Director of Policy Studies & Senior Fellow, The Free State Foundation
Seth L. Cooper is Director of Policy Studies & Senior Fellow at The Free State Foundation. His work on federal communications and technology policy at the Free State Foundation began in 2009.
With Randolph May, Mr. Cooper is the co-author of Modernizing Copyright Law for the Digital Age: Constitutional Foundations for Reform (2020) and Constitutional Foundations of Intellectual Property: A Natural Rights Perspective (2015), both published by Carolina Academic Press. Along with Mr. May, Mr. Cooper also co-authored A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom (2018) and #CommActUpdate: A Communications Law Fit for the Digital Age (2017), both published by Free State Foundation Press. He previously contributed to two chapters in Communications Law and Policy in the Digital Age (2012), published by Carolina Academic Press. Mr. Cooper's work has also appeared in such publications as CommLaw Conspectus, the San Jose Mercury News, Forbes.com, the Des Moines Register, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Examiner, and the Washington Times.
Mr. Cooper previously served as Director to the Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Mr. Cooper served as judicial clerk to the Honorable James Johnson at the Washington State Supreme Court. His co-writings about the Washington Supreme Court have appeared in the Gonzaga Law Review and in Federalist Society publications. He has worked in law and policy staff positions at the Washington State Senate and at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture. Mr. Cooper is a 2009 Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute. He also has worked in private practice in the State of Washington, handling civil legal matters involving personal injuries, small business, contracts, and wills, trusts, and estates.
Mr. Cooper earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from Pacific Lutheran University and received his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law.
Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Michael Ellis was sworn in as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on February 10, 2025. Deputy Director Ellis has held a variety of senior national security positions, including General Counsel of the National Security Agency and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council.
Deputy Director Ellis previously served in the White House Counsel's Office, providing legal advice on national security and foreign relations. Prior to the White House, he was General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Before returning to government, Deputy Director Ellis was the General Counsel of Rumble, a publicly traded video sharing platform and cloud services provider.
Deputy Director Ellis is a graduate of Yale Law School and Dartmouth College. Following law school, he served as a clerk to two federal judges. He is a "Jeopardy!" champion.
Alida graduated from Duke University with a degree in history and earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Associate, Jones Day
Tara Fumerton has a broad range of experience in complex civil litigation, intellectual property law, and corporate internal investigations. Tara has litigated cases in state and federal courts involving class actions, fraud, federal and state False Claims Acts, RICO, patent litigation, and nationwide federal cases consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (so-called "MDL" cases). For several years, she has represented pharmaceutical companies in lawsuits throughout the country brought by private and government plaintiffs dealing with Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance reimbursement. With respect to intellectual property law, her experience has primarily involved patent litigation involving semiconductors and semiconductor processing technologies. She also has represented a number of individual and corporate clients in internal and criminal investigations on a diverse range of topics. She has significant experience in managing complex discovery matters; taking, defending, and preparing witnesses for depositions; working with experts; and arguing motions before the court. In addition, she has drafted countless motions of all kinds in state and federal court, including mandamus petitions before the Texas Supreme Court.
Tara is a member of the Illinois Bar Association and The Chicago Bar Association.
Senior Counsel and Director of Strategic Engagement, Alliance Defending Freedom
Jordan Lorence serves as senior counsel and director of strategic engagement with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he plays a key role with the Strategic Relations & Training Team. His work has encompassed a broad range of litigation, with a primary focus on religious liberty, free speech, student privacy, conscience rights of creative professionals, and the First Amendment freedoms of public university students and professors.
Lorence argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the precedent-setting Southworth v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System case in 1999, challenging the university’s requirement that forced unwilling students to contribute to campus activist groups. He led the challenge to New York City’s ban on private worship services after hours in vacant public school buildings in the long-running Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York case. Lorence also defended the right of conscience in Elane Photography v. Willock at the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Lorence has made media appearances on television and radio shows including Fox News, NBC’s Today Show, and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His commentary has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Times, The Hill, and National Review.
Before officially joining the organization in 2001, Lorence was a productive allied attorney for many years, actively involved in significant litigation for ADF. He has also worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women for America, and the American Center for Law and Justice. Lorence earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and received a B.A. in journalism from Stanford University. He is admitted to the bar in Minnesota, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court, and multiple federal appellate and district courts.
