Joshua Edward Gardner

Josh Gardner is a litigation partner at DLA Piper and has substantial experience in litigating some of the most consequential constitutional and administrative law cases over the past two decades. Mr. Gardner previously worked at the Department of Justice for over twenty years, where he led or participated in more than a dozen trials, many of which involve high-profile constitutional challenges to agency actions. Among the cases he has litigated, he has served as lead counsel in cases challenging the service academies’ consideration of race in their admissions process; challenges to the alleged censorship of speech on social media platforms by the White House and various federal agencies; the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census; the military’s policies concerning transgender and gay and lesbian service members; and has participated in cases challenging the attempts to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.

He also successfully served as co-lead counsel in Starr International v. United States, the $40 billion dollar challenge brought by the ex-CEO of AIG based on the federal government’s rescue of AIG during the financial crisis. In addition, Mr. Gardner previously served as the Acting Chief of Staff for DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs, where he was responsible for responding to Congressional requests for information from the January 6th Committee, as well as preparing high-level agency officials for Congressional interviews and testimony. From 2016 to 2025, Mr. Gardner worked for the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, the committee responsible for the development of Civil Procedure rules.