Former President & CEO, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Eugene B. Meyer, former President and CEO of the Federalist Society, has served as Executive Director, CEO, and/or President of the organization for more than 40 years. He is responsible for shepherding the organization from a small group of law students to a community of 90,000 lawyers, law students, academics, judges, and others interested in the rule of law. The Society now includes a Student Chapter at nearly every ABA-accredited law school in the country and Lawyers Chapters in 220 major cities across the nation. Gene earned his B.A. in history at Yale in 1975 and his M.A. in political science from the London School of Economics in 1976. Gene currently serves on the boards of the U.S. Chess Center, the Holman Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the advisory board of the Adam Smith Society. He holds the title of International Chess Master.
partner, King & Spalding
Jeff S. Bucholtz is a partner in the Appellate Practice Group at King & Spalding. Mr. Bucholtz joined King & Spalding in 2009 after serving more than six years in leadership positions in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, including six months as Acting Assistant Attorney General. While at the Department of Justice, Mr. Bucholtz argued approximately 20 cases in the federal and state appellate courts as well as some of the government’s most sensitive cases in federal district court.
Prior to his tenure at the Department of Justice, Mr. Bucholtz was an associate with King & Spalding’s Litigation and Antitrust Practice Group. He drafted briefs for matters in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts, including FDA-related criminal and administrative law cases, antitrust and product liability cases, and appeals challenging punitive damage awards. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Mr. Bucholtz clerked for U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in the Central District of California and for now-Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. when Justice Alito was a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit.
Senior Fellow, National Review
Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. During is 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. He is a columnist for The Hill, and his essays and book reviews appear frequently at The New Criterion. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion (Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).
Former United States Attorney General
Michael B. Mukasey is the former Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As Attorney General from November 2007 to January 2009, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law.
From 1988 to 2006, Judge Mukasey served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming Chief Judge in 2000.
From 1972 to 1976, Judge Mukasey served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as Chief of the Official Corruption Unit from 1975 to 1976. His practice consisted of criminal litigation on behalf of the government, including investigation and prosecution of narcotics, bank robbery, interstate theft, securities fraud, fraud on the government and bribery. From 1976 to 1987 and from 2006 to 2007 he was in private practice.
Judge Mukasey has received numerous honors, including the Federal Bar Council’s Learned Hand Medal for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Public Access to Information and Proceedings of the New York Bar Association from 1984 to 1987. He served on the Federal Courts Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 1979 to 1982 and its Communications Law Committee from 1983 to 1986. Judge Mukasey was also a part-time lecturer at Columbia School of Law from January 1993 to May 2007, teaching trial advocacy.
He received his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1967 and his B.A. from Columbia College in 1963.
Director of Equality and Opportunity Litigation, Pacific Legal Foundation
Joshua directs the litigation for PLF’s Equality and Opportunity Program, where he fights to dismantle unconstitutional barriers to opportunity, freeing individuals to rise based on their choices, character, and ability.
Joshua joined PLF as an attorney in 2007. His litigation practice has covered all PLF subject areas with a particular focus on equality and opportunity. Joshua argued PLF’s 13th case before the United States Supreme Court, Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, where the court ruled that a California regulation that allowed union organizers onto private property violated the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. Other litigation highlights of his include ending a decades-long racial quota in Hartford, Connecticut, lifting a ban on boys’ dancing in Minnesota, and vindicating an entrepreneur’s right to start a moving business in Kentucky.
Joshua’s writings have been published by the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. And his research has been published in journals such as Texas Review of Law & Politics, Alabama Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Law Review, Journal of Civil Rights & Economic Development, and Northern Illinois University Law Review. He has appeared on national television and radio, including PBS Newshour, NPR’s All things Considered, Stossel, and Univision.
Joshua earned his BA with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a triple major in political science, international relations, and German. He earned his JD cum laude from Michigan State College of Law where he was on the law review and trial practice institute. Joshua lives in Sacramento, California with his wife and three children. He loves playing chess and rooting for Wisconsin sports teams.
Joshua is a member of the bar only in the state of California.
Professor of Law, New England Law | Boston
Professor Friedman teaches Constitutional Law, Information Privacy Law, National Security Law, and State Constitutional Law. Before joining the New England Law faculty in 2004, he was a visiting assistant professor of law at Boston College Law School and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. Before teaching, he was an associate with Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, focusing on environmental, land use, Internet, and government enforcement litigation. He was recently appointed to the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of the Profession and is a former member of the Boston Bar Council. In addition, he is currently president of the board of directors of Massachusetts Appleseed, a center for law and justice that has several ongoing projects related to educating homeless children, keeping kids in school, and reducing the incidence of juvenile delinquency. He served as a law clerk with the New Hampshire Superior Court and then as law clerk to the Hon. John T. Broderick, Jr., of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He has published numerous articles on constitutional law, the Massachusetts constitution, privacy law, and national security law.
