GovAct’s founder page says Julia Spiegel “left government service in 2024 to launch GovAct — creating a central platform for cross-state coordination.” The Ninth Circuit ALR biography, updated August 25, 2026, calls her founder and CEO of GovAct, “a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that supports governors in championing fundamental freedoms.” CalBar lists the employer as GovAct. Those are her shop’s and the court’s words for the title.
The New York Times, November 13, 2024 — “Democratic Governors Form a Group to Oppose the Trump Administration” — identified her as “a former top legal adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California who will serve as the group’s top staff member.” The Times wrote that Pritzker, Polis, and Spiegel “did not say how many governors had agreed to join” and spoke of coordinating resources “against encroachment from what they expect to be a hostile federal government.” The Times said the group was modeled on the Reproductive Freedom Alliance she helped Newsom form after Dobbs. The Seattle Times’ resistance roundup quoted her on that model. Daily Signal later reported Governors Safeguarding Democracy launched November 13, after the election, with Pritzker and Polis as co-chairs, under the Governors Action Alliance. GovAct calls itself nonpartisan. The Times headline said Democratic governors. Both are in the record. A newspaper interview is not a crime.