Pio Cardinal Laghi Distinguished Chair in Law, Professor and Co-director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law - Minnesota
Professor Gregory Sisk is the Pio Cardinal Laghi Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He received his B.A. from Montana State University and his J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, where he graduated first in his class, was an editor on the law review, and president of the moot court board. Prior to joining the legal academy, he served as a legal advisor in all three branches of the federal government: as a legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, as a law clerk to a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, and as an appellate attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice representing the United States in the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. Subsequent to his government service, he was in private practice as the head of the appellate department of a Seattle law firm.
Professor Sisk joined the University of St. Thomas law faculty in 2003, after teaching for twelve years at the Drake University Law School, where he had also been named as the Richard M. & Anita Calkins Distinguished Professor. He teaches Professional Responsibility and Civil Procedure, as well as a new course with original materials on Litigation with the Federal Government. His casebook, "Litigation With the Federal Government: Cases and Materials," was published by Foundation Press in 2000 and has been adopted at several law schools, including Georgetown University, George Washington University, Catholic University, New York University, the University of Pittsburgh, and McGeorge School of Law.
Professor Sisk also is author of the leading treatise on the subject, "Litigation With the Federal Government," published as the fourth edition by ALI-ABA in 2006. He has published nearly three dozen articles on litigation with the federal government, judicial decisionmaking, awards of attorney's fees, professional responsibility, constitutional interpretation, law and religion, and tort reform. His articles have been cited by the United States Supreme Court, several federal courts of appeals, and the supreme courts of several states. His empirical study of judicial decisionmaking and the influence of judicial background, co-authored with Professors Michael Heise and Andrew Morriss, was published in the New York University Law Review and received the 1999 Article Prize from the Law and Society Association.
Professor Sisk has remained active as a member of the legal profession. He served as reporter for the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct Drafting Committee appointed by the Iowa Supreme Court to draft the new set of ethics rules to govern lawyers in Iowa. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the nation's premier law reform organization. He maintains a limited practice, primarily as an appellate attorney and as an expert witness on professional ethics and conduct. For example, he briefed a leading environmental/federal-common-law case as counsel for amicus curiae and then was invited to argue the central issue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. More important than success on the merits, however, was the testament that the court gave to the attorneys in the case: "Litigation often produces criticism for its participants. This case, however, was extraordinarily well briefed and argued by consummate professionals on both sides and we are grateful for that." Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Brown & Bryant, Inc., 132 F.3d 1295, 1303 n.5 (9th Cir. 1997), amended, 159 F.3d 358, 365 n.6 (9th Cir. 1998).
Professor Sisk is also active with the Conference on Catholic Legal Thought, writing and speaking about religion and public life and the role of faith in professional life. He occasionally participates as a member of the Mirror of Justice blog, which present a diverse array of Catholic perspectives on the law, public life, and social justice.
J.D., University of Washington Law School
B.A., Montana State University
Managing Shareholder, Saltzman Mugan Dushoff, PLLC
Over the course of his twenty-plus years as an attorney in Las Vegas, Mr. Saltzman has developed a corporate law practice focused on financial institution and liquor law. He assists businesses in their formation, licensing and governance matters; he also counsels businesses on corporate mergers and acquisition matters. He assists highly regulated financial institutions and captive insurance companies in corporate and regulatory compliance matters and he has testified before the Nevada legislature as an expert on trust company legislation and drafted portions of Nevada law relating to the chartering and operation of Nevada trust companies. He has counseled trust companies and financial service firms on Blockchain and cryptocurrency related legal compliance matters.
Mr. Saltzman has developed and managed the firm’s liquor law practice into Nevada’s largest alcohol beverage specialty law practice group. He and his team of attorneys and paralegals assist a wide range of liquor retailers, wholesalers and suppliers in licensing and compliance matters in all Nevada jurisdictions. More information on Mr. Saltzman’s liquor law practice can be found at his blog: www.nvliquorlaw.com
Matthew Saltzman received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Philosophy from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1987. In 1993, he received his Juris Doctor from University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was also Executive Editor of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review and served as teaching assistant for the Legal Research and Writing course.
Former Vice President & Director, External Relations, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Jonathan Bunch is the former Vice President and Director of External Relations for the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. Jonathan was responsible for a broad range of strategic, programming, and media relations decisions that were integral to the Society's mission. In addition to his work for the Society, Jonathan regularly advised other organizations and public officials on matters of legal policy and judicial selection. Before joining the Society, Jonathan ran a 501c4 in Missouri, where he had served on the staff of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and as a law clerk for The Honorable Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on the Supreme Court of Missouri. Jonathan is a graduate of John Brown University and the University of Missouri School of Law. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Amanda, and their four children.
Partner, Jones Day
Ben Ginsberg represents numerous political parties, political campaigns, candidates, members of Congress and state legislatures, governors, corporations, trade associations, vendors, donors, and individuals participating in the political process. He represents a variety of clients on election law issues, particularly those involving federal and state campaign finance laws, ethics and gifts rules, pay-to-play laws, election administration, government investigations, redistricting, communications law, and election recounts and contests.
