Vice President, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
John G. Malcolm oversees Advancing American Freedom’s work to increase understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law as Vice President of the organization’s Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law. Malcolm brings to the challenge a wealth of legal expertise and experience in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Advancing American Freedom in 2025, Malcolm was the Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2012, Malcolm was general counsel at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as well as a distinguished practitioner in residence at Pepperdine Law School. From 2004 to 2009, Malcolm was executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association.
Malcolm served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division from 2001 to 2004, where he oversaw sections on computer crime and intellectual property, domestic security, child exploitation and obscenity, and special investigations. Immediately prior to that, he was a founding partner in the Atlanta law firm of Malcolm & Schroeder, LLP.
From 1990 to 1997, Malcolm was an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, assigned to the fraud and public corruption section, and also an associate independent counsel, investigating fraud and abuse in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was honored with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance for his work in connection with the successful prosecution of Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who assassinated an 11th Circuit judge and the head of the Savannah chapter of the NAACP.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia College, Malcolm began his career as a law clerk to a federal district court judge and a federal appellate court judge, and as an associate at the Atlanta-based law firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan (new Eversheds Sutherland).
Malcolm, who resides in Washington, D.C., serves on the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera and is a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Orin S. Kerr is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he teaches and writes in the areas of criminal procedure and computer crime law. Kerr earned mechanical engineering degrees from Princeton University and Stanford University before graduating with a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a former law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the United States Supreme Court and Judge Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
United States Senator, Kentucky
U.S. Senator Rand Paul, M.D. was elected to represent Kentucky in the United States Senate in 2010. He serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Dr. Paul is the third of five children born to Carol and Ron Paul. He grew up in Lake Jackson, Tex., and attended Baylor University. He graduated from Duke Medical School in 1988. Dr. Paul completed a general surgery internship at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta, Ga., and completed his residency in ophthalmology at Duke University Medical Center. Upon completion of his training in 1993, Dr. Paul and Kelley moved to Bowling Green to start their family and begin his ophthalmology practice. Dr. Paul has been married for 25 years to Kelley Ashby Paul of Russellville, Ky., and they have three sons together: William, 22; Duncan, 19; and Robert, 16.
Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Orin S. Kerr is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he teaches and writes in the areas of criminal procedure and computer crime law. Kerr earned mechanical engineering degrees from Princeton University and Stanford University before graduating with a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a former law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the United States Supreme Court and Judge Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
United States Senator, Kentucky
U.S. Senator Rand Paul, M.D. was elected to represent Kentucky in the United States Senate in 2010. He serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Dr. Paul is the third of five children born to Carol and Ron Paul. He grew up in Lake Jackson, Tex., and attended Baylor University. He graduated from Duke Medical School in 1988. Dr. Paul completed a general surgery internship at Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta, Ga., and completed his residency in ophthalmology at Duke University Medical Center. Upon completion of his training in 1993, Dr. Paul and Kelley moved to Bowling Green to start their family and begin his ophthalmology practice. Dr. Paul has been married for 25 years to Kelley Ashby Paul of Russellville, Ky., and they have three sons together: William, 22; Duncan, 19; and Robert, 16.
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Jason J. Mendro is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he practices in the firm's Litigation Department. Mr. Mendro has extensive experience defending class and derivative action lawsuits at the trial and appellate level, in both federal and state courts. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Firm's Securities Litigation Practice Group. Law360 recently recognized Mr. Mendro as a "Rising Star" in the category of securities law.
Mr. Mendro has defended numerous securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions, representing directors and executives against a host of challenges to their decisions, oversight, and compensation.
Mr. Mendro has also defended complex litigation involving a broad spectrum of other disputes, including claims under ERISA, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection laws. He has conducted internal investigations, represented special litigation committees, and defended companies in investigations and actions by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and self-regulatory organizations.
Mr. Mendro also has significant experience in appellate litigation and in rulemaking challenges. Among other recent matters, Mr. Mendro was a key contributor to successful challenges to numerous, controversial regulations with broad implications for the global swaps market, as well as a precedent-setting appellate victory that reversed a multi-million-dollar jury verdict under the False Claims Act.
Mr. Mendro graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, where he graduated first in his class. Mr. Mendro also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerald B. Tjoflat of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Mr. Mendro is admitted to practice law in Washington, D.C., California, and numerous federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits.
