Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
Co-Chair, Republican National Lawyers Association
Jennifer Bukowsky is a syndicated talk radio host, Co-Chair of the Republican National Lawyers Association, and Vice-Chair of the Missouri Republican Party.
An accomplished criminal defense attorney, Jennifer has handled more than 1,400 cases ranging from trespass to first-degree murder. She clerked for Missouri Supreme Court Judge Mary R. Russell, served as an Assistant Public Defender, and later built her own firm before launching Show-Me Defenders in 2021.
Her contributions have been widely recognized with awards including the David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award, the President’s Service Award from the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Distinguished Recent Alumni Award from the University of Missouri School of Law, and “20 Under 40” honors from the Columbia Business Times. She has helped shape Missouri law as a member of committees that revised the Criminal Code and drafted the state’s expungement bill—both now enacted.
A leader in conservative legal circles, Jennifer serves on the Missouri Supreme Court’s Task Force on Criminal Justice and the Show-Me Institute Board, previously taught the Innocence Clinic at Mizzou, and has deployed multiple times as an election attorney for the Republican National Lawyers Association.
A University of Missouri School of Law graduate with highest honors and Order of the Coif membership, she also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accountancy and is a licensed CPA. She lives in Columbia, Missouri, with her husband and two sons.
Prosecuting Attorney, Christian County, Missouri
On January 1, 2011, Amy Fite began her first term as the Prosecuting Attorney for Christian County. During her tenure the office has transitioned to a “fileless office”, a “no refusal” policy has been established to allow law enforcement to seek search warrants in cases involving impaired drivers, the office has been structured into teams for better efficiency and accountability. She has implemented a best practice of vertical prosecution – meaning the same prosecutor handles the case from case review through disposition.
After graduating cum laude from St. Louis University School of Law in 1997, Fite began as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Christian County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. While there she served as the narcotics attorney. Upon leaving Christian County, Fite spent over eight years at the Circuit Attorney’s Office for the City of St. Louis. At the Circuit Attorney’s Office, Fite served in the Drug Court, Domestic Violence Unit, General Felony Trial Staff, Gang Unit, and the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit. She spent more than two years as the Trial Trainer, where she trained incoming Assistant Circuit Attorneys how to prepare and try jury trials. While at the Circuit Attorney’s Office, Fite participated in well over 100 jury trials, including successfully convicting murderers, robbers, rapists and child sex offenders. In 2008, Fite joined in the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office serving as a 1st Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the General Crimes Unit. January 1, 2011, she began her first term as Christian County Prosecuting Attorney.
Fite serves on the board of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (MAPA). In 2018, she concluded a two-year term as president for MAPA. She previously served as the president-elect and secretary of MAPA, and as the chair of the Victim Services Sub-committee of MAPA’s Best Practices Committee. She currently serves as a co-chair on the Missouri Supreme Court’s Task Force on Criminal Justice.
Fite was honored as the Prosecutor of the Year in 2018 by the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. In 2015, the Missouri Victim Assistance Network honored her with the James P. Damos Award in recognition of her willingness to go above and beyond her designated duties in order to affect a positive change for victims. In 2014, she was honored as the Family and Sexual Violence Hero of the Year by MAPA. That same year, she was named, one of Springfield Business Journal’s Twenty Most Influential Women. In 2006, Fite was named by the Missouri Lawyers Weekly as one of Missouri’s “Up and Coming Lawyers”. Fite’s trial skills were recognized while at the Circuit Attorney’s Office by receiving the Trial Star Award three consecutive years and being a recipient of the Justice Award.
As the elected Prosecutor, Fite serves with 18 other members of the office whose mission is to seek and serve justice. She continues to carry a caseload that includes murders and sexually related crimes.
Fite has presented at national and statewide conferences. In 2016 she co-presented at the Gundersen VIP Summit/When Words Matter conference on the benefits of conducting forensic interviews of children beyond the age of the hearsay exception. She is a member of the “ChildFirst” faculty whose responsibility is training professionals from multiple disciplines who work with child victims or witnesses of child abuse, neglect or other violent crimes. She served several years training new prosecutor from across the state as part of the faculty for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services Trial Advocacy School. She has also served as faculty on “How to Prosecute the Child Sex Offender”. She was also a member of the original faculty who created the curriculum. She has presented on various topics at the statewide Prosecutors’ Conference. She has regularly presented at various citizen academies hosted by local law enforcement agencies.
