Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Senior Attorney, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
John-Michael Seibler is a senior attorney at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Prior to joining FINRA, he directed The Heritage Foundation’s project to counter abuse of the criminal law, particularly at the federal level, and was a legal fellow in Heritage's Institute for Constitutional Government. Seibler started at Heritage as a visiting fellow through the Charles Koch Institute’s Koch Associate program.
He previously clerked for the House Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee, the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. He received his law degree from Washington & Lee University School of Law.
Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Stewart Baker is a partner in the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. From 2005 to 2009, he was the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security. His law practice covers cybersecurity, data protection, homeland security, and travel and foreign investment regulation; he has been awarded one patent.
Mr. Baker has been General Counsel of the National Security Agency and General Counsel of the commission that investigated WMD intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war. He is the author of Skating on Stilts, a book on terrorism, cybersecurity, and other technology issues; he also hosts the weekly Cyberlaw Podcast.
Counsel, Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Alan Cohn advises clients from a range of industries on cybersecurity, blockchain, and distributed ledger technology issues, and other national security and emerging technology issues. Mr. Cohn is co-chair of the firm’s Blockchain and Digital Currency practice. He serves as counsel to the Blockchain Alliance, a public-private forum established by a broad coalition of companies and organizations to help combat criminal activity on the blockchain, and advises companies and investors concerning a range of issues associated with the adoption and use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Mr. Cohn also coordinates the Coalition for Responsible Cybersecurity, which was formed by leading cybersecurity companies to prevent dual-use export control rules from harming defensive cybersecurity products, services, and technologies.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cohn served in senior policy positions at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for almost a decade, most recently as the assistant secretary for strategy, planning, analysis & risk and second-in-charge overall of the DHS Office of Policy. While at DHS, Mr. Cohn established the cyber policy office within the DHS Office of Policy, and helped shape department policy on issues such as cybersecurity information sharing, cybercrime and cyber-related sanctions, and cyber incident management. He also represented DHS on the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) and related national security review processes for foreign investments, acquisitions, and US license applications. Mr. Cohn also designed and led the first two Quadrennial Homeland Security Reviews—comprehensive year-long reviews of homeland security—and helped implement DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s Unity of Effort Initiative, a major corporate-level DHS governance, integration, and management reform effort.
Prior to government service, Mr. Cohn represented major corporations in federal and state court litigation, labor negotiations, and compliance matters involving federal agencies, including the US Department of Labor.
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation
Matthew R. A. Heiman joined the Company in May 2026 and has served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since June 2026. As Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Heiman is responsible for all legal functions for Gates, including securities and corporate governance, M&A, litigation, commercial, regulatory, compliance, patents and trademarks, real estate, employment and labor, sustainability and environmental matters. Prior to joining Gates, Mr. Heiman held senior legal leadership roles at Waystar, where he served as Chief Legal & Administrative Officer from 2023 to 2025 and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2020 to 2023. Prior to that, he was with Johnson Controls, where he served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Heiman has been a Senior Fellow for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law since 2018.
Fellow, National Security Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Vince Vitkowsky chaired the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s International and National Security Law and Policy Practice Group for over a decade. He is also a Fellow at the National Security Institute of George Mason University Law School. Vince spent 45 years in private practice, primarily in AmLaw 100/200 firms and their spin-offs. His practice included domestic and international commercial arbitration and litigation, as well as cyber risks and liabilities. Vince's current focus is on national security policy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism. He has often written and spoken on national security and other public policy issues. Among other affiliations, Vince has been an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Law and Counterterrorism of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a member of the Executive Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association, and Co-Chair of the Committee on Interventions and Trial Observations of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Robert M. Kimmitt is Senior International Counsel at the law firm of WilmerHale.
Both in government and the private sector, Ambassador Kimmitt has held a wide variety of senior positions at the intersection of international business, finance, law, and policy. From 2005-2009, he served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, where he had significant responsibility for the Department’s international agenda, including his leadership role on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and as lead U.S. negotiator for the International Compact with Iraq.
