Constitutional Scholarship Director and Senior Legal Analyst, Pacific Legal Foundation
Anastasia Boden is Director of Constitutional Scholarship at Pacific Legal Foundation, where she leads the organization’s Supreme Court commentary and directs scholarly analysis in support of the firm’s litigation. She has represented entrepreneurs and small businesses nationwide in challenges to onerous licensing regimes, anti-competitive titling restrictions, Certificate of Need (“competitor’s veto”) laws, and other forms of unnecessary red tape that block economic opportunity.
Prior to this role, Anastasia developed nearly a dozen constitutional challenges to Certificate of Need laws across the country, helping spur legislative reform in Montana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Her victories include a ruling invalidating Houston’s busking restrictions, multiple appellate decisions expanding access to the courts for civil rights plaintiffs, and the legislative repeal of Virginia’s happy-hour advertising ban.
Her writings on law and liberty have been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and more, and she has appeared on Headline News, CBS News, Fox News, ReasonTV, Newsmax, and John Stossel. In 2020, she was featured on Libertarian Party presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen’s Supreme Court shortlist.
Anastasia earned her BA with dean’s honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was research assistant to Professor Randy E. Barnett—the “intellectual godfather” of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare. She is the co-creator of the podcast Dissed, about infamous Supreme Court dissents. She authors the biweekly newsletter SCOTUS Scoop and the column, “In Dissent” for SCOTUSblog.
General Counsel, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daniel Greenberg is the General Counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His research focuses on civil asset forfeiture and regulatory reform. He served as senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2017-2021. From 2011-2017, he was president of the Advance Arkansas Institute, a nonprofit research and educational organization.
He has been an adjunct professor of law and political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as well as senior counsel for the Center for Class Action Fairness. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2007-2011, and on the Pulaski County Quorum Court for four years prior to that. As a state legislator, he received National Review’s “2010 Challenge / Best Conservative Idea” award for his work on federalism issues as well as the Arkansas Press Association’s Freedom of Information Award for his work on First Amendment issues.
During the 1990s, he served as a congressional staffer for Congressman Jay Dickey and Tim Hutchinson before moving to the Heritage Foundation and then to the Cato Institute. He has published extensively on government and public policy in newspapers, magazines and academic journals, including the New York Times, National Review, the Monist, the John Marshall Law Review, and the Ohio State Law Journal. He holds degrees from Brown University, Bowling Green State University, and UALR’s Bowen School of Law.
Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP
Anthony J. “A.J.” Ferate has built a multi-faceted background in the areas of the law, policy, energy, campaigns and elections, and defense over the last 20 years.
Through recent representation as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (“OIPA”), A.J. held responsibilities over government efforts outside of the legislative branch on matters as broad as water, electric generation, commodity marketing, land matters, and seismicity. A.J. also maintained responsibility for legal matters at OIPA, including amicus briefing in appellate matters. A.J.’s extensive experience also includes management of public policy strategy for a Fortune 500 company.
For the past eleven years, A.J. has volunteered as General Counsel and spokesman for the Oklahoma Republican Party and has represented a number of elected officials, including U.S. Senator James Lankford, former statewide elected officials, a number of state legislators, and members of Congress.
Additionally, A.J. has assisted elected officials serve their constituents in all branches of government. Early in his career, A.J. held legislative aide duties in the Nebraska Legislature, then went on to work for former Nebraska Treasurer David Heineman. A.J. gained experience in the judiciary while serving Judge Gary L. Lumpkin at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal appellate court in Oklahoma. Following this service, A.J. began work with Denise A. Bode of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, assisting her in her duties regulating 70 percent of Oklahoma’s economy, including oil and gas and electric utilities.
A.J. honorably served ten years as an intelligence analyst for the United States Naval Reserve, including time at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the greater Washington DC area.