Professor of Law, New England Law | Boston
Professor Victor Hansen teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Prosecutorial Ethics at New England Law ¦Boston. Before joining the New England Law faculty in 2005, he served a 20-year career in the Army, most of that time as a JAG Corps officer. In his last military assignment he served as a regional defense counsel for the United States Army Trial Defense Service. His previous assignments include work as a military prosecutor and supervising prosecutor. He has been involved in military capital litigation as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney. He also served as an associate professor of law at The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, VA. He is the author of several articles and books on criminal and military law, evidence, and national security issues, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Ella A. and Ernest H. Fisher Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law
Professor Lewis joined the Ohio Northern faculty in August, 2006. Lewis flew F-14's for the United States Navy in Operation Desert Shield, conducted strike planning for Desert Storm and was deployed to the Persian Gulf to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq. He was a Topgun graduate in 1992 and was featured in a NOVA documentary on Topgun and aircraft carriers.
After his naval service, Lewis graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company, and served as a litigation associate with McGuireWoods, LLP, in Norfolk, Virginia.
Professor Lewis has published more than a dozen articles and essays on various aspects of the law of war and the conflict between the US and al Qaeda. His work has been cited by the Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has testified before Congress on the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and on the civil liberties tradeoffs associated with trying some Al Qaeda members or terrorist suspects before military commissions. His op-eds have appeared in numerous media outlets including the LA Times and the New York Post and he has appeared on Public Radio International to discuss the increasing use of armed drones in warfare. He has delivered scores of presentations and panel presentations before military and law school audiences alike including presentations to the international Military Operations Law conference in Queensland, Australia, the US Army's JAG School in Charlottesville, VA and law school events at Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Penn, Duke, Texas and Northwestern among others.
Professor Lewis received the Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching for the 2007-08 academic year.
He currently teaches Commercial Law, International Law, a Law of War Seminar and Torts. He has also taught Corporate Finance and Accounting for Lawyers. His other teaching interests include Civil Procedure and Contracts.
Professor of Law, New England Law | Boston
Professor Friedman teaches Constitutional Law, Information Privacy Law, National Security Law, and State Constitutional Law. Before joining the New England Law faculty in 2004, he was a visiting assistant professor of law at Boston College Law School and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. Before teaching, he was an associate with Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, focusing on environmental, land use, Internet, and government enforcement litigation. He was recently appointed to the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of the Profession and is a former member of the Boston Bar Council. In addition, he is currently president of the board of directors of Massachusetts Appleseed, a center for law and justice that has several ongoing projects related to educating homeless children, keeping kids in school, and reducing the incidence of juvenile delinquency. He served as a law clerk with the New Hampshire Superior Court and then as law clerk to the Hon. John T. Broderick, Jr., of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He has published numerous articles on constitutional law, the Massachusetts constitution, privacy law, and national security law.
Professor of Law, New England Law | Boston
Professor Victor Hansen teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and Prosecutorial Ethics at New England Law ¦Boston. Before joining the New England Law faculty in 2005, he served a 20-year career in the Army, most of that time as a JAG Corps officer. In his last military assignment he served as a regional defense counsel for the United States Army Trial Defense Service. His previous assignments include work as a military prosecutor and supervising prosecutor. He has been involved in military capital litigation as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney. He also served as an associate professor of law at The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, VA. He is the author of several articles and books on criminal and military law, evidence, and national security issues, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Ella A. and Ernest H. Fisher Professor of Law, Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law
Professor Lewis joined the Ohio Northern faculty in August, 2006. Lewis flew F-14's for the United States Navy in Operation Desert Shield, conducted strike planning for Desert Storm and was deployed to the Persian Gulf to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq. He was a Topgun graduate in 1992 and was featured in a NOVA documentary on Topgun and aircraft carriers.
After his naval service, Lewis graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company, and served as a litigation associate with McGuireWoods, LLP, in Norfolk, Virginia.
Professor Lewis has published more than a dozen articles and essays on various aspects of the law of war and the conflict between the US and al Qaeda. His work has been cited by the Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has testified before Congress on the legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen and on the civil liberties tradeoffs associated with trying some Al Qaeda members or terrorist suspects before military commissions. His op-eds have appeared in numerous media outlets including the LA Times and the New York Post and he has appeared on Public Radio International to discuss the increasing use of armed drones in warfare. He has delivered scores of presentations and panel presentations before military and law school audiences alike including presentations to the international Military Operations Law conference in Queensland, Australia, the US Army's JAG School in Charlottesville, VA and law school events at Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Penn, Duke, Texas and Northwestern among others.
Professor Lewis received the Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching for the 2007-08 academic year.
He currently teaches Commercial Law, International Law, a Law of War Seminar and Torts. He has also taught Corporate Finance and Accounting for Lawyers. His other teaching interests include Civil Procedure and Contracts.