John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University School of Law
Patrick McKinley Brennan joined the Villanova faculty in 2004 as the inaugural holder of the John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies and now also serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Professor Brennan works in the tradition of reflection on natural law and natural rights to examine a wide range of questions in jurisprudence and public law, including sovereignty, equality authority, the rule of law, constitutionalism, the family, and punishment and forgiveness, as well as topics in administrative law, constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, religious liberty and the liberty of the church, and criminal law. He regularly teaches constitutional law, administrative law, federal courts, criminal law, and a range of courses in jurisprudence.
Professor Brennan has published some fifty articles and book chapters. His most recent book, The Sovereignty of the Good: An Essay on Law, Authority, and the Church, will be published by Oxford University Press. He has also published By Nature Equal: The Anatomy of a Western Insight (Princeton University Press 1999) (with John Coons), Civilizing Authority: Society, State, and Church (Lexington 2007), and the Vocation of the Child (W.B. Eeerdmans 2008). He currently co-authoring Christian Perspectives on Law: Cases and Materials (with William Brewbaker III).
Before coming to Villanova, Professor Brennan was for eight years a faculty member in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where for several years he served as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research and later as Vice Dean. Previously, Brennan was associated with major law firms in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Brennan clerked for Hon. John T. Noonan, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco.
A native of California, Brennan earned his J.D. from Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall), U.C. Berkeley, where he won many awards and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Prior to law school, Brennan earned an M.A. and pursued doctoral course work in philosophy at the University of Toronto, taking many of his courses there in the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. He was graduated from Yale College with a B.A. in philosophy with honors and distinction in the major. At Yale, Brennan also studied Greek and Latin and won the Jacob Cooper Prize for the best essay on ancient Greek philosophy.
Professor Brennan has been a visiting professor in the Boston College Law School and a senior research fellow at the Robbins Collection of Canon and Civil Law at U.C. Berkeley. Brennan has also been a scholar in residence at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, where he delivered the Brendan F. Brown Lecture in 2006. Brennan has delivered the Yves Simon Lecture at the University of Chicago and the Donald M. Giannella Lecture at Villanova University.
At Villanova, Brennan organizes the annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture. Keynote speakers have included the late Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Justice Antonin Scalia, Martha Nussbaum, Joseph Vining, John Ferejohn, and William Eskridge. Other speakers have included Jeremy Waldron, Geoff Stone, Jesse Choper, Lee Bollinger, Roderick Hills, Jane Schacter, Kristin Hickman, Jefferson Powell, Amy Uelmen, Richard Garnett, Kent Greenawalt, and many others.
Senior Education Policy Fellow, Kansas Policy Institute
David Dorsey is a Senior Education Policy Fellow with Kansas Policy Institute. His primary emphasis in this role is combining his time spent as a public school teacher with policy research on issues related to K-12 finance, student achievement, and education reform. Prior to joining KPI, David spent 20 years as a public school elementary teacher, seventeen in Kansas. He was both a classroom and specialty teacher and served in various leadership capacities in those schools. David finished his teaching career with eight years as a mathematics interventionist at Lowman Hill Elementary School in Topeka USD 501 working with at-risk students. Prior to teaching he spent 15 years working in state and local government in Arizona as a city administrator, research analyst for the Phoenix Police Department, and a program evaluator for the largest state agency in Arizona. He earned a Master of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University with an emphasis on research and statistical analysis in 1980. David was born and raised in South Dakota and received a BS degree from the University of South Dakota in 1977 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics.
Deputy District Attorney, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office
Ronald Eisenberg heads the Law Division of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. The 60 lawyers in the division handle appeals, habeas corpus and civil litigation, and legislative matters. Mr. Eisenberg has appeared at all levels of the state and federal court system, and has argued several cases in the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Eisenberg is a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Investigating Grand Jury Task Force and the Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Criminal Jury Instructions. He has represented his office on the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Wrongful Convictions, was an adjunct professor at Temple University School of Law, teaching legal writing and research, and has served on the Pennsylvania Criminal Rules and Appellate Rules Committees. He is a past president and current board member of the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation, a national organization of capital prosecutors.
Mr. Eisenberg received his bachelor's degree from Haverford College in 1978 and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981.
J.D., University of Pennsylvania
B.A., Haverford College
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