023
- Deputy Solicitor General, 2019
- Solicitor General, 2019-2023
- Sole Member, Ben Flowers LLC, 2023-Present
- Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, 2023-Present
Benjamin Flowers' Record Against Democracy and Voting Rights
As Ohio Solicitor General, Flowers led a multi-state effort to weaken federal voting rights protections and defend restrictive state election laws.
Flowers led a coalition of 17 Republican-led states in filing an amicus brief at the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to adopt a narrower interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and to uphold Arizona’s policies of discarding out-of-precinct ballots and criminalizing third-party ballot collection.
In July 2021, the Supreme Court adopted much of this framing in a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Alito, substantially weakening Section 2’s capacity to remedy racially discriminatory voting practices.
Benjamin Flowers' Record Against LGBTQIA+ Equality
Flowers has built a sustained record of advocacy against the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including transgender youth.
- In private practice, Flowers served as Counsel of Record for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in an amicus brief opposing the participation of transgender women and girls on women’s and girls’ athletic teams, arguing that neither the Equal Protection Clause nor Title IX prohibits sex-segregated athletics defined by sex assigned at birth.
- Flowers also filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Independent Women’s Forum supporting state laws that ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
Benjamin Flowers' Record Against Immigrant Rights
As Ohio Solicitor General and in private practice, Flowers regularly attacked the Biden administration’s immigration enforcement policies and to defend restrictive federal rules from the first Trump administration.
- Flowers joined a coalition of states challenging President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security guidance that prioritized national security and serious public safety threats over the general undocumented population for immigration enforcement, arguing that the guidance violated federal law and forced states to absorb the costs of purported federal enforcement failures.
- Flowers represented Ohio in U.S. Supreme Court litigation defending the first Trump administration’s stricter “public charge” rule—which unfairly expanded the categories of public benefits that could disqualify immigrants from obtaining lawful permanent residence and was widely understood to chill enrollment in vital health and nutrition programs among immigrant families.
- Flowers also filed an amicus brief in Trump v. Barbara, which argued against the long-settled constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Big Picture
Trump has a deeply troubling track record of nominating judges who oppose reproductive freedom, reflecting the Trump administration’s vision for courts that are hostile to the basic reproductive rights and freedoms for all.
Decisions made by these judges will impact our health, access to care, and daily lives, and we deserve to know whether these nominees are committed to fairness and equality under the law or if they are beholden to an ideology or agenda opposing reproductive freedom.
Citations and Sources
- Benjamin Flowers, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (April 23, 2026).
- State ex rel. Preterm-Cleveland v. Yost, 167 Ohio St. 3d 1468, 2022-Ohio-2558, 191 N.E.3d 443 (2022).
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- Preterm-Cleveland v. Yost, State Ct. Rep., https://statecourtreport.org/case-tracker/preterm-cleveland-v-yost (last visited May 15, 2026).
- Preterm-Cleveland v. McCloud, 994 F.3d 512 (6th Cir. 2021); Benjamin Flowers, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 38 (April 23, 2026).
- Yost v. Planned Parenthood Sw. Ohio Region, No. 19-677; Benjamin Flowers, Attachment Package for the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 2272 (April 23, 2026).
- Ohio v. Becerra, 87 F.4th 759 (6th Cir. 2023); Benjamin Flowers, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 43 (April 23, 2026).
- Benjamin Flowers, Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 6 (April 23, 2026).
- About, Independent Women’s Forum, https://www.independentwomen.com/about/.
- Katherine Doyle, Donations Have Surged to Groups Linked to Conservative Project 2025, NBC (Nov. 17, 2023), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/donations-surged-groups-linked-conservative-project-2025-rcna125638.
- Brief of Ohio et al. as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners, Brnovich v. Democratic Nat’l Comm. 594 U.S. 81 (2021) No. 19-1257; Benjamin Flowers, Attachment Package for the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 2577 (April 23, 2026).
- Brnovich v. Democratic Nat'l Comm., 594 U.S. 647 (2021).
- Brief of the Conference of Catholic Bishops as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., (U.S. argued Jan. 2026) No. 24-38, 24-43; Benjamin Flowers, Attachment Package for the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 4177 (April 23, 2026).
- Brief of Independent Women’s Forum as Amicus Curiae in Support of Jurisdiction, Moe v. Yost (Ohio Mar. 31, 2025) No. 2025-0472; Benjamin Flowers, Attachment Package for the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 79 (April 23, 2026).
- Arizona v. Biden, 40 F.4th 375 (6th Cir. 2022).
- Arizona v. City and County of San Francisco, 596 U.S. 763 (2022) (Supreme Court Docket No. 20-1775).
- Brief of Professor Richard S. Epstein as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners, Trump v. Barbara (U.S. argued Apr. 2026) No. 25-365; Benjamin Flowers, Attachment Package for the Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, p. 4310 (April 23, 2026).
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