Earlier, he was American Ambassador to Germany from 1991-1993; Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 1989-1991; and General Counsel to the U.S. Treasury from 1985-1987. He also served in the Reagan White House as National Security Council Executive Secretary and General Counsel from 1983-1985, with the rank of Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
In addition to his government service, Ambassador Kimmitt served as Executive Vice President, Global Public Policy, at Time Warner from 2001-2005. Prior to that, he was Vice Chairman and President of Commerce One, a Silicon Valley software company. He was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering from 1997-2000, a managing director of Lehman Brothers from 1993-1997, and a partner in the law firm of Sidley & Austin from 1987-1989.
Ambassador Kimmitt graduated with distinction from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1969. He served in combat with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam from 1970-1971, earning three Bronze Star Medals, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired as a Major General in the Army Reserve. During 1997 Mr. Kimmitt was a member of the National Defense Panel, and from 1998-2005 he was a member of the Director of Central Intelligence’s National Security Advisory Panel. He also served as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Ambassador Kimmitt received his law degree from Georgetown University in 1977, where he was Editor in Chief of Law & Policy in International Business. From 1977-1978, he served as law clerk to Judge Edward A. Tamm of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Marymount University in 2009; the Distinguished Graduate Award from West Point in 2010; and the Outstanding Alumnus Award of the U.S. Army War College in 2015.
Ambassador Kimmitt is Chairman of the American Council on Germany; a member of the Supervisory Board of Lufthansa AG; a member of the International Advisory Boards of Allianz SE and The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation; a member of the Global Advisory Board of Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings; a board member of USA Rugby, the Atlantic Council, and the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. His foreign language is German.
Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Middle East and International Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Professor of Law Eugene Kontorovich is one of the world’s preeminent experts on universal jurisdiction and maritime piracy, as well as international law and the Israel-Arab conflict. He is also the Director of Scalia Law School's Center for the Middle East and International Law. Professor Kontorovich joined the Scalia Law School from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law where he was a Professor of Law from 2011 to 2018 and an Associate Professor from 2007 to 2011. Previously, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago from 2005 to 2007 and an Assistant Professor at George Mason School of Law from 2003 to 2007.
Professor Kontorovich has published over thirty major scholarly articles and book chapters in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Europe, including the American Journal of International Law, International Review of Law & Economics, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Virginia Law Review. His scholarship has been cited in leading foreign relations and international law
His expertise is often sought out and quoted by major news organizations such the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR News, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television and radio programs. Prof. Kontorovich’s popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, Commentary, Haaretz, and numerous other leading publications. He is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy legal blog.
He attended the University of Chicago for college and law school. After law school, he clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been honored with a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in 2011-12, and with the Federalist Society’s prestigious Bator Award, given annually to a young scholar (under 40), for outstanding scholarship and teaching.
Topics
March to the Convention
The Federalist Society and its Practice Groups are proud to present the 2017 National Lawyers...
Money Bail and Pretrial Detention
Marc Levin, John-Michael Seibler
Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Teleforum
Pretrial justice policies have recently emerged as a high profile issue and have a broad...
Topics
Teaching The Federalist and The Founding
Three weeks after he died, Justice Scalia was scheduled to have given two speeches on...
Discussion on the Wassenaar Arrangement
Stewart A. Baker, Alan Cohn, Matthew R. A. Heiman
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Should software be regulated like a military weapon? That’s the direction in which most Western...
Cyber, Robotic, and Space Weapons in International Conflict
Vincent Vitkowsky
Federalist Society Review, Volume 18
A review of: Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for...
Topics
Does Part of Workers’ Wages Belong to Their Monopoly Bargaining Agent, Even If They Aren’t Union Members?
On September 28, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Janus v. American Federation of...
The Role of Treasury in National Security Policy
Robert M. Kimmitt
International & National Security Law Practice Group Teleforum
The concept of national security has broadened considerably since the early decades of the National...
Topics
United States Exports Its Most Profound Ignorance About Racial Disparities to the United Kingdom
I have discussed in many places – most comprehensively in “Race and Mortality Revisited,” Society (July/Aug. 2014),...
Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Eugene Kontorovich
SCOTUScast featuring Eugene Kontorovich
On October 11, 2017, the Supreme Court heard argument in Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC,...
Topics
Bar Watch: Beware the ABA's Own Version of 'Judicial Activism'
Federalist Society expert Adam White published an article in the Weekly Standard yesterday criticizing the American...