Partner, Wyrsch, Hobbs & Mirakian, PC
Mr. Hobbs has extensive experience in both civil and criminal cases with particular emphasis in white collar criminal defense work. He has tried cases in areas such as criminal enforcement of environmental laws, defense of health care prosecutions, representation of individuals and corporations charged with business crimes, and defense of political corruption prosecutions. Mr. Hobbs has also represented individuals charged with violent offenses and sexual assault cases. His practice also involves grand jury representation and pretrial representation of individuals and corporations under investigation for criminal conduct. Mr. Hobbs is the recipient of numerous awards, and he has served on many boards of organizations advocating for criminal defendants.
Partner, Ellinger and Associates, LLC
Marc Ellinger is a founding partner of Ellinger and Associates, LLC, and represents businesses, individuals, organizations and committees in disputes. Marc focuses his practice in election law, legislative and rulemaking practice, municipal finance and structuring, issues of state and federal constitutional law, gaming law, and appellate practice and has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating.
Marc served as legal counsel for the Missouri State Auditor in 1993. In that role advised the State Auditor constitutional and tax law matters, as well as matters related to municipal and state debt financing and regularly appeared before the state appellate courts and the Missouri Supreme Court on the Auditor’s behalf. Marc transitioned to private practice in 1999. Prior to founding Ellinger and Associates, LLC, Marc was a member of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, LC.
Marc has more than twenty years of experience in election law and campaign finance compliance, including the representation of candidates, as well as ballot measure campaigns and Political Action Committees across the State of Missouri. Marc has drafted initiative petitions covering a broad range of subjects and has been involved in the coordination of campaigns and litigation on ballot measures, on behalf of both proponents and opponents.
Marc is also actively involved in representing businesses and individuals in gaming law, particularly with respect to the Missouri Gaming Commission license and compliance matters. He represents casino operators, gaming equipment suppliers, game developers and key persons throughout the gaming industry on a broad range of gaming and licensing matters. He is one of only two Missouri attorneys recognized as a General Member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and is recognized as a Super Lawyer in the Gaming Law area.
Marc’s background as a CPA allows him to view tax matters through multiple lenses. Marc has represented numerous clients in administrative and civil cases involving sales, use and property tax law. He also regularly advises clients regarding transaction structuring.
Marc has significant appellate experience in Missouri. He has argued more than twenty cases in the Missouri Supreme Court and dozens more in the Eastern and Western Districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals. From local government issues of first impression, to tax matters, to numerous election law cases, Marc has protected the interests of businesses, individuals and local governments across Missouri.
Partner, Graves Garrett Greim LLC
Edward “Eddie” Greim focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, free speech and election law, and internal investigations and whistleblower claims. He has been recognized for his successful representation of businesses and individuals in commercial litigation while also being named a “go-to” lawyer on policy and constitutional issues.
Eddie was named a Constitutional and Election Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2020. His free speech and election law practice has included numerous constitutional challenges to election and campaign finance laws; representation of clients in state and federal ethics and campaign finance enforcement actions and investigations; initiative petition drafting and litigation; litigation and advice regarding First Amendment protections for petition circulation; representation of not-for-profit clients before state regulators; litigation of state and federal redistricting issues; and advice on campaign and election law compliance.
Eddie complements his trial work in complex, high-profile commercial and constitutional cases with oral advocacy and briefing in important appeals. Recognized as a Missouri Lawyers Media POWER 30 Appellate Attorney in 2021, he has argued before the Missouri and Kansas supreme courts multiple times, other state appellate courts across the country, and before the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth U.S. Courts of Appeals.
Eddie’s notable work for clients includes:
Recovering substantial compensation and injunctive relief for plaintiffs, in complex multiyear litigation, as lead counsel in the first and only nationwide class action certified against the Internal Revenue Service for violating taxpayer protection statutes when it targeted hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoints.
Successful First Amendment challenge to Missouri’s 2016 campaign finance restrictions.
Successful challenge to a vast, multiyear, secret criminal investigation into Wisconsin political groups and nonprofits, and follow-up challenge to expose role of state ethics board which secretly aided the investigation and was later dissolved by the legislature.
U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief for the National Republican Redistricting Trust in the 2019 Rucho litigation, and federal and state redistricting litigation and advice since 2011.