Senior Fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis
Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and author of Free To Choose Medicine: Better Drugs Sooner at Lower Cost
Adjunct Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Gregory Conko is an Adjunct Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Vice President of Programs at DonorsTrust. His research at CEI focuses on health care, food and drug regulation, agriculture and agricultural trade, and nutrition and public health. He also has broad expertise in science and environmental policy and in administrative and regulatory law.
Since 2021, Conko has managed the grants and grantee programs at the donor-advised fund sponsor DonorsTrust, but he continues to research and write on policy matters for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Before joining DonorsTrust, Conko was Deputy Director of the George Mason University Law & Economics Center, a Senior Fellow and later Executive Director of CEI.
Conko is the author or co-author of numerous books, studies, and articles, and Barron’s called his book, The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution, co-authored with Henry I. Miller, one of the 25 best books of 2004. His other writings have appeared in such journals as Nature Biotechnology, Transgenic Research, Health Matrix: Journal of Law & Medicine, and the Cumberland Law Review, and in such newspapers as the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today.
Conko is a member of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project Working Group on FDA & Health, a member of the American Council on Science and Health’s Board of Scientific and Policy Advisors. He received a JD degree magna cum laude from the George Mason University School of Law and a BA in political science and history from American University. He lives in Virginia with his wife and son.
Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law (Retired)
Gail Heriot is a recently retired law professor from the University of San Diego. She also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2007 to 2025. She is also the chairman of the board of the American Civil Rights Project and the chair emerita of the Civil Rights practice group at the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy.
Professor Heriot is a prolific writer in the area of civil rights. She is the author of many law review articles. She is also the editor (along with Maimon Schwarzschild) of the 2021 anthology, A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education. Her upcoming book is entitled, Why We Walk on Eggshell: How Our Civil Rights Laws Helped Bring About the Woke Era—And the Trump Era, Too.
Her writings for a general audience have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the National Review and many other newspapers and magazines.
In 1996, she co-chaired the successful “Yes on Proposition 209” campaign, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. In 2020, she co-chaired the “No on Proposition 16” campaign, which successfully prevented Proposition 209’s repeal.
February 14, 2014: ABA Midyear Meeting in Chicago
ABA President's Address, House of Delegates, Awards, and a Legal Education Update
The ABA hosted its midyear meetings in Chicago from February 5-11. We highlight some of...
Washington Supreme Court Addresses Constitutionality of Water Pollution Control Mandate
Seth L. Cooper
State Court Docket Watch Article
In Lemire v. Department of Ecology (2013),1 the Washington Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of...
Maryland Court of Appeals Limits Asbestos Liability
Michael J. Ellis
State Court Docket Watch Article
For decades, asbestos cases have wound their way through state and federal courts. The first...
New Jersey Supreme Court Strikes Down Reorganization of the Council on Affordable Housing
Alida Kass
State Court Docket Watch Article
In a highly anticipated decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected Governor Chris Christie’s attempt...
Florida Supreme Court Finds That the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel Allows Withdrawal of Public Defenders from Criminal Cases
Caroline Levine
State Court Docket Watch Article
A significant decision by the Florida Supreme Court ruled that requiring criminal defense attorneys, employed...
Illinois Supreme Court Ruling Explores Scope of Second Amendment
Tara A. Fumerton
State Court Docket Watch Article
On September 12, 2013, in People v. Aguilar, the Illinois Supreme Court held that Illinois’s...
New Mexico Supreme Court: Wedding Photographer May Not Decline Business from Same-Sex Couple’s Commitment Ceremony
Jordan Lorence
State Court Docket Watch Article
On August 22, the New Mexico Supreme Court handed down a noteworthy opinion in a...
State Court Docket Watch Winter 2013-2014
New Edition of State Court Docket Watch
In an effort to increase dialogue about state court jurisprudence, the Federalist Society presents State Court...
Free To Choose Medicine
Bartley J. Madden, Gregory Conko
Engage Volume 14, Issue 3 October 2013
Note from the Editor: This article is about the Free To Choose Medicine concept....
The Parade of Horribles Lives: Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary
Gail L. Heriot
Engage Volume 14, Issue 3 October 2013
Note from the Editor: This article is about the U.S. Supreme Court case Schuette v....