Chancellor Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law
Peltz-Steele received his law degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s in journalism and Spanish from Washington & Lee University. Peltz-Steele has won awards in teaching, research, and public service. He practiced commercial law in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and taught law for more than thirteen years before coming to UMass Law in 2011.
Peltz-Steele is author, co-author, or co-editor of qualitative and quantitative research in law and mass communication in journals and books, of treatises in law and development and access to information, and of textbooks in tort law and freedom of information. He is especially active in international media law and policy, having presented papers on five continents and having published in foreign journals and multinational collaborations. His current research focuses on comparative transparency in the context of development and in the private sector. Peltz-Steele serves in various roles in public service organizations, including the legal education committee of the American Bar Association, International Law Section.
Chancellor Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law
Peltz-Steele received his law degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s in journalism and Spanish from Washington & Lee University. Peltz-Steele has won awards in teaching, research, and public service. He practiced commercial law in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and taught law for more than thirteen years before coming to UMass Law in 2011.
Peltz-Steele is author, co-author, or co-editor of qualitative and quantitative research in law and mass communication in journals and books, of treatises in law and development and access to information, and of textbooks in tort law and freedom of information. He is especially active in international media law and policy, having presented papers on five continents and having published in foreign journals and multinational collaborations. His current research focuses on comparative transparency in the context of development and in the private sector. Peltz-Steele serves in various roles in public service organizations, including the legal education committee of the American Bar Association, International Law Section.
Partner, Wiley Rein, LLP
Megan L. Brown is a partner at Wiley Rein LLP. She has significant litigation, appellate and regulatory experience before state and federal courts and agencies.
Ms. Brown helps businesses respond to federal, state and local regulation and investigations raising administrative law, statutory interpretation, and constitutional issues, including the First Amendment.
Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Health Law, Policy, and Ethics; Co-Director, Georgetown-Johns Hopkins Joint Program in Law and Public Health, Georgetown University
M. Gregg Bloche, M.D., J.D., is Professor of Law at Georgetown University and author of The Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure to Ration Care, Practice Politics, and Compromise Their Promise to Heal. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on health law and policy. Bloche’s writing has appeared in a wide range of venues, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs and the Journal of the American Medical Association; leading law reviews; and the New York Times, Washington Post, & other media outlets. He has also been a frequent commentator in national broadcast media. He was a health care advisor to President Obama’s 2008 campaign, as well as the presidential transition, and he spoke frequently for the campaign as a “surrogate.” Bloche has held teaching and research appointments at the University of Chicago, UCLA, and Columbia law schools, as well as the Brookings Institution, and the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a graduate of the law and medical schools at Yale, and he completed a residency in psychiatry at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. His awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Award in Health Policy Research. Bloche serves on several editorial boards and has advised governments and non-profits in the U.S. and abroad on a wide range of health policy issues. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Associate Professor of Medicine, General Internal Medicine, University of Chicago
Dr. Curlin is a hospice and palliative care physician, researcher, and medical ethicist. As founding Co-Director of the Program on Medicine and Religion, Dr. Curlin is working with Dr. Dan Sulmasy and colleagues from the Pritzker School of Medicine and the University of Chicago Divinity School to foster inquiry into and public discourse regarding the intersections of religion and the practice of medicine.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Curlin moved to the University of Chicago where he completed internal medicine residency training and fellowships in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program and the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. He joined the faculty in 2003.
Professor of Law, Catholic University of America
Robert Destro served as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). He has a long history as a human rights advocate and civil rights attorney with expertise in elections, employment, and constitutional law. Destro has served on the faculty at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law since 1982 and served as its interim dean from 1999 to 2001. He was founding director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion and served as the Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies from June 2017 to September 2019. He served as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1983-1989. His legal work includes collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo in a fifteen-year dialogue among Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leaders in the legal, business, and religious fields in the United States and the Middle East as well as efforts promoting the release of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in the Middle East. He has served as voting rights counsel for the Ohio Secretary of State and has advocated for the first amendment rights of individuals and organizations.
He earned a B.A. from Miami University, Ohio, and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is an active member of the Bar in Ohio and California.
The rest of his bio including his publications are available on the Catholic University Faculty page linked here.
Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Jessie Hill’s teaching and scholarship focus on constitutional law, civil rights, reproductive rights, and law and religion. Her articles have been published in the Michigan Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, and Texas Law Review, among others. She has also appeared in numerous local and national press outlets, including CNN, the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and NPR.
She is the founding director of the Reproductive Rights Law Initiative at the School of Law, which provides education and legal support relating to reproductive rights. Her work was recently profiled in the Case Law-Med magazine. She is a recipient of the university’s Distinguished Research Award. She has also been appointed a Nootbaar Fellow in Law and Religion at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law. In 2023, she received both the Black Law Students Association Faculty Award and the Champion for Women Award from the Cuyahoga Democratic Women’s Caucus, and she has been recognized by the ACLU of Ohio for her reproductive rights advocacy.