Challenges under the First Amendment in federal court, and in briefing to the Michigan Supreme Court on state constitutional grounds, to unprecedented emergency powers claimed by Michigan Governor in 2020.
Representation of numerous public officials and private citizens who are subject to “lawfare” attacks based on their political viewpoints or policy objectives.
Oversight of multiple internal investigations.
Eddie received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2002, where he taught on the Board of Student Advisers, received the Dean’s Award for Leadership, and served as President of the Harvard Catholic Law Students Association. He received two bachelor’s degrees, summa cum laude, in economics and political science from the University of Missouri.
A native of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, Eddie lives in Kansas City with his family. He enjoys Missouri and military history. On many weekends, he can be found with his wife and daughters exploring sites of local interest. He enjoys reading and debating and has given presentations or organized discussions at numerous gatherings, formal and informal, of professional and personal interest.
Partner, Stinson LLP
Chuck draws on 25 years’ experience litigating and negotiating very high profile cases, primarily involving some sort of government action, to help offer clients a broad and insightful perspective on Missouri's government and judiciary.
In its annual 100+ List, The Missouri Times newspaper said: Chuck Hatfield's "time at the highest levels of state government have made him very sought after as an attorney in private practice. There is probably no attorney who knows more members of the judiciary and the executive branch in the state. He is also known for his quick wit on social media and willingness to take on tough cases." He has personally handled more than a dozen major cases before the Missouri Supreme Court. Chuck regularly appears before administrative agencies as well as trial and appellate courts at both the state and federal levels.
In his regulatory practice, Chuck has handled matters involving every department of Missouri government. As an outgrowth of his regulatory- based litigation, Chuck is a highly rated commercial litigator. He defends complex high-stakes litigation including class actions involving regulated industries such as securities, insurance and merchandising practices. He chairs the firm’s Financial Services and Class Action Litigation division and its Government Solutions group.
Chuck understands the importance of providing great legal service and value to his clients. As an attorney certified in Legal Project Management (LPM), he has been trained in matter budgeting and management in order to provide transparency and efficiency to his clients.
State Senator, Missouri State Senate (MO-18)
Senator Cindy O’Laughlin was sworn into office on Jan. 9, 2019, to serve the residents of Northeast Missouri’s 18th Senatorial District.
In addition to her public service, Sen. O’Laughlin has served as vice president of Leo O’Laughlin, Inc. for the past 26 years. The senator and her husband own and operate a trucking company and ready mix concrete business with locations in Shelbina, Macon, Marceline and LaBelle.
Prior to being elected to the Missouri Senate, Sen. O’Laughlin served as a school bus driver, an administrator at a local Christian school and as a member of her local school board. Now, Sen. O’Laughlin serves as the chair of the Senate Education Committee and works to improve education outcomes for all of Missouri’s children, regardless of where they live.
Senator O’Laughlin has been a member of various civic organizations such as the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Shelby County Economic Development Board. She has also served on numerous statewide boards such as the Associated Builders and Contractors and the Missouri Club for Growth. Senator O’Laughlin is currently a member of the National Rifle Association, Missouri Cattlemen, the Missouri Farm Bureau and Macon First Baptist Church.
O’Laughlin grew up on a farm and spent much of her childhood around horses, livestock auctions and corn fields. Today, she’s the proud owner of several dogs including Basset Hounds, as well as several rescues dogs.
A current resident of Shelbina, Sen. O’Laughlin has four sons, a foster daughter and six grandchildren. She is a 1978 graduate of the University of Missouri.
Partner, Ellinger and Associates, LLC
Stephanie Bell is a partner at Ellinger and Associates, LLC. Her practice focuses on election, regulatory, utility, gaming, tax and other governmental disputes. She represents individuals, businesses, associations, committees, and political subdivisions in a wide array of state and local government matters and has achieved a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating.
Stephanie previously worked at Blitz, Bardgett, & Deutsch, LC, for almost a decade. Stephanie’s litigation practice includes representing clients before government agencies, the Administrative Hearing Commission, the Public Service Commission, circuit courts, and Missouri Appellate courts. She has litigated cases concerning constitutional and statutory amendments being proposed by initiative petition, challenges to agency rules, the Missouri Sunshine Law, professional licensing, and general business disputes.
