McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence; Director, James Madison Program, Princeton University
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has several times been a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He has served as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the President’s Council on Bioethics. He has also served as the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. He was a Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore, he holds the degrees of J.D. and M.T.S. from Harvard University and the degrees of D.Phil., B.C.L., D.C.L., and D.Litt. from Oxford University, in addition to twenty-one honorary doctorates. He is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal, the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland, the Canterbury Medal of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Bradley Prize, the Irving Kristol Award of the American Enterprise Institute, and Princeton University’s President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching. His books include Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality and In Defense of Natural Law (both published by Oxford University Press), as well as The Clash of Orthodoxies and Conscience and Its Enemies (both published by ISI Books).
Director of the Program in Human Rights, Catholic University of America
William L. Saunders is Chair Emeritus of the Religious Liberties Practice Group of the Federalist Society. He is also a religious liberty and human rights scholar as well as director of the Center for Human rights at The Catholic University of America. He is Law Fellow with the Institute for Human Ecology, Professor and Director of the Program in Human Rights in the School of Arts & Sciences and Co-director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Columbus School of Law. Before joining The Catholic University of America, Mr. Saunders served as Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel with Americans United for Life for ten years. From 1999 to 2009, he was Senior Fellow in Bioethics and Human Rights Counsel at the Family Research Council.
Mr. Saunders attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Morehead scholarship. He obtained his degree in law from the Harvard Law School.
Mr. Saunders was featured in Harvard’s first Guide to Conservative Public Interest Law in 2003 and again in the 2008 edition. He served on Harvard’s Advisory Committee for its 2008 celebration of public interest law. A member of the Supreme Court bar, he has authored numerous legal briefs in state, federal, foreign, and international courts.
Mr. Saunders’ book, Unborn Human Life and Fundamental Rights: Leading Constitutional Cases Under Scrutiny, was published in 2019. His articles and book chapters have been published by the university presses of Harvard, Villanova, Brigham Young, Fordham, Georgetown, Houston, Scranton, and the Catholic University of America, as well as by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Freedom House, Greenhaven Press, Rowan & Littlefield, Praeger, St. Augustine’s, and Intervarsity press. He has given lectures and participated in debates at many colleges, universities, and law schools, including Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown, and Notre Dame. He delivered the annual J. Michael Miller Lecture at the University of St. Thomas (on international law) in February 2007, the annual R. Wayne Kraft Memorial Lecture (on bioethics) at DeSales University in February 2004 and the annual James Moore Lecture (on human rights violations in Sudan) at Millikin University in 1999. He has also lectured, and/or has been published, in many foreign countries, including Italy, Germany, Poland, Austria, Spain, Greece, Slovakia, Mexico, Qatar, Malaysia, Romania, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to speaking and writing frequently on bioethics topics, Mr. Saunders has submitted testimony to the President’s Council on Bioethics, as well as to UNESCO’s Committee on Bioethics, and has briefed Congressional staff and state legislatures. He is a regular columnist for the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly.
Mr. Saunders has appeared often in the media, including BBC World News, CNN, Fox News, Vatican Radio, and National Public Radio. His articles on issues have appeared in a variety of journals, such as First Things, Human Events, Human Life Review, The Legal Times, Communio, The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy, Ethics & Medics, and Touchstone.
Mr. Saunders served on the official United States delegation to the UN Special Session on Children in 2001/02. In 2011, he was a speaker at an official briefing at the UN, addressing the topic, why euthanasia is not a human right.
In 2004, he served on the NGO Working Committee in connection with the Doha Intergovernmental Conference for the Family.
Mr. Saunders is Senior Fellow with the Religious Freedom Institute, and Affiliated Scholar with the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Ethics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He is President of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a member of the boards of the International Association of Catholic Bioethicists, the International Right to Life Federation, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.
In 1999, Mr. Saunders founded Sudan Relief and Rescue, Inc., to aid the persecuted church in Sudan. He has worked for and written on behalf of the persecuted church for many years.
John A. Sibley Professor in Corporate and Business Law, The University of Georgia School of Law
Larry D. Thompson has served on the University of Georgia School of Law’s faculty as the holder of the John A. Sibley Chair of Corporate and Business Law since 2011, noting he was on a leave of absence from June 2012 through 2014. He is presently a member of the Faculty Division of the law school's Dean Rusk International Law Center Council.
