James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Gerard V. Bradley is Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches Legal Ethics and Constitutional Law. At Notre Dame he directs (with John Finnis) the Natural Law Institute and co-edits The American Journal of Jurisprudence, an international forum for legal philosophy. Bradley has been a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute, in Princeton, New Jersey. He served for many years as President of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
Bradley received his B.A and J.D. degrees from Cornell University, graduating Summa cum laude from the law school in 1980. After serving in the Trial Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office he joined the law faculty at the University of Illinois. He moved to Notre Dame in 1992. Bradley has published over one hundred scholarly articles and reviews. His most recent books are an edited collection of essays titled, Challenges to Religious Liberty in the Twenty-First Century (published by Cambridge University Press in 2012), Essays on Law, Religion, and Morality and Unquiet Americans: U.S. Catholics and the Common Good (both to be published in 2014.) He is currently working on a book about regulating obscenity in the Internet Age.
Deputy Legal Director and Director of Center for Liberty, ACLU
Louise Melling is a Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU and the Director of its Center for Liberty, which encompasses the ACLU’s work on reproductive freedom, women’s rights, lesbian gay bisexual and transgender rights, freedom of religion and belief, and disability rights. In this role, she leads the work of the ACLU to address the intersection of religious freedom and equal treatment, among other issues.
Melling has established the ACLU as a national leader in opposing the use of religion to discriminate and in supporting state advocacy teams that have pushed back legislation that would permit discrimination in the name of religion. She has overseen groundbreaking litigation, including cases challenging Catholic hospitals that refuse to provide care consistent with medical ethics and businesses that claim a right to discriminate in the name of religion or speech.
In her time as Director of the Center for Liberty, the ACLU has pursued a program of litigation, advocacy, and public education campaigns that culminated in the 2015 Supreme Court decision recognizing the fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples. Under her leadership, the Center has also challenged innumerable state laws that restrict women’s access to abortion, the federal government policy barring women from serving in combat, school policies that foster sex stereotypes and deny transgender students’ rights, policies and practices that discriminate against Muslims, the use and abuse of guardianship, and government promotion of religion.
Melling has been with the ACLU since 1992, serving in several roles before becoming a Deputy Legal Director in 2010. In 2003, she became Director of the Reproductive Freedom Project, where she oversaw nationwide litigation, public opinion research, public education campaigns, and advocacy efforts in the state legislatures. She has appeared in federal and state courts around the country, most often to challenge laws that restrict reproductive rights.
Melling has appeared in many media outlets, including CNN, PBS News Hour, Frontline, MSNBC, the New York Times, and USA Today. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the Washington Post and The Guardian, among others.
In addition, she is the author of several articles, including Religious Refusals to Public Accommodations Laws: Four Reasons to Say No, 38 Harv J. of Law and Gender (2015); Follow the Money: Ending Discrimination against Women in Hospitals, 15 Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 435 (2014) (co-authored with Sarah Lipton-Lubet); Lift the Scarlet Letter from Abortion, 35 Cardozo Law Review 1715 (2014); and The Legal Education of Twenty Women, 40 Stan. L. Rev. 1299 (1988) (co-authored with Catherine Weiss).
She is a graduate of the Yale Law School and Oberlin College. Prior to joining the ACLU, Melling clerked for Judge Morris Lasker of the Southern District of New York and worked for Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Gerard V. Bradley is Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches Legal Ethics and Constitutional Law. At Notre Dame he directs (with John Finnis) the Natural Law Institute and co-edits The American Journal of Jurisprudence, an international forum for legal philosophy. Bradley has been a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and a Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute, in Princeton, New Jersey. He served for many years as President of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
Bradley received his B.A and J.D. degrees from Cornell University, graduating Summa cum laude from the law school in 1980. After serving in the Trial Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office he joined the law faculty at the University of Illinois. He moved to Notre Dame in 1992. Bradley has published over one hundred scholarly articles and reviews. His most recent books are an edited collection of essays titled, Challenges to Religious Liberty in the Twenty-First Century (published by Cambridge University Press in 2012), Essays on Law, Religion, and Morality and Unquiet Americans: U.S. Catholics and the Common Good (both to be published in 2014.) He is currently working on a book about regulating obscenity in the Internet Age.
Deputy Legal Director and Director of Center for Liberty, ACLU
Louise Melling is a Deputy Legal Director at the ACLU and the Director of its Center for Liberty, which encompasses the ACLU’s work on reproductive freedom, women’s rights, lesbian gay bisexual and transgender rights, freedom of religion and belief, and disability rights. In this role, she leads the work of the ACLU to address the intersection of religious freedom and equal treatment, among other issues.
Melling has established the ACLU as a national leader in opposing the use of religion to discriminate and in supporting state advocacy teams that have pushed back legislation that would permit discrimination in the name of religion. She has overseen groundbreaking litigation, including cases challenging Catholic hospitals that refuse to provide care consistent with medical ethics and businesses that claim a right to discriminate in the name of religion or speech.
In her time as Director of the Center for Liberty, the ACLU has pursued a program of litigation, advocacy, and public education campaigns that culminated in the 2015 Supreme Court decision recognizing the fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples. Under her leadership, the Center has also challenged innumerable state laws that restrict women’s access to abortion, the federal government policy barring women from serving in combat, school policies that foster sex stereotypes and deny transgender students’ rights, policies and practices that discriminate against Muslims, the use and abuse of guardianship, and government promotion of religion.