Stephanie also regularly advises candidates, committees, political subdivisions, and other entities regarding campaign finance compliance. Stephanie has served as treasurer of multi-million dollar political action committees. She has successfully defended clients against Missouri Ethics Commission complaints.
Stephanie regularly advises clients in relation to highly regulated industries. She has represented political subdivisions and state agencies before the Missouri Public Service Commission in both water and electric rate cases, as well as certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) cases. She also advises clients in relation to Missouri Gaming Commission matters.
Stephanie has also advised numerous entities during Missouri Department of Revenue audits. With respect to sales and use tax in refund cases and appeals from notices of assessments, Stephanie has represented clients from small businesses to nationwide corporations . She has also represented recipients of tax credits who have received penalty notices.
While in law school, Stephanie served as Symposium Editor of the Missouri Law Review and was a member of the Board of Advocates. She is the recipient of Academic Excellence Awards in Legislation, State Constitutional Law, Trial Practice and Advocacy & Government Agencies. She received the Fred L. Howard Prize for Excellence in the Advancement of Advocacy and was inducted into the Order of the Barristers. She also received the Stanley B. Botner Award for achievements in earning her Master of Public Administration in Public Policy at the Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs.
Partner, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum, LLP
Mark Bremer has more than forty years civil litigation experience in federal and state trial and appellate courts, with an emphasis on business litigation, involving general commercial, antitrust, securities, bankruptcy, employment, education, civil rights and class action law and procedure. By way of illustration, Mr. Bremer served in a lead counsel capacity on behalf of two dozen suburban school districts in trying and ultimately settling the St. Louis School Desegregation Case, the longest-standing and most complex case in the St. Louis federal court. Mr. Bremer provides litigation representation and consultation to Fortune 500 businesses, educational institutions, employers of all types and other entities in a variety of specialized areas of law and practice.
Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
Stephen R. Clark the chief United States district judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. He was appointed to the bench by President Trump in 2018 and became the chief judge in 2022. Prior to serving on the court, Judge Clark was the founder and managing partner of the Runnymede Law Group in St. Louis, Missouri, from 2008 to 2019. He also served as the president of the Federalist Society’s St. Louis Lawyers Chapter.
Of Counsel, Tueth Keeney Cooper Mohan Jackstadt PC
Jim Layton joined the firm in 2017 after serving more than 22 years in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office—nearly all of those as the State’s principal civil appellate lawyer, Solicitor General.
Jim practices in both appellate and trial courts, particularly in matters involving complex legal questions, including those arising under the U.S. and Missouri constitutions, Missouri school funding and other education statutes, discrimination laws, and Missouri tax laws. He represents both private and public entities.
In addition to handling cases at Tueth Keeney, Jim assists clients, in-house counsel, and counsel at other firms with appellate strategy, motions, briefing, and argument. In doing so, he relies on many years of intense appellate experience: Jim has argued more than 90 times before the Missouri Supreme Court, four times before the U.S. Supreme Court, and more than 100 times in other state and federal appellate courts. Since joining Tueth Keeney, Jim has been retained repeatedly to assist with applications to transfer appeals to the Missouri Supreme Court.
Jim’s experience in working with high-level government officials and state boards and commissions gives him special insight into government and regulatory decision-making. He has been consulted on a wide range of issues relating to Missouri laws regulating public and private entities.
An adjunct professor of law at the University of Missouri for 20 years, Jim is a frequent speaker on appellate practice, legal writing, constitutional law, and issues arising from new appellate decisions.
A long-time leader in the appellate bar, Jim serves as Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Committee of The Missouri Bar. He was previously Chair of the American bar Association’s Council of appellate Lawyers, President of the Bar Association of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and President of the Elwood Thomas American Inn of Court. He serves on task forces for both the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the Missouri courts dealing with remote court proceedings and electronic filing.
Office Managing Partner, Husch Blackwell LLP
Lowell has more than 30 years of experience navigating the intersection of business and government at both the state and federal levels.
A wide range of clients – including regulated businesses in manufacturing, aviation and healthcare; individual political candidates and political action committees (PACs); and political subdivisions – rely on Lowell’s extensive experience in administrative law; election law and political campaign finance law; as well as government contract and procurement matters. A trusted litigator, he has handled numerous cases in the federal and state courts challenging government action, and has made multiple appearances before the Missouri Supreme Court in employment and constitutional cases.