Professor Hill joined the faculty in 2003 after practicing First Amendment and civil rights law with the firm of Berkman, Gordon, Murray & DeVan in Cleveland. Before entering private practice, Professor Hill worked at the Reproductive Freedom Project of the National ACLU office in New York. She also served as law clerk to the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and her AB, magna cum laude, from Brown University.
President, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Religious Liberty, Catholic University; Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School
Mark joined the Becket team in 2011 and splits his time as Associate Professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, and as Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. Mark teaches constitutional law, religious liberty, torts, and evidence. He has been voted Teacher of the Year three years in a row by the Law School’s Student Bar Association.
Mark has broad experience litigating First Amendment religious exercise and free speech cases. He has represented the winning parties in a variety of Supreme Court First Amendment cases including Hobby Lobby, Little Sisters, Wheaton College, and Holt. In January 2014, Mark argued before the Supreme Court in McCullen v. Coakley, a First Amendment challenge to a Massachusetts speech restriction outside of abortion clinics. The Justices ruled in favor of his clients 9-0. Mark also led a successful eight-year litigation battle against Governor Blagojevich’s effort to force religious pharmacists to distribute the morning-after and week-after pills.
Mark’s academic writing focuses on the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and has appeared in a variety of prestigious journals, including the Harvard Law Review.
Mark is a widely sought after speaker on constitutional issues, particularly concerning abortion and the First Amendment. Professor Rienzi has been invited to discuss these issues at Harvard Law School, Columbia University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Notre Dame Law School, the National Press Club, and the Capitol. He has been quoted on constitutional law issues on NPR, in the Washington Times, The New York Daily News, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Mark has also been featured on the Kelly File, Fox News Sunday, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Geraldo at Large, CNN Tonight, CNN Live, Andrea Mitchell Reports, and Wall Street Journal Live.
Prior to joining Becket, Mark served as counsel for the litigation department and the intellectual property litigation practice group of WilmerHale LLP. His practice focused on complex civil and appellate litigation with a particular emphasis on intellectual property and First Amendment issues. Prior to joining WilmerHale, he served as law clerk to the Hon. Stephen F. Williams, senior circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Prior to that, Mark was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.A. from Princeton University, both with honors.
2010 Annual Report
Eugene B. Meyer
Dear Friends and Supporters: This annual report marks the Federalist Society’s 28th anniversary as advocate...
Astra USA v. Santa Clara County - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Jeffrey S. Bucholtz
SCOTUScast 04-26-11 featuring Jeffrey S. Bucholtz
On March 29, 2011, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Astra USA v. Santa...
2011 James Madison Award Presentation - Prepared Remarks
Andrew McCarthy, Michael B. Mukasey
New York City Federalist Society 25th Anniversary Dinner
On April 25, 2011, the New York City Lawyers Chapter hosted its 25th Anniversary Dinner...
Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Joshua Paul Thompson
SCOTUScast 04-25-11 featuring Joshua P. Thompson
On April 4, 2011, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition...
Predator Drones, Targeted Killings and the Law of Armed Conflict
Christopher Chadzutko, Lawrence Friedman, Victor Hansen, Michael W. Lewis
New England Student Chapter
Does the President have the legal authority to target a U.S. citizen? May unmanned aerial...
Predator Drones, Targeted Killings and the Law of Armed Conflict
Christopher Chadzutko, Lawrence Friedman, Victor Hansen, Michael W. Lewis
New England Student Chapter
Does the President have the legal authority to target a U.S. citizen? May unmanned aerial...
FCC v. AT&T and Milner v. Department of the Navy - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Richard J. Peltz-Steele
SCOTUScast 04-20-11 featuring Richard J. Peltz
On March 1, 2011, the Supreme Court announced its decision in FCC v. AT&T, a...
Milner v. Department of the Navy and FCC v. ATT&T - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Richard J. Peltz-Steele
SCOTUScast 04-18-11 featuring Richard J. Peltz
Are Nuisance Lawsuits to Address Climate Change Justiciable in the Federal Courts? Global Warming at the Supreme Court
Megan L. Brown
Engage, Volume 12, Issue 1
This article examines American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, a U.S. Supreme Court case whose...
New Conscience Regulations from the Department of Health & Human Services: Do They Strike the Right Balance Between Conscience and the Medical Profession?
M. Gregg Bloche, Farr A. Curlin, Robert A. Destro, Jessie Hill, Mark L. Rienzi
Religious Liberties Practice Group and Georgetown Student Chapter
The protection of conscience for health care providers has, in some arguments, been pitted against...