LETTER: PDE Action Endorses Reed Rubinstein for Legal Advisor, U.S. Department of State

The Honorable John Thune
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

May 2, 2025

Dear Majority Leader Thune,

As the executive director of PDE Action – a nonprofit social welfare organization created to
advocate for parental rights at the local, state, and federal level – I wish to convey our
organization’s support for Reed Rubinstein as Legal Advisor at the U.S. Department of State
under President Donald J. Trump.

Over the course of his career, Reed has served as deputy associate Attorney General,
acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, and senior advisor to the
Secretary of the Treasury – and accordingly, his understanding of the complexities in the
federal bureaucracy is second to none. We have the utmost confidence that the experience
and wisdom Reed will bring to Foggy Bottom will benefit both the country and the
international community enormously.

Our organization had the pleasure of working with Reed in his capacity as senior vice
president at America First Legal; over the past four years, America First Legal’s strategic
litigation was as a critical bulwark to defend the civil rights of individuals facing
discrimination at the hands of local, state, and federal officials, underscoring Reed’s
absolute commitment to the rule of law.

While at the Department of Education, Reed’s diligence in ensuring equal protection of all
students before the law was truly commendable; his work in strengthening and bolstering
Title IX protections through Secretary DeVos’ rulemaking and subsequent guidance was
essential in defending the dignity and safety of women and girls, a standard which has only
been restored in recent months.

Unfortunately, foreign involvement in America’s education system has been – and remains
– a problem in primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools; our sister organization,
Defending Education, has covered this issue extensively¹ and anticipates additional
engagement on this topic over the next several years. Reed’s signature accomplishment at
the Department was creating a functioning Section 117 foreign money reporting
enforcement program where none had existed. Section 117 had been on the books since
1986, but until Reed arrived, the Department had never enforced the law or investigated a
single noncomplying institution. In approximately 18 months, he opened nineteen separate
investigations of institutions such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell, and Stanford, uncovering
over $20 billion in previously undisclosed funds from Qatar, the Chinese Communist Party,
and other malign actors. He is well-equipped to address not only this issue but the many
other elements in President Trump’s America First foreign policy agenda.

At PDE Action, we are proud to endorse Reed Rubinstein for legal advisor of U.S.
Department of State and urge you and your colleagues to move quickly to officially confirm
his position.

Sincerely,
Nicole Neily
Executive Director
Parents Defending Education Action

1 “Little Red Classrooms,” Defending Education (July 26, 2023) https://defendinged.org/investigations/little-red-classrooms-china-infiltration-of-american-k-12-schools/