Clients appreciate Lowell’s deep background within and innate understanding of public policy. Lowell worked in Washington, DC, as a policy advisor to the Judicial Conference of the United States and as counsel to Bob Dole’s 1988 presidential election campaign. He also served as both Missouri’s Deputy Director of Revenue and general counsel to Missouri Governor Matt Blunt. Lowell has been a regular speaker on administrative law, tax and election law issues to groups such as the Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM), the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Missouri. His proven collaborative and relationship-building skills move client goals forward.
Speaker Pro Tempore, Missouri House of Representatives (MO-103)
Representative John Wiemann, a Republican, represents part of St. Charles County (District 103) in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2014 and was re-elected in 2016, 2018, and 2020.
Born in St. Louis and raised in St. James, Missouri, Wiemann is a graduate of University of Missouri – Columbia, with a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in health administration.
He resides in O’Fallon with his wife, Yvette and two sons, Blake & Clayton. He is President and CEO of Midwest Physician Insurance Advisors and is a licensed insurance broker.
Wiemann is a member of O’Fallon and Cottleville Weldon Spring Chambers of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) St. Charles County Lions Club, Assumption Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, NRA, and Lewis & Clark Pachyderm club. Wiemann serves on the board of directors for the Junior GAC Youth Football league, State Legislative Leaders Foundation and the board of Trustees for Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System.
Wiemann was elected to serve as Speaker Pro Tem for the 100th and 101st General Assembly.
Partner, Covington & Burling
Beth Brinkmann is an experienced appellate and Supreme Court litigator who has served in high-level positions in the Department of Justice, most recently as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division. She has argued 24 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Ms. Brinkmann also has argued in numerous federal and state appellate courts across the country.
As the Civil Division’s top appellate lawyer, she was responsible for supervising much of the federal government’s civil litigation in appellate courts, including constitutional challenges, administrative law issues, intellectual property matters, and national security cases. During her tenure at the DOJ, Ms. Brinkmann presented oral argument in several high-profile court of appeals cases, including the successful defense of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the government’s victory in federal immigration preemption litigation. She also regularly consulted with trial lawyers for the government on legal arguments and strategy at early phases of litigation, made recommendations on appellate matters to the U.S. Solicitor General, and advised senior leadership of cabinet-level departments and at regulatory agencies regarding litigation risk, legislative proposals, and rulemaking matters.
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Partner, Jones Day
Board Member, U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
Beth A. Williams is a Board Member of the United States Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an agency whose mission is to ensure that the federal government's efforts to prevent terrorism are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties.
Prior to her Board service, Ms. Williams was the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy at the United States Department of Justice from August 2017 to December 2020. In that role, she served as the primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, and as the Chief Regulatory Officer for the Department. Ms. Williams also led the judicial nomination process for the Department, assisting in the selection and confirmation of more than 230 Article III judges to the bench.
Prior to becoming Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Williams was a litigation and appellate partner at a national law firm, where her practice focused on complex commercial, securities, appellate, and First Amendment litigation. From 2005-2006, Ms. Williams served as Special Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where she assisted with the confirmation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Williams clerked for the Hon. Richard C. Wesley on the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude, with a degree in History and Literature, and she earned her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Morris Sheppard Arnold is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. He joined the court in 1992 after being nominated by President George H.W. Bush. Prior to his appointment, he served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas after a nomination by Ronald Reagan in 1985. He assumed senior status on October 9, 2006.
Morris also served as a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review from 2008 to 2013. He was the presiding judge on that court from 2012 to 2013.
Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Faculty Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Randy E. Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and is the Faculty Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. After graduating from Northwestern University and Harvard Law School, he tried many felony cases as a prosecutor in the Cook County States’ Attorney’s Office in Chicago. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Constitutional Studies and the Bradley Prize, Professor Barnett has been a visiting professor at Penn, Northwestern and Harvard Law School.
Professor Barnett’s publications includes thirteen books, more than one hundred articles and reviews, as well as numerous op-eds. His most recent book is Felony Review: Tales of True Crime and Corruption in Chicago (2026). His other books on the Constitution include: A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist (2024); The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit (2021) (with Evan Bernick); An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know (2019) (with Josh Blackman); Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty (2nd ed. 2013); Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People (2016); and Constitutional Law: Cases in Context (5th ed. forthcoming 2027) (with Josh Blackman). His books on contracts are The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts (2010) and Contracts: Cases and Doctrine (7th ed. 2021) (with Nate Oman). And he is the author of The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law (2nd ed. 2014).
