Executive Director & Secretary, American Civil Rights Project
Dan Morenoff is the executive director at the American Civil Rights Project and an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
His work focuses on protecting and, where necessary, restoring the primacy of all Americans' shared civil rights against the identitarian alternative.
Before practicing law, Morenoff served on the legislative staff of Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Morenoff holds a B.A. from Columbia College of Columbia University in the City of New York and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He has also served as an officer or director of several community organizations in Dallas, Texas.
Partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Brian J. Paul is an appellate lawyer and leads law teams in high-stakes commercial litigation. He has briefed and argued everything from weighty abstract constitutional issues to dollars-and-cents business issues and everything in-between, both on appeal and in trial courts around the country. A member of the American Law Institute, recent past-president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and top-tier ranked Chambers appellate lawyer, Brian had one client say about him: “Brian is one of the most respected and skilled appellate lawyers, not only in Indianapolis but across the country. He is trusted to deliver timely guidance on complex issues.” Another said: “He is excellent. I enjoyed working with him. He is able to put things into layman’s terms and explains things really well. His written and oral advocacy are short, crisp and to the point.”
Clients hire Brian to digest the complex, and make the complex simple and compelling for busy, generalist judges. In his writing, he strives to cut through jargon and legalese, and distill things down to what’s important. In his oral advocacy, by intense preparation, he strives to be the advocate whom judges trust for the right answers. In the dozens of cases he has argued, Brian has helped clients win on both sides of the “v.” His recent representations include:
Associate, Faegre Drinker
Melinda Hudson represents clients in a broad range of litigation, dispute resolution and regulatory matters. For state and federal trial and appellate courts, she has drafted motions and briefs on threshold issues of justiciability, the merits of federal and state constitutional and statutory claims, and other legal issues. Melinda’s experience also includes taking depositions of plaintiffs and other witnesses, working with expert witnesses, and presenting oral argument to state and federal courts of appeals.
Before joining Faegre Drinker, Melinda served as a deputy attorney general in the Solicitor General Division in the Office of the Indiana Attorney General. She represented the State of Indiana and its officers and agencies in courts including the Indiana Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. She drafted critical motions, appellate briefs, and amici curiae briefs led by Indiana and joined by dozens of other states. Melinda also argued as lead counsel in appellate cases before the Seventh Circuit and Indiana Court of Appeals, and prepared the solicitor general of Indiana for oral arguments in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Former President & CEO, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Eugene B. Meyer, former President and CEO of the Federalist Society, has served as Executive Director, CEO, and/or President of the organization for more than 40 years. He is responsible for shepherding the organization from a small group of law students to a community of 90,000 lawyers, law students, academics, judges, and others interested in the rule of law. The Society now includes a Student Chapter at nearly every ABA-accredited law school in the country and Lawyers Chapters in 220 major cities across the nation. Gene earned his B.A. in history at Yale in 1975 and his M.A. in political science from the London School of Economics in 1976. Gene currently serves on the boards of the U.S. Chess Center, the Holman Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the advisory board of the Adam Smith Society. He holds the title of International Chess Master.
Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow, University of North Dakota School of Law
Michael S. McGinniss is Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2010 and served as the Dean from 2019 to 2022. He chairs the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Practice Group on Professional Responsibility and Legal Education.
Before entering the legal academy, Professor McGinniss served for twelve years as a Disciplinary Counsel for the Supreme Court of Delaware. He currently teaches courses on Professional Responsibility, Advanced Legal Ethics, Civil Procedure, and Federal Courts. He also serves as Faculty Advisor for the North Dakota Law Review and the UND Law Federalist Society student chapter.
Professor McGinniss’ research and scholarship interests are wide-ranging and include lawyer and judicial ethics, lawyer discipline and regulation of the profession, constitutional law (especially First Amendment, separation of powers, and federalism), and cultural challenges faced by conservatives in the law schools and the legal profession. His most recent law review article, Declaring Independence to Secure Integrity: The Supreme Court Justices' Code of Conduct, was published in the Federalist Society Review. His article Expressing Conscience with Candor: Saint Thomas More and First Freedoms in the Legal Profession, was published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Professor McGinniss has spoken to Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country about judicial independence and ethics, especially relating to the federal courts and the United States Supreme Court Justices. In addition, he has spoken to several chapters about rising challenges to ideological diversity and targeting of conservative viewpoints in law schools and the legal profession. Although he is very pleased to speak on these and many other topics that may be of interest to lawyer and student chapters, in 2026-2027, he has particular interest in speaking on the topic “Lawyer Discipline as Political ‘Resistance’: Separation of Powers, Federalism, and the Rule of Law,” concerning his work-in-progress on the weaponization of professional disciplinary processes against conservative lawyers for political and ideological purposes.