Opinion pieces authored or ghostwritten by A.J. have been published in the Seattle Times, Politico, Law360, The Oklahoman, Tulsa World and The Journal Record. A.J. has also been interviewed by national and international newspapers, and has also appeared on national radio programs including NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show and On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Danny Julián Boggs is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was appointed to a newly created seat on that court on January 29, 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 3, and received his commission on March 25. He served as the Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit from 2003 to 2009.
Member, Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC
Currently a litigator in private practice, Carmine has served the public as counsel and director for executive and regulatory agencies in Kentucky. Most recently as Chief of Staff and as General Counsel to the Kentucky Attorney General, he provided comprehensive strategic, policy, political, and legal advice and counsel to the Attorney General and the office’s divisions on issues involving complex litigation, government law, ethics, and compliance.
He previously served as Executive Director of the Attorney General’s Office of Civil & Environmental Law, where he oversaw trial litigation throughout the Commonwealth as well as appeals under the Open Meetings and Open Records Acts, and Opinions of the Attorney General. In this role, he was chiefly responsible for defending state statutes challenged as unconstitutional and for the defense of executive and judicial branch officials. While at the Attorney General’s office, he authored an Opinion of the Attorney General which concluded that ESG investment practices are inconsistent with Kentucky law governing public pensions—the first such opinion in the country.
Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Carmine served as Governor-appointed General Counsel of the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet, where he was chief counsel to the Cabinet and its 12 agencies charged with regulating horse racing, financial institutions, insurance, alcoholic beverages, construction, professional licensing, and charitable gaming. While at the Cabinet, he litigated throughout state and federal court, including a case defending the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s declaration of the winner of the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Danny Julián Boggs is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was appointed to a newly created seat on that court on January 29, 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 3, and received his commission on March 25. He served as the Chief Judge of the Sixth Circuit from 2003 to 2009.
Member, Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC
Currently a litigator in private practice, Carmine has served the public as counsel and director for executive and regulatory agencies in Kentucky. Most recently as Chief of Staff and as General Counsel to the Kentucky Attorney General, he provided comprehensive strategic, policy, political, and legal advice and counsel to the Attorney General and the office’s divisions on issues involving complex litigation, government law, ethics, and compliance.
He previously served as Executive Director of the Attorney General’s Office of Civil & Environmental Law, where he oversaw trial litigation throughout the Commonwealth as well as appeals under the Open Meetings and Open Records Acts, and Opinions of the Attorney General. In this role, he was chiefly responsible for defending state statutes challenged as unconstitutional and for the defense of executive and judicial branch officials. While at the Attorney General’s office, he authored an Opinion of the Attorney General which concluded that ESG investment practices are inconsistent with Kentucky law governing public pensions—the first such opinion in the country.
Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Carmine served as Governor-appointed General Counsel of the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet, where he was chief counsel to the Cabinet and its 12 agencies charged with regulating horse racing, financial institutions, insurance, alcoholic beverages, construction, professional licensing, and charitable gaming. While at the Cabinet, he litigated throughout state and federal court, including a case defending the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s declaration of the winner of the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby.
Former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization, Former United States Ambassador to East Timor
Grover Joseph Rees, a native and resident of Louisiana, served as the first United States Ambassador to East Timor from 2002 to 2006.
From October 2006 until January 2009 Ambassador Rees served as Special Representative for Social Issues in the U.S. Department of State. He was responsible for promoting human dignity, including issues affecting vulnerable persons and the family, within the United Nations system. He served as Acting U.S. Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Counsel during the fall 2007 session of the UN General Assembly and also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organizations.
From 1995 until 2002 Rees was a senior staff member on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States House of Representatives, where he was responsible for human rights and refugee protection and played a major role in the drafting and enactment of important human rights legislation including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the International Religious Freedom Act, and the Torture Victims Relief Act.
Ambassador Rees also formerly served as General Counsel of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (1991-93), as Chief Justice of the High Court of American Samoa (1986-1991), and as Special Counsel to the Attorney General of the United States (1985-86).
Prior to his work in Washington, Rees served for seven years as a law professor at the University of Texas. He has written and spoken widely on international law, human rights, refugees, and related issues.
