Partner, Lewis Brisbois
Sarah E. Lang is a partner in the New York office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Appellate Practice. Ms. Lang has represented clients at all levels of state and federal courts, including the New York State Appellate Division, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. The primary focus of her practice is drafting and arguing substantive motions and appeals before the federal courts and New York’s trial and appellate courts in substantive areas including general liability, New York Labor Law, medical malpractice, premises liability, and rideshare and transportation matters, among others. She also has extensive experience representing clients, including religious institutions, in matters arising under Title VII, the First Amendment, RLUIPA, New York’s City and State Human Rights Laws, New York’s Religious Corporations Law, and New York’s Real Property Tax Law. This includes federal jury trial experience and providing preventive advice and counseling. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Lang clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, as well as the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. She also previously served as an Attorney Advisor for the United States Department of Education.
Amicus Attorney, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Abby joined FIRE after her tenure at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she litigated First Amendment student group cases from coast to coast. She also worked at a trial litigation boutique in southern California. Abby has filed briefs on the First Amendment in state and federal court at the trial and appellate court levels, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby received her B.S. in economics and her B.A. in Chinese language and literature from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated summa cum laude. During college, she also spent a year at Tsinghua University as a Boren Fellow. She later received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she won the 2018 Hinton Moot Court Competition. After law school, Abby clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Brennan on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is admitted to practice in New York and California, as well as several federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby lives outside Dallas, Texas, with her husband and family. They enjoy reading together, volunteering with their local church, and continuing to fix their leaky pool.
General Counsel, Pelican Institute
Sarah Harbison joined the Pelican Institute as General Counsel in January 2020. At the Pelican Institute, Sarah serves in the vital role of defending Louisianians’ First Amendment rights, as well as their right to earn a living. Prior to joining the Pelican Institute, Sarah’s civil defense practice focused on products liability litigation. Because politics is her first love, Sarah left full-time law practice in December 2015 to advise political candidates full time, including candidates for U.S. Senate, treasurer, secretary of state, and governor. A Lafayette, Louisiana native, Sarah is a summa cum laude graduate of Loyola University and Loyola Law School, where she served as a member of the Moot Court staff. She and her husband, Medlock, live in the Garden District in New Orleans with their cats, Beau and Jack. Sarah and Medlock enjoy hiking in our country’s national parks, exploring Civil War battlefields, and renovating their 100-year-old home.
Attorney, Center for American Future
Christian Townsend is an attorney with the Center for the American Future. Prior to joining the Foundation, Christian was a legal associate with the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
During law school, Christian interned in Washington, DC at the New Civil Liberties Alliance and the Cato Institute and in Cambodia at the law offices of Tilleke & Gibbins.
Christian received his JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he was the President of IU’s chapter of the Federalist Society and Executive Online Editor of the Indiana Law Journal. Christian attended undergrad at Cedarville University where he received BAs in political science and history. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and Maryland.
Attorney, Institute for Justice
John Wrench is a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Institute for Justice.
John grew up outside of Ithaca, New York, and received his law degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2019. During law school, he served as editor in chief of the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law and was a member of the Federalist Society. John interned in his law school’s First Amendment Litigation Clinic and was a judicial extern to the Honorable Paul E. Davison in the Southern District of New York. John graduated from Pace University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Assistant Solicitor General, Office of the Texas Attorney General
Charles Yates is an attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation’s environmental practice group, where he litigates to defend private property rights and uphold the structural protections guaranteed by the Constitution’s separation of powers.
His inspiration to focus on environmental law comes from the special case of government overreach it presents, where individual rights too often give way to collectivist notions and where misguided government policies create a cure worse than the disease. Charles has a particularly strong belief in the important role that the productive use of natural resources plays for human flourishing. To these ends, his practice at PLF focuses primarily on the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and related regulatory issues.
Charles credits his strong belief in the principles of individual liberty and limited, constitutional government to his family. His personal philosophy developed further while studying the works of Adam Smith, John Locke, James Madison, and other classical liberals. Born and raised in Australia, Charles has always admired the U.S. Constitution as the purest and most enduring application of the ideals of individual liberty and limited government. It was these influences that impressed upon him the desire to pursue a career in public interest litigation.
After obtaining a B.A. in political science and international relations from the University of Western Australia, Charles moved to the U.S., where he earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law. During law school, he served as president of his school’s chapter of The Federalist Society and was an editor of the University of Baltimore Law Review. Other highlights from his law school days include an internship at the Cato Institute and a clerkship at the Institute for Justice.
Charles lives in Sacramento with his wife Maxine. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and playing the bass guitar.
Fellow, Georgetown University Center for the Constitution
Yonatan Green is a Fellow at the Georgetown University Center for the Constitution. He is co-founder and former Executive Director of the Jerusalem-based Israel Law & Liberty Forum, a project of the Tikvah Fund. He holds a degree in Law and Communications from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a licensed attorney in Israel and New York.
Associate Professor of Government, Van Andel Graduate School of Government, Hillsdale College in Washington, DC
Bradley C.S. Watson is Associate Professor of Government at the Van Andel Graduate School of Government of Hillsdale College in Washington, DC. Professor Watson’s books include Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea (Notre Dame, 2022/2020), Progressive Challenges to the American Constitution: A New Republic (Cambridge, 2020/2017), and Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (ISI, 2020/2009).
Groff v. DeJoy: The Death of the “De Minimis” Test Breathes Life Back into Religious Accommodation
Sarah E. Lang
Federalist Society Review, Volume 24
In a unanimous decision last June, the Supreme Court in Groff v. DeJoy heightened the...
The Federalist Paper, Fall 2023
Preparations for the National Lawyers Convention are in full swing at the FedSoc headquarters! We...
Iowa Supreme Court Leaves in Place Injunction of Fetal Heartbeat Law, New One Passed Weeks Later
Abigail Smith
In Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc. v. Reynolds (Planned Parenthood IV), the Supreme Court...
After Ramos, the Louisiana Supreme Court Addresses Whether Certain Defendants Are Entitled to a New Trial
Sarah R. Harbison
The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari in State v. Vaughn to address a question left...
Texas Supreme Court Tackles Attorney-Client Privilege and the Texas Public Information Act
Christian Townsend
One of the bedrock principles of our legal system is confidentiality between attorneys and their...
Maine Supreme Court Endorses Flexible Balancing Test for Analyzing Speedy Trial Claims Under the Maine Constitution
John Wrench
In Winchester v. State, the Maine Supreme Court considered whether criminal cases that took between...
Janus Does Not Require Opt-Ins for Paycheck Deductions of Already Unionized Public Employees in Alaska
Daniel Ortner
In June 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Janus v. American...
In re Hawai'i Electric Light Company: Legislative Purpose, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and the Public Interest
Charles Yates
Article XI, section 9 of the Constitution of Hawai'i establishes “a right to a clean...
The Peculiar Case of the Israeli Legal System
Yonatan Green
Federalist Society Review, Volume 24
The Israeli legal system often draws a great deal of confused and excited attention from...
What Is Conservative Constitutionalism? A Fractured History Reveals an Uncertain Path Forward
Bradley C. S. Watson
Federalist Society Review, Volume 24
A review of Johnathan O’Neill, Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism Since the New Deal (Johns Hopkins...