In 2004, he argued the medical marijuana case of Gonzalez v. Raich before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2012, he was one of the lawyers representing the National Federation of Independent Business in its constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act in NFIB v. Sebelius. He’s appeared in numerous documentaries and portrayed a prosecutor in the 2010 science-fiction feature film, InAlienable: The Movie. On X he is @RandyEBarnett
President Emeritus, Intercollegiate Studies Institute
T. Kenneth Cribb Jr. is the former president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Mr. Cribb was Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs in the Reagan administration, serving as President Reagan’s top adviser on domestic matters. Earlier in the administration he held the position of Counselor to the Attorney General. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board from 1989 to 1992.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Frank H. Easterbrook is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a Senior Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Chicago. He was Chief Judge from 2006–2013. Before joining the court in 1985, he was the Lee andBrena Freeman Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he taught and wrote in antitrust, securities, corporate law, jurisprudence, and criminal procedure. He has published The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (with Daniel R. Fischel) and about 100 scholarly articles. He served as Co-Editor of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1982 to 1991 and as a member of the Judicial Conference’s Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 1991 to 1997. Before joining the faculty of the Law School in 1979, Judge Easterbrook was Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College (B.A. with high honors, 1970) and the University of Chicago (J.D. cum laude, 1973), and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Law Institute, the Mont Pelerin Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Order of the Coif.
Former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization, Former United States Ambassador to East Timor
Grover Joseph Rees is a Louisiana native whose family has lived in the Breaux Bridge/Lafayette area since the 1700s.
His first job after college was as an assistant to Congressman Dave Treen (R-LA3), who had just been elected as the first Republican Congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction.
Rees graduated with honors from LSU Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Louisiana Law Review. While in law school he worked on Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign and was a Reagan delegate from Louisiana to the Republican National Convention. He also served as a member of the Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee and as a board member of Acadiana Right to Life.
In 1979, when Congressman Treen ran successfully for Governor, he asked Rees to write his authorized biography. The book, Dave Treen of Louisiana, was read and discussed widely during the campaign and after Treen’s election.
In 1985-86 Rees served as Special Counsel for Judicial Selection in President Reagan’s Justice Department, working closely with Attorney General Ed Meese to reorganize the judicial selection process to make it more philosophically oriented. These efforts resulted in the appointment of over 100 federal judges and were widely credited with transforming the federal judiciary.
From 1986 through 1991 Rees served as Chief Justice of the High Court of American Samoa, an Article I federal judicial position.
From 1991 through 1993 he was General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In 1995 Rees went to work for the new Republican Congress as staff director and chief counsel of the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. He worked with subcommittee chairman Chris Smith (R.-N.J.) to cut U.S. funding for the International Planned Parenthood Federation and other organizations that perform and promote abortions overseas. Rees also worked on the drafting and enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and other legislation that has helped to bring U.S. foreign policy into closer alignment not only with our national interests but also with our values.
In 2001-2002 Rees worked for Congressman Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.), who was then serving as Chairman of the House International Relations Committee.
From 2002 until 2006 Rees served as the first United States Ambassador to newly independent East Timor.
From 2006 until 2009 Ambassador Rees was the United States Special Representative for Social Issues, responsible for representing the United States on issues relating to vulnerable persons and the family within the United Nations system.
Ambassador Rees retired from government service in January 2009 and returned to Lafayette. He is married to Lan Dai Nguyen Rees and is a member of St. Genevieve’s Catholic parish in Lafayette. He was recently elected to serve as a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
Director, GW Regulatory Studies Center & Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University
Susan Dudley is the Founder and Director of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, established in 2009 to raise awareness of regulations’ effects and improve regulatory policy through research, education, and outreach. She is also a distinguished professor of practice in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She is past-president of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and on the Regulatory Transparency Project Regulatory Practice Working Group. Her book, Regulation: A Primer, with Jerry Brito, is available on Amazon.com.
From April 2007 through January 2009, Professor Dudley served as the Presidentially-appointed Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and was responsible for the review of draft executive branch regulations under Executive Order 12866, the collection of federal-government-wide information under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the development and implementation of government-wide policies in the areas of information policy, privacy, and statistical policy, and international regulatory cooperation efforts.