Rees obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Louisiana State University Law School, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Louisiana Law Review and was selected for the academic honor society Order of the Coif.
Rees was born in New Orleans, the oldest of 12 children. He is married to Lan Dai Nguyen Rees and has one son. He retired from government service in January 2009 and now lives and works in Lafayette, Louisiana.
In addition to English, Ambassador Rees speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, Samoan, and Tetum.
Of Counsel, Spencer Fane LLP
Anthony J. “A.J.” Ferate has built a multi-faceted background in the areas of the law, policy, energy, campaigns and elections, and defense over the last 20 years.
Through recent representation as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (“OIPA”), A.J. held responsibilities over government efforts outside of the legislative branch on matters as broad as water, electric generation, commodity marketing, land matters, and seismicity. A.J. also maintained responsibility for legal matters at OIPA, including amicus briefing in appellate matters. A.J.’s extensive experience also includes management of public policy strategy for a Fortune 500 company.
For the past eleven years, A.J. has volunteered as General Counsel and spokesman for the Oklahoma Republican Party and has represented a number of elected officials, including U.S. Senator James Lankford, former statewide elected officials, a number of state legislators, and members of Congress.
Additionally, A.J. has assisted elected officials serve their constituents in all branches of government. Early in his career, A.J. held legislative aide duties in the Nebraska Legislature, then went on to work for former Nebraska Treasurer David Heineman. A.J. gained experience in the judiciary while serving Judge Gary L. Lumpkin at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal appellate court in Oklahoma. Following this service, A.J. began work with Denise A. Bode of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, assisting her in her duties regulating 70 percent of Oklahoma’s economy, including oil and gas and electric utilities.
A.J. honorably served ten years as an intelligence analyst for the United States Naval Reserve, including time at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the greater Washington DC area.
Opinion pieces authored or ghostwritten by A.J. have been published in the Seattle Times, Politico, Law360, The Oklahoman, Tulsa World and The Journal Record. A.J. has also been interviewed by national and international newspapers, and has also appeared on national radio programs including NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show and On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
Jennifer Weddle is the Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig's American Indian Law Practice and has wide-ranging experience in complex regulatory and jurisdictional issues, with a focus in Indian law, handling a variety of matters for tribal and non-tribal clients. She has a dynamic, inter-disciplinary practice that centers on providing strategies for resolving complex jurisdictional problems. Much of her practice focuses in the areas of tribal economic development and natural resources development. Jennifer also has U.S. Supreme Court experience, including serving as one of the attorneys for the respondent in Nevada v. Hicks (2001) and representing the petitioners in Ute Mountain Ute Tribe v. Padilla (2012) and Grand Canyon Skywalk Development, LLC v. Grand Canyon Resort Corporation (2013) and cert stage amici in Saginaw-Chippewa Tribe v. NLRB (2016) and United States v. Cooley (2020) and amici on the merits in Lewis v. Clarke (2017), U.S. v. Washington (2018), Carpenter v. Murphy (2018), McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), and United States v. Cooley (2021).
Jennifer's work also includes negotiations for mineral leasing employment matters and representation before federal agencies. She has also been involved in civil litigation, working on numerous complex federal, state and tribal litigation matters, including class action tort litigation and large commercial disputes. Her transactional experience includes oil and gas renewables projects throughout the west, as well as Endangered Species Act work. Jennifer frequently assists tribes, banks and non-bank entities with financing and regulatory matters with Indian law components. Jennifer has wide-ranging project siting experience, including the application of NEPA, NHPA, and other environmental laws on tribal and public lands, including with respect to large linear multi-state energy and infrastructure projects. Jennifer has deep transactional, regulatory and litigation experience involving very complex matters with both legal and policy components.