Thompson first retired from PepsiCo in May 2011. In June 2012, he rejoined the company as executive vice president, government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. His responsibilities included leading PepsiCo’s worldwide legal function, as well as its global government affairs and public policy group and its global citizenship and sustainability team. Thompson again retired from PepsiCo in December 2014.
Thompson has extensive leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. In 2001, Thompson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as deputy attorney general of the United States. As deputy attorney general, Attorney General John Ashcroft named Thompson in 2002 to lead the Department of Justice’s National Security Coordination Council. Also in 2002, President George W. Bush named Thompson to head the government-wide Corporate Fraud Task Force.
From 1982 to 1986, he served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia where he led major political corruption and drug trafficking prosecutions brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As U.S. attorney, Thompson also led the Southeastern Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Thompson has held other significant leadership positions in the public sector. In 1995, he was named independent counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Investigation. In 2000, he was selected by the U.S. Congress to chair the bi-partisan Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control.
In the private sector, in addition to his leadership roles at PepsiCo, Thompson was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding. He was the founding co-chair of the firm’s special matters and government investigations practice.
Thompson has received numerous awards for his professional achievements, including the Edmund Jennings Randolph Award for outstanding contributions to the accomplishment of the Department of Justice’s mission, the Outstanding Litigator Award from the Federal Bar Association and a Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pace University in New York. He has also been recognized by Atlanta’s Gate City Bar Association as a member of its hall of fame.
Thompson is an elected Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. In 2014, Ethisphere magazine recognized him by noting that as “the outgoing General Counsel of one of the world’s most well-recognized corporations [Thompson] has set the bar high for GC’s everywhere. [His] background in both public and private sectors earned him the trust and respect of his peers worldwide as he demonstrated how ethics and integrity are essential components of business success.”
In 2004, Thompson served as a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Thompson speaks and writes frequently on a number of legal topics. His recent publications include:
● “The Responsible Corporation: Its Historical Roots and Continuing Promise" in 29 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 199 (2015).
● “In-sourcing Corporate Responsibility for Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" in 51 American Criminal Law Review 199 (2014).
● “Keynote Speech: The Reality of Overcriminalization” in 7 George Mason University Journal of Law, Economics and Policy 577 (2011).
Thompson holds a B.A. from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, a M.A. from Michigan State University and a law degree from the University of Michigan.
Retired
Tom Gede retired in 2023 as a principal in Morgan Lewis Consulting LLC and of counsel to the firm. He currently consults on a variety of legal and policy matters for both public and private clients. Tom has a national reputation and distinguished background in federal Indian law. Prior to retirement, he represented clients in complex governmental matters in litigation, administrative and regulatory proceedings, including high-profile matters involving state governments. A former senior deputy in the California Attorney General’s office, Tom was amicus coordinator and Supreme Court counsel, and argued cases in the US Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and numerous state and federal appellate courts.
Tom also served as executive director of the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG), coordinating activities on key legal and policy issues, such as federal Indian law, energy, environmental, public lands, financial services, and telecommunications, for the attorneys general of 18 western states and territories. In 2016, Tom was elected as a Member of the American Law Institute (ALI), and served as an Adviser on the Restatement of the Law Third - The Law of American Indians. Tom also taught federal Indian law as an adjunct law professor at the University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law. He served as an assistant editor for and the author of the Indian gaming chapter in CWAG’s American Indian Law Deskbook (2d & 3d eds.). He has been engaged in Indian gaming and Indian law matters for more than three decades, having focused on the gaming compacts with Indian tribes, as well as complex civil and criminal jurisdiction, land, natural resources, water and law enforcement issues in Indian country. He has testified before Congress on American Indian and Native Alaskan issues. In 2012 he was appointed by Speaker John Boehner to serve on the United States Indian Law and Order Commission, where he examined criminal justice issues in Indian country and Alaska, resulting in the issuance of an important report to the President and Congress.