Prior to OIRA, she directed the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and taught courses on regulation at the George Mason University School of Law. Earlier in her career, Professor Dudley served as an economist at OIRA, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She was also a consultant to government and private clients at Economists Incorporated. She holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT and a Bachelor of Science degree (summa cum laude) in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
United States Senator, Utah
Elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the basic liberties of Americans and Utahns as a tireless advocate for our founding constitutional principles.
Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early on. His father, Rex Lee, who served as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, would often discuss varied aspects of judicial and constitutional doctrine around the kitchen table, from Due Process to the uses of Executive Plenary Power. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique, hands-on experience and understanding of government up close.
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship. He returned to private practice in 2007.
Throughout his career, Lee earned a reputation as an outstanding practitioner of the law based on his sound judgment, abilities in the courtroom, and thorough understanding of the Constitution.
Today, Lee fights to preserve America's proud founding document in the United States Senate. He advocates efforts to support constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, and economic prosperity.
Lee is a member of the Judiciary Committee, and serves as Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee protecting business competition and personal freedom.
He also oversees issues critical to Utah as the Chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He serves on the Commerce Committee and the Joint Economic Committee, as well.
In the 114th Congress, Lee also began his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, where he works with his Republican colleagues in the Senate to introduce bold and innovative solutions to issues facing the American people.
Lee and his wife Sharon live in Alpine, Utah, with their three children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and Counselor to the Dean, Yale Law School
Oona A. Hathaway is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, Professor of International Law and Area Studies at the Yale University MacMillan Center, Professor of the Yale University Department of Political Science, and Director of the Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges. She is also Counselor to the Dean at Yale Law School. She has been a member of the Advisory Committee on International Law for the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State since 2005. In 2014–15, she took leave to serve as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, where she was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence. She is the Director of the annual Yale Cyber Leadership Forum. She has published more than 30 law review articles, and The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World (with Scott Shapiro, 2017).
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
James C. Ho is a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before taking the bench on January 4, 2018, he was a partner and co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
As an appellate litigator for over a decade, including three years as the Solicitor General of Texas, Judge Ho presented 50 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide. He won numerous appeals, including three merits cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was routinely ranked among the nation’s leading lawyers by Benchmark, Chambers, Law360, The Legal 500, and The National Law Journal, among other publications. His work has been cited favorably by courts at every level of both the federal and state judiciaries. He won a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General for every year that he served as solicitor general, and he is the only state solicitor general in history to be invited by the U.S. Supreme Court to express the views of a state.
Judge Ho has served in all three branches of the federal government. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, he served as chief counsel of the Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration under Senator John Cornyn. At the Justice Department, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and an attorney-advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel. He clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.
His record of public service also includes appointments as vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee in Texas and co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judiciary Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Continuity of Government Commission.
In addition, Judge Ho has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, where he taught seminars on U.S. Supreme Court Litigation and Religious Liberty. He has authored numerous articles in respected law reviews nationwide, including an annual feature on exemplary judicial writing for The Green Bag Almanac & Reader. He previously served as senior editor of The Green Bag and as co-editor of Pub. L. Misc.
Judge Ho graduated from Stanford University with honors and a B.A. in Public Policy in 1995, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors in 1999. Before law school, he was a legislative aide to California State Senator Quentin Kopp. He and his wife Allyson live in Dallas, Texas, with their twin daughter and son.
Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law, Yale Law School
Jonathan R. Macey is Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law at Yale University, and Professor in the Yale School of Management. From 1991 – 2004, Professor Macey was J. DuPratt White Professor of Law, Director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at Cornell Law School, and Professor of Law and Business at the Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Business. Professor Macey earned his B.A. cum laude from Harvard in 1977, and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1982, where he was Article and Book Review editor of The Yale Law Journal. In 1996, Professor Macey received a Ph.D. honoris causa from the Stockholm School of Economics. Following law school, Professor Macey was law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Professor Macey is the author of several books including the two-volume treatise, Macey on Corporation Laws, published in 1998 (Aspen Law & Business), and co-author of two leading casebooks, Corporations: Including Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies (2003 Thomson West), which is in its eighth edition, and Banking Law and Regulation (2002 Aspen Law & Business), which is now in its third edition. He also is the author of over 100 scholarly articles. His recent articles have appeared in the Banking Law Journal, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Stanford Law Review, The Yale Law Journal, the Cornell Law Review, the Journal of Law and Economics, and the Brookings Wharton Papers on Financial Institutions. He has published numerous editorials in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times, and The National Law Journal.