Prior to joining Jones Day in 2014, Mr. Ginsberg served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns in the 2004 and 2000 election cycles and played a central role in the 2000 Florida recount. In 2012 and 2008, he served as national counsel to the Romney for President campaign. He also has represented the campaigns and leadership PACs of numerous members of the Senate and House as well as the national party committees. He serves as counsel to the Republican Governors Association and has extensive experience on the state legislative level through Republican redistricting efforts.
Before entering law school, Mr. Ginsberg spent five years as a newspaper reporter at The Boston Globe, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, The Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts), and The Riverside Press-Enterprise (California). He has been a guest lecturer at the Stanford University Law School, a Fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Ginsberg recently served as co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1982
University of Pennsylvania, A.B., 1974
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
Publius comes from the pen name Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay used when they wrote 85 publicly printed letters now known as the Federalist Papers. Hamilton chose “Publius” as a name that would represent friends of the newly proposed American republic - Publius Valeria Publicola was a Roman general who helped to found the Roman Republic. The Federalist Society continues the tradition of publishing things under the name Publius in celebration of our constitutional roots and recognition that author credit is not always necessary.
Retired
Tom Gede retired in 2023 as a principal in Morgan Lewis Consulting LLC and of counsel to the firm. He currently consults on a variety of legal and policy matters for both public and private clients. Tom has a national reputation and distinguished background in federal Indian law. Prior to retirement, he represented clients in complex governmental matters in litigation, administrative and regulatory proceedings, including high-profile matters involving state governments. A former senior deputy in the California Attorney General’s office, Tom was amicus coordinator and Supreme Court counsel, and argued cases in the US Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and numerous state and federal appellate courts.
Tom also served as executive director of the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG), coordinating activities on key legal and policy issues, such as federal Indian law, energy, environmental, public lands, financial services, and telecommunications, for the attorneys general of 18 western states and territories. In 2016, Tom was elected as a Member of the American Law Institute (ALI), and served as an Adviser on the Restatement of the Law Third - The Law of American Indians. Tom also taught federal Indian law as an adjunct law professor at the University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law. He served as an assistant editor for and the author of the Indian gaming chapter in CWAG’s American Indian Law Deskbook (2d & 3d eds.). He has been engaged in Indian gaming and Indian law matters for more than three decades, having focused on the gaming compacts with Indian tribes, as well as complex civil and criminal jurisdiction, land, natural resources, water and law enforcement issues in Indian country. He has testified before Congress on American Indian and Native Alaskan issues. In 2012 he was appointed by Speaker John Boehner to serve on the United States Indian Law and Order Commission, where he examined criminal justice issues in Indian country and Alaska, resulting in the issuance of an important report to the President and Congress.
Publius comes from the pen name Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay used when they wrote 85 publicly printed letters now known as the Federalist Papers. Hamilton chose “Publius” as a name that would represent friends of the newly proposed American republic - Publius Valeria Publicola was a Roman general who helped to found the Roman Republic. The Federalist Society continues the tradition of publishing things under the name Publius in celebration of our constitutional roots and recognition that author credit is not always necessary.
SCOTUScast 11-6-07 featuring Gregory Sisk
Gregory Sisk
John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States
On November 6th, 2007, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the John R. Sand...
Nevada Legislature Passes Proposal to Change Judicial Selection Process
Matthew Saltzman
Presently, judges in Nevada are selected through contested, non-partisan elections. However, earlier this year the...
Missouri Looks to Reform the Missouri Plan
Jonathan Bunch
Missouri’s judicial selection process— known as the “Missouri Court Plan”—has been the subject of intense...
Judicial Selection Litigation in New York
Benjamin L. Ginsberg, John Hilton
As this series of articles demonstrates, judicial selection is a hot topic in many states...
Is the Tennessee Plan Constitutional?
Maclin P. Davis
Since 1994, the elections of judges for eight-year terms to the Tennessee Supreme Court have...
Missouri Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Statute In Part Creating Civil Liability for Abortion Providers
Matthew J. Brooker
In 2005, the Missouri legislature enacted a statutory provision that created civil liability for any...
Gay Marriage Update: Iowa & Maryland
John Shu
Gay marriage litigation continues throughout the several states. Recently a trial court in Iowa struck...
Proposals to End Judicial Elections in Minnesota
Publius
The subject of judicial selection has received considerable attention in Minnesota this year. There are...
Court Bars California Governments from Retaining Private Contingency-Fee Counsel in Nuisance Suits
Thomas F. Gede
In a case with national significance, a local Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ruled...
Tribal Sovereign Immunity Does Not Bar California’s Suit over Campaign Contribution Disclosure Violations
Publius
Relying upon the Tenth Amendment and the Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the California...