Consumer Watchdog’s President and Chairman of the Board is an award-winning and nationally recognized consumer advocate. Capitol Weekly, naming Jamie to its “Top 100” list of unelected movers and shakers in California politics, wrote, “Court has made a career of battling all comers in the interest of the public, and his take-no-prisoners approach has earned him plenty of enemies.” Jamie’s latest book is The Progressive’s Guide To Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws And Get The Change You Voted For (Chelsea Green, 2010).
“Americans angry about the state of their government might find in Court’s persuasive manifesto a cause for action,” Publishers Weekly writes. “With great accessibility and a fired-up attitude, Court brings his lessons in empowerment to the people.” He is also the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Freedom And What You Can Do About It (Tarcher Putnam, 2003) and co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat To Your Health (Common Courage Press, 1999). Jamie has led dozens of major corporate and political campaigns to reform insurers, banks, technology companies, oil companies, utilities and political practices. He helped to pioneer the HMO patients’ rights movement in the United States, sponsoring successful laws in California and aiding them elsewhere, and was an early champion of many of the most important consumer protections in the federal Affordable Care Act years before they were enacted. In recent years, he has led the campaign to hold California oil refiners accountable for price gouging at the pump which resulted in the toughest oil refinery regulation in America.
A frequent media commentator and op-ed contributor, Jamie is a high-profile and stalwart defender of consumers’ rights. The Los Angeles Times calls him “a tireless consumer advocate.” The Wall Street Journal writes, “He’s notorious for his dramatic, sharp-tongued attacks on the health- and auto-insurance industries, and on any politician who takes their campaign cash.” His public interest career began as an advocate for the homeless and as a community organizer. Jamie’s Alma mater is Pomona College, where he graduated with a BA in History in 1989.
Getting people to turn out this November is key to defeating high dollar initiatives San Francisco Chronicle Nurses, firefighters, cops, teachers and…
Oct 30, 2005Marketplace Radio Program (NPR/American Public Media) Jamie Court (FTCR): Refineries make the residential heating oil that warms your home. Part of the…
Oct 11, 2005KPCC 89.3FM (Pasadena, CA) So what can we do? As a start, why not give all Californians access to the same policies…
Sep 26, 2005Garamendi never enforced an initiative ending ZIP Codes as a criteria in setting auto insurance rates. Maybe ambition got in the way.Los…
Aug 19, 2005The Rolling Stones kick off their 25-city North American tour in Boston's Fenway Park this Sunday. Even California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is…
Aug 19, 2005KPCC 89.3FM (Pasadena, CA) For four years, politicians from Pasadena and Santa Monica fought the Taxpayer Protection Act in court. They lost…
Aug 5, 2005Los Angeles Times In a better world, next week's Senate confirmation hearings on the nomination of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to…
Jul 25, 2005KPCC 89.3 FM (Pasadena, CA) The way to move on is for the institute to voluntarily submit to the same democratic rules…
Jul 11, 2005Los Angeles Times Shock, rant and personality-driven theatrics are all desirable online because they make people interact. The same elements can be…
Jul 10, 2005The real answer to skyrocketing insurance premiums, which are striking across all lines of insurance, is to regulate the insurers' pricing and…
Jul 1, 2005Marketplace Radio Program (NPR) After years of running insurance giant AIG, Maurice Greenberg has tendered his resignation from the board. Greenberg and…
Jun 10, 2005Too little, too late, consumer advocate saysThe Bakersfield Californian "It's kind of like getting a pardon after the execution," said Court, president…
May 28, 2005Refineries clean up, by restricting supplyPress Enterprise (Riverside, CA) The recent jump at the pump is not being caused by a shortage…
May 15, 2005KPCC 89.3FM Pasadena, CA If the City Council does the right thing, Los Angeles will be on its way to becoming the…
May 5, 2005KPCC 89.3FM (Pasadena, CA) If the City Council does the right thing, Los Angeles will be on its way to becoming the…
May 4, 2005Marketplace Radio Program (NPR) Coming soon to the Senate floor, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005. Consumer advocate and commentator Jamie…
Apr 29, 2005Marketplace - Minnesota Public Radio Coming soon to the Senate floor, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005. Consumer advocate and commentator…
Apr 28, 2005