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.
Minnesota Public Radio - Marketplace When any big industry says it's time to reregulate, that means one thing: Let's deregulate. That's the…
Mar 31, 2004When any big industry says it's time to reregulate, that means one thing: Let's deregulate. That's the game the insurance industry is…
Mar 31, 2004Minnesota Public Radio - Marketplace Refiners are cheating, not competing. Instead of competing to create more supply, they work together to restrict…
Mar 17, 2004Refiners are cheating, not competing. Instead of competing to create more supply, they work together to restrict supply and profit wildly.
Mar 17, 2004State Leaders Should Block Shutdown of Bakersfield Refinery The recent 20-cent-per-gallon increase in California - compared with just a 5-cent increase nationally…
Mar 11, 2004Schwarzenegger isn't in politics at all; he's in business. And tonight, Schwarzenegger will be selling California to New York.
Feb 25, 2004Marketplace - Minnesota Public Radio Schwarzenegger isn't in politics at all; he's in business. And tonight, Schwarzenegger will be selling California to…
Feb 24, 2004MARKETPLACE (6:30 PM ET)- Minnesota Public Radio So France, here is your chance. Challenge the coming US law that says American states…
Nov 24, 2003An author and consumer advocate warned that new GOP-backed health care and energy legislation on capitol hill would exacerbate the failures of…
Nov 17, 2003The FTC has acknowledged that the epidemic of identity theft claimed almost 10 million victims last year. But on the same day…
Oct 28, 2003Says consumers need to 'fight back'Orange County Register (California) In a Sept. 17 address to a People for a National Health Program,…
Oct 9, 2003Consumer advocate and author Jamie Court called on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment that clarifies that corporations do not have First…
Oct 1, 2003Consumer advocate Jamie Court today called upon Congress to pass a resolution acknowledging that the constitution does not grant corporations free speech…
Sep 26, 2003Minnesota Public Radio - Marketplace (6:30PM ET) Remember when HMOs threw moms out of hospitals eight hours after giving birth? We counterbranded…
Sep 25, 2003Author and consumer advocate Jamie Court hailed the Congressional restoration of the telemarketing "do not call" list as a harbinger of the…
Sep 25, 2003Consumer Advocate Buys Governor Romney's Social Security Number on the Internet for $30 to Show Privacy Lacking A national consumer organization and…
Sep 25, 2003The voting hoi polloi rule the hoity-toidy politicians. Here are some rules to put the Legislature on alert. Courts have strictly limited…
Sep 24, 2003