Eric Criss is an independent scholar who recently published The Boss of New Orleans: Martin Behrman and Machine Politics in the Crescent City with the LSU Press. He taught advanced public policy at Florida State University, where he earned his PhD in history. Eric earned his MA in Government at John's Hopkins University and BA in Political Science at the University of Florida. Eric began his career with U.S. Senators Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Phil Gramm of Texas at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington, D.C. He later served as staff member or consultant to Fortune 500 corporations, political parties, and presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial campaigns.
Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals
Jeff Gurley currently serves as a Law Clerk to Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Prior to this role, he clerked for Judge Sean D. Jordan on the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Jeff received his J.D. from Michigan Law School. While in law school, he served as chapter president of the Federalist Society, research assistant to Professor Christopher J. Walker, and a judicial intern for Judge Joan L. Larsen on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned his B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied political science and was an all-conference linebacker on the football team.
Senior Legal Fellow, The Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Amy Swearer is a leading national expert on a wide range of public policy, legal, and constitutional issues, including the Second Amendment, criminal justice, and mental health policy. She has long been a respected conservative voice on gun policy and is routinely asked to testify before state and federal legislative bodies. Her work on birthright citizenship, meanwhile, has been featured extensively in litigation over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Swearer was formerly a Senior Legal Fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. At Heritage, she ran the Defensive Gun Use Database and was the primary author of the e-book “The Essential Second Amendment.” She was also a driving force behind the organization’s School Safety Initiative.
She was the 2022 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Joseph Shattan Award for “writing that presents conservative ideas in a powerful and compelling fashion to policymakers and the American people.” She was also named the Second Amendment Institute’s 2022 Gun Rights Champion.
Swearer received her law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was a member of the Nebraska Law Review. She holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar and a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team
Professor of History, Georgia Southern University
Johnathan O'Neill is Professor of History at Georgia Southern University. Professor O’Neill is the author of Originalism in American Law and Politics: A Constitutional History (2005) and Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism Since the New Deal (2023).
Legal Fellow, Center for the Separation of Powers, Pacific Legal Foundation
Alison Somin joined Pacific Legal Foundation in May 2020 as a legal fellow in the Center for the Separation of Powers and part of the equality before the law practice group.
Before joining the Pacific Legal Foundation team, Alison was a special assistant and counsel for over a decade to Gail Heriot, a member of the bipartisan United States Commission on Civil Rights. She also has deep roots in the liberty movement. Alison was a Koch Associate at the National Federation for Independent Business Legal Foundation and, during law school, completed summer clerkships at the Institute for Justice and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. She holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law and an A.B. in history from Dartmouth College.
Her work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Daily Journal, Texas Journal of Law and Politics, and The Federalist Society’s Engage magazine and blog.
She lives in northern Virginia with her husband Ilya; two children; and golden retriever Willow. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking and cooking, children’s art projects, and training and exercising Willow.
Racially Discriminatory Corporate Policies: Who's Liable?
Dan Morenoff
Federalist Society Review, Volume 25
Laws banning discrimination have been on the books across America for more than a century...
Indiana Supreme Court Upholds Law Restricting Which Candidates Can Appear on Primary Ballots
Brian J. Paul, Melinda Hudson
Indiana requires candidates on a primary election ballot to demonstrate party affiliation by either (1)...
Originalism, Ballot Initiatives, and Abortion in Florida
Zack Smith
With its June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the U.S. Supreme Court...
Annual Report 2023
Eugene B. Meyer
This Annual Report is a celebration of the tireless work and generous contributions of our...
Declaring Independence to Secure Integrity: The Supreme Court Justices' Code of Conduct
Michael S. McGinniss
Federalist Society Review, Volume 25
[T]he judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power; that it...
Integrity or Interference?: Evaluating the Constitutionality of Georgia's Election Integrity Act
Eric Criss
Federalist Society Review, Volume 25
Recent political earthquakes such as the assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump and President...
Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Standard for Awarding Noneconomic Damages
Jeff Gurley
The case of Gregory v. Chohan arose out of a tragic highway accident that...
Hawaii Supreme Court Rejects Bruen as Inconsistent With “Aloha Spirit”
Amy E. Swearer
In a recent opinion, the Supreme Court of Hawaii held that the Hawaii state constitution...
A Response to the Constitution's Critics
Johnathan O'Neill
Federalist Society Review, Volume 25
A review of Dennis Hale and Marc Landy, Keeping the Republic: A Defense of American...
Washington Supreme Court Expands Batson Test, Establishes Rule Regarding Peremptory Strikes
Alison E. Somin
In Matter of Rhone, the Washington Supreme Court addressed a narrow issue about racial bias...