Adjunct Professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Professor of Criminal Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law, The University of Utah College of Law
Paul G. Cassell is an internationally recognized legal scholar on criminal and civil justice, crime victims' rights, constitutional law, evidence, judicial process, and other legal issues. Cassell received a B.A. (1981) and a J.D. (1984) from Stanford University, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was President of the Stanford Law Review. He clerked for then-Judge Antonin Scalia when Scalia was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1984-85) and for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court (1985-86). Cassell then served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General with the U.S. Justice Department (1986-88) and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1988 to 1991). Cassell joined the faculty at the College of Law in 1992, where he taught full-time until he was sworn in as a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Utah in July 2002. In November 2007, he resigned his judgeship to return full-time to the College of Law to teach, write, and litigate concerning issues relating to crime victims' rights and criminal and civil justice reform. Professor Cassell has also published numerous law review articles in journals such as the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. He is a co-author of the nation's only law school textbook on crime victims' rights, Victims in Criminal Procedure (various editions, most recently in its fifth edition published in 2025). Professor Cassell has argued pro bono cases relating to criminal procedure and crime victims' rights before the United States Supreme Court, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and D.C. Circuits (including the 5th and 11th Circuits en banc), several U.S. District Courts, the Utah Supreme Court, and the Arizona Supreme Court. In 2020, Cassell received the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award - National Crime Victims' Service Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. Cassell is a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and an inaugural member of the Council on Criminal Justice. He is also an occasional blogger at The Volokh Conspiracy.
Former United States Senator, Utah
Over nearly four decades of public service, Senator Orrin Hatch established himself as a leading conservative voice in the United States Senate. As the upper chamber’s most senior Republican, he served as President Pro Tempore and as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In this capacity, he fought to create jobs and strengthen the economy by repealing and replacing Obamacare, reforming the tax code, and opening up overseas markets to American exports.
As a long-time member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch also fought to check judicial activism and protect our liberties. He was instrumental in confirming conservative judges to the federal bench and played an indispensable role in confirming Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito as well as scores of district and circuit court judges.
One of Senator Hatch’s particularly noteworthy achievements on the Judiciary Committee is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993—a bill he co-authored with the late Senator Ted Kennedy. This landmark legislation prohibits substantial government burdens on the free exercise of religion, allowing all Americans to live, work, and worship in accordance with their beliefs.
In addition to protecting our individual liberties, Senator Hatch was on the front lines of legislative battles to protect our free-market economy and system of limited government under the Constitution. His reputation as a statesman and his record of fiscal responsibility earned him the nickname “Mr. Balanced Budget” from President Reagan.
By virtually all measures, Senator Hatch was among the most effective and consequential legislators in history. Since he first came to Congress in 1977, no legislator alive today has authored more bills that have become law than Senator Hatch.
Of all Senator Hatch’s achievements, he is proudest of his family, and he credits the love of his wife and children as the key to his success. He and Elaine have been married for more than fifty years. Together, they are the parents of six children, twenty-three grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.
How Honest is the Debate Over the California Civil Rights Initiative?
Tom Wood
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
The hottest battle in the race/sex-based affirmative action wars is the proposed California Civil Rights...
Romer v. Evans: The Supreme Court's Assault on Popular Sovereignty
Robert P. George, William L. Saunders
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
Four years ago, the voters of Colorado enacted by referendum a state constitutional amendment (known...
The Supreme Court Closes in on Racial Gerrymandering but Questions Remain
Joseph E. Broadus
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
A closely divided U.S. Supreme Court has extended the emerging pattern of condemnation of race-based...
Interracial Adoption: The Institute for Justice Takes the Fight for Colorblind Law to Texas
Donna G. Matias
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
During the spring of 1995, the Institute for Justice filed a class action lawsuit in...
Brian W. Jones reviews Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson by Marshall Frady
Brian W. Jones
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
It begs no great imagination to say that race today remains the fundamental dilemma confronting...
Department of Education Chafes under Court Restrictions on Racial Preferences
Michael F. Williams
Civil Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
A top official of the Clinton Administration's Department of Education recently sent an open letter...
Supreme Court Rules That Civil Forfeiture is not Punishment for Double Jeopardy Purposes
Larry D. Thompson
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
In United States v. Ursery, 116 S.Ct. 2135 (1996), the United States Supreme Court held...
Major Habeas Reform Package Becomes Law
Thomas F. Gede
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
New deference standard requires federal courts to respect state court legal and constitutional rulings; Act...
A Bill of Rights for Crime Victims
Steven J. Twist, Paul G. Cassell
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
While our Bill of Rights enumerates extensive rights for criminal defendants, it contains not a...
Legislative Initiatives
Orrin Hatch
Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 1996
Despite the constitutional requirement for the protection of property rights, the America of the late...