Melling has been with the ACLU since 1992, serving in several roles before becoming a Deputy Legal Director in 2010. In 2003, she became Director of the Reproductive Freedom Project, where she oversaw nationwide litigation, public opinion research, public education campaigns, and advocacy efforts in the state legislatures. She has appeared in federal and state courts around the country, most often to challenge laws that restrict reproductive rights.
Melling has appeared in many media outlets, including CNN, PBS News Hour, Frontline, MSNBC, the New York Times, and USA Today. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the Washington Post and The Guardian, among others.
In addition, she is the author of several articles, including Religious Refusals to Public Accommodations Laws: Four Reasons to Say No, 38 Harv J. of Law and Gender (2015); Follow the Money: Ending Discrimination against Women in Hospitals, 15 Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law 435 (2014) (co-authored with Sarah Lipton-Lubet); Lift the Scarlet Letter from Abortion, 35 Cardozo Law Review 1715 (2014); and The Legal Education of Twenty Women, 40 Stan. L. Rev. 1299 (1988) (co-authored with Catherine Weiss).
She is a graduate of the Yale Law School and Oberlin College. Prior to joining the ACLU, Melling clerked for Judge Morris Lasker of the Southern District of New York and worked for Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Vice President and Legal Counsel, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Michael Martin is ECFA’s vice president of church relations. He enjoys helping churches and ministries maintain high standards of financial integrity through ECFA membership. Michael also uses his training as an attorney and CPA to contribute to ECFA’s many practical educational resources, including books, webinars, videos, podcasts, and more.
Beginning with the 2013 edition, Mr. Martin co-authored the Zondervan Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide and the Zondervan Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide.
Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
John Van Drunen is the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)'s executive vice president and general counsel with a bachelor of arts in accounting, magna cum laude, from Anderson University and a juris doctor from Regent University School of Law. His responsibilities at ECFA primarily relate to managing the compliance program and writing and speaking on technical nonprofit issues.
Mr. Van Drunen has received many awards, including Virginia Bar Association recognition for pro bono work during his tenure as a law student. This work included working with nonprofit organizations and assisting low-income individuals with preparing taxes.
Beginning with the 2010 edition, Mr. Van Drunen co-authored the Zondervan Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide and the Zondervan Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide with ECFA President, Dan Busby, and Michael Martin, ECFA Vice President and legal counsel.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Paul J. Schierl Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Professor Richard W. Garnett teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion. He is a leading authority on questions and debates regarding religious freedom and church-state relations, and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society.
Garnett clerked for the late Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, and also for the late Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Richard S. Arnold. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1995 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Duke University in 1990. He joined the faculty in 1999 after practicing law in Washington, D.C. with Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Associate Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
Christopher C. Lund is an associate professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, where he teaches a variety of courses, including Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Religious Liberty in the United States and Evidence. Excited to teach students, he has been voted Professor of the Year five times.
Prof. Lund's scholarly interests vary, but his principal focus has been in the field of religious liberty. His academic work has been (or shortly will be) published in student-edited law reviews, such as the Northwestern University Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and the Minnesota Law Review; peer-reviewed legal journals, such as the Journal of Law and Religion; and peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals, such as History of Religions. He recently joined Michael McConnell and Thomas Berg as the new co-author on their leading casebook, Religion and the Constitution, the fourth edition of which was published by Aspen in 2016.
Prof. Lund's academic work has been cited in articles, books and judicial opinions. He is regularly called on for his expertise by media outlets, civil rights organizations and religious groups. Two of his amicus briefs have been quoted in opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Stephen Breyer calling one of them "very excellent" at oral argument. He is a past chair of the Law and Religion Section of the Association of American Law Schools, as well as past chair of the Section on New Law Professors. He sits on the lawyers' committee of the ACLU of Michigan.
Prof. Lund joined Wayne University Law School in 2009 from the Mississippi College School of Law. Before teaching, he clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, served as the Madison Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and practiced law at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia. Prof. Lund earned his law degree with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts from Rice University, summa cum laude, with majors in mathematics and psychology.
During fall semester 2013, Lund was on leave from Wayne Law, teaching at the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Masterpiece Cakeshop and Its Implications
Thomas C. Berg, Gerard V. Bradley, Louise Melling, Andrew Oldham
2018 National Lawyers Convention
The Supreme Court’s decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was unexpectedly based...
Masterpiece Cakeshop and Its Implications
Thomas C. Berg, Gerard V. Bradley, Louise Melling, Andrew Oldham
2018 National Lawyers Convention
The Supreme Court’s decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was unexpectedly based...
Is the "Parsonage Allowance" Allowed?
Thomas C. Berg, Michael Martin, John Van Drunen
Religious Liberties Practice Group Teleforum
Last month, in a challenge brought by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin federal...
The Future of Religious Liberties under the New Administration - Podcast
Thomas C. Berg, Richard W. Garnett
Religious Liberties Practice Group Podcast
What is ahead for religious liberties under the Trump administration? Will churches be granted a...
Religious Exemptions and Third-Party Harms
Thomas C. Berg
Federalist Society Review, Volume 17, Issue 3
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the effect that third-party harms should have on religious...
Church Playgrounds & Blaine Amendments - Podcast
Thomas C. Berg, Christopher C. Lund, Martin S. Lederman
Religious Liberties Practice Group Podcast
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Pauley....
Ministers, Minimum Wages, and Church Autonomy
Thomas C. Berg
When Judge Richard Posner expounds on an area of law in one of his opinions...