Jennifer is past President of the National Native American Bar Association and past two-term Chair of the Federal Bar Association Indian Law Section. She currently serves as the Tenth Circuit Representative on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, a role she has held since 2018, spanning the evaluations for more than two dozen federal judicial nominees at every level of the federal courts. She is a ’00 graduate of Harvard Law School and a ’97 graduate of the University of Michigan (Classical Languages and Literature).
Senior Associate, Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC
Drew Watkins is a senior associate with Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC, providing counsel in the areas of campaign finance and election law, lobbying and ethics compliance, and tax-exempt organizations.
Prior to joining the firm, Drew served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph R. Goeke, Senior Judge of the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C., and worked in the Office of General Counsel for the Governor of Kentucky, Matthew G. Bevin. While in law school, Drew served as a law clerk for the Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission and interned for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in his office in Washington, D.C.
Drew graduated from the University of Louisville with a B.S. in Justice Administration. He earned his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Kentucky College of Law and was a member of the Order of the Coif. During law school, he served as a senior staff editor on the Kentucky Law Journal and authored a published student note on the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. He is a member of the Kentucky, D.C. and Virginia bars and the Federalist Society.
Dean and Associate Professor of Law, Faulkner University, Jones School of Law
Professor Campbell joined the faculty in 2007. He graduated from Auburn University in 1988 with a degree in International Business and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1993. Following a judicial clerkship for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Professor Campbell entered private practice in Montgomery and Birmingham.
In 2000, Professor Campbell became an Assistant Attorney General in the Alabama Attorney General’s office, where his practice focused on constitutional law and civil rights, with an emphasis on the First, Eleventh, and Fourteenth Amendments, state immunity, election law, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In Spring 2002, he was a National Association of Attorneys General Supreme Court Fellow. In 2006, Professor Campbell became Deputy Chief Counsel to United States Senator Jeff Sessions, Chairman, and then Ranking Member, of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. His responsibilities included legislative analysis, drafting, and negotiations, management of hearings, and review of judicial nominations.
Professor Campbell teaches federal and Alabama civil procedure. In addition, he serves as President of the Board of Directors of Health Talents International, Inc., a nonprofit medical missions agency operating in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Explainer Episode 27 – Occupational Regulations in the Beauty Industry
Anastasia P. Boden, Daniel Greenberg
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
In this episode, Anastasia P. Boden interviews Daniel Greenberg about his new article, "Regulating Glamour: A Quantitative Analysis...
Topics
The Growing Legal Controversy about Drone Trespass
The questions have been raised in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, law reviews,...
Sanchez v. Mayorkas - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
On June 7, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Sanchez v. Mayorkas. The issue before the...
United States v. Cooley - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Anthony J. Ferate
featuring Anthony Ferate
On June 1, 2021 the Supreme Court decided United States v. Cooley. The issue was...
Conversations with the Sixth Circuit: An Interview with Judge Danny Boggs
Josh Blackman, Danny J. Boggs, Carmine G. Iaccarino
Central Kentucky Lawyers Chapter
On May 28, 2021, the Federalist Society's Central Kentucky Lawyers Chapter featured the first installment...
Conversations with the Sixth Circuit: An Interview with Judge Danny Boggs
Josh Blackman, Danny J. Boggs, Carmine G. Iaccarino
Central Kentucky Lawyers Chapter
On May 28, 2021, the Federalist Society's Central Kentucky Lawyers Chapter featured the first installment...
Sanchez v. Mayorkas -- Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Grover Joseph Rees
On June 7, 2021, the Supreme Court decided Sanchez v. Mayorkas. The issue before the...
Courthouse Steps Decision Teleforum: United States v. Cooley
Anthony J. Ferate, Jennifer H. Weddle
In a 9-0 opinion written by Justice Breyer that could have far-reaching implications, the Supreme Court...
State Court Docket Watch: Zignego v. Wisconsin Elections Commission
Andrew Watkins
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
City of San Antonio, Texas v. Hotels.com - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Charles Campbell
featuring Charles Campbell
On June 1, 2021 the Supreme Court decided City of San Antonio, Texas v. Hotels.com...