Professor Macey has taught at major universities throughout the world, including Bocconi University (Milan), the University of Tokyo; the University of Toronto; the University of Turin, the University of Amsterdam Department of Finance, and the Stockholm School of Economics, Department of Law. He also has been Professor of Law at the University of Chicago (1990) and Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School (1999). Professor Macey is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Economic Research (ICER) in Turin, Italy. Professor Macey also serves on the Academic Advisory Board (Comitato Scientifico) of the Associazione Disiano Preite for the study of corporate law (per lo studio del diritto dell’impresa). In 1995, Professor Macey was awarded the Paul M. Bator prize for excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Public Service by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy. In 1996, he received a Ph.D., honoris causa from the Stockholm School of Economics. And in 1998, he received the D.P. Jacobs prize for the most significant paper in volume 6 of the Journal of Financial Intermediation for his paper (co-authored with Maureen O’Hara), “The Law & Economics of Best Execution.”
In 1999 Professor Macey was made an honorary Fellow of the Society For Advanced Legal Studies. In 2000, Professor Macey became a member of the Legal Advisory Committee to the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. In 2001 Professor Macey was appointed a Bertil Daniellson Distinguished Visiting Professor in Banking and Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics. In 2002 Professor Macey was appointed to the Economic Advisory Board of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). In 2004 Professor Macey was awarded a Teaching Award by the Yale Law Women in recognition of his “commitment to excellence in teaching, mentoring and inspiring.” In 2005 Professor Macey became a member of the Board of Editors of Thomson West Publishing Company.
Federalist Papers Book Club: The Federalist [Session 10]
John S. Baker
Federalist ##78, 81, and 84 (The Judiciary and a bill of rights)
Slide deck I Federalist Papers Book Club will run weekly on Tuesday evenings for 10...
Panel III: Bail Me Out?
Jennifer K. Bukowsky, Amy Fite, James R. Hobbs
2021 Federalist Society Missouri State Conference
On March 8, 2021, the Federalist Society's Missouri lawyers chapters held a statewide conference via...
Panel II: A Cleaner Missouri? Redistricting: What We Can Expect
Marc Ellinger, Edward D. Greim, Charles Hatfield, Cindy O'Laughlin
2021 Federalist Society Missouri State Conference
On March 8, 2021, the Federalist Society's Missouri lawyers chapters held a statewide conference via...
Panel I: The Future of the Missouri Constitution: Constitutional Convention? Initiative Petition Reform?
Stephanie S. Bell, Mark J. Bremer, Stephen R. Clark, James Layton, Lowell Pearson, John Wiemann
2021 Federalist Society Missouri State Conference
On March 8, 2021, the Federalist Society's Missouri lawyers chapters held a statewide conference via...
When the Government Changes Sides in Ongoing Litigation
Beth Brinkmann, Gene P. Hamilton, Hashim M. Mooppan, Beth A. Williams
On March 26, 2021, the Federalist Society's Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group hosted...
Panel V: The Freedom of Association [Archive Collection]
Morris S. Arnold, Randy E. Barnett, T. Kenneth Cribb, Frank H. Easterbrook, Grover Joseph Rees
1986 National Student Symposium
On March 7-8, 1986, The Federalist Society hosted its annual National Student Symposium at Stanford...
Federalist Papers Book Club: The Federalist [Session 9]
John S. Baker
Federalist ##67, 68, 70, and 74 (The President)
Federalist Papers Book Club will run weekly on Tuesday evenings for 10 one-hour sessions, beginning...
How Do Regulatory Agencies Implement Laws?
Susan E. Dudley
A Regulatory Transparency Project Fourth Branch Video
After a law is passed by Congress, how is it put into effect? Most laws...
Presentation of the Joseph Story Award & Keynote Address by Sen. Mike Lee
Mike S. Lee
2021 National Student Symposium
The Joseph Story Award is given annually to a young academic (40 and under) who...
Debate: Is More Global Governance Necessary?
Oona A. Hathaway, James C. Ho, Jonathan R. Macey
2021 National Student Symposium
Advocates of global governance argue that more decisions need to be taken at the international...