Research Director, Independence Institute
David B. Kopel is Research Director at the Independence Institute; Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute; and Senior Fellow at the University of Wyoming College of Law, Firearms Research Center. He received his B.A. in history with Highest Honors from Brown University and his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.
He is the author of over 20 books, including the textbook Firearm Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy (Aspen Pubs. 4th ed. forthcoming 2026). His scholarship and briefs have been cited 7 Supreme Court cases--including Heller, McDonald, and Bruen--and in 140 lower courts opinions. He is the author of 120 scholarly articles. His shorter articles often appear on The Volokh Conspiracy blog, hosted by Reason magazine. His topics of interest include the right to arms throughout history, the Colorado Constitution, and law enforcement policy.
Olin-Darling Fellow, Stanford Law School
Lance Sorenson is currently the Olin-Darling Fellow at Stanford Law School.. He has a law degree from Pepperdine University and is a PhD candidate in Legal History at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is interested in legal systems and structures, particularly in the American West. His dissertation analyzes iterations of United States’ federalism as part of westward expansion.
Author of "The Intimidation Game" and Editorial Board Member, The Wall Street Journal
Kimberley Strassel is a member of the editorial board for The Wall Street Journal. She writes editorials, as well as the weekly Potomac Watch political column, from her base in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Strassel joined Dow Jones & Co. in 1994, working in the news department of The Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels, and then in London. She moved to New York in 1999 and soon thereafter joined the Journal's editorial page, working as a features editor, and then as an editorial writer. She assumed her current position in 2005.
Ms. Strassel, a 2014 Bradley Prize recipient, is a regular contributor to Sunday political shows, including CBS's "Face the Nation," Fox News Sunday, and NBC's "Meet the Press." She is the author of the national bestseller "The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech," which chronicles recent attacks on conservative nonprofits, businesses and donors.
An Oregon native, Ms. Strassel earned a bachelor's degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from Princeton University. She lives in Virginia with her three children.
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
ILYA SOMIN is Professor of Law at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on constitutional law, property law, democratic theory, federalism, and migration rights. He is the author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration, and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, 2022), Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, revised and expanded second edition, 2016), and The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain (University of Chicago Press, 2015, rev. paperback ed., 2016), coauthor of A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and co-editor of Eminent Domain: A Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Democracy and Political Ignorance has been translated into Italian and Japanese.
Somin’s work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. Somin has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Atlantic, USA Today, Boston Globe, US News and World Report, South China Morning Post, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, the Christian Science Monitor, the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, Reuters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Al Jazeera, and the Voice of America, among other media.
Somin’s writings have been cited in decisions by the United States Supreme Court, multiple state supreme courts and lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Israel. He is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, a case challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Somin has testified on the use of drones for targeted killing in the War on Terror before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. In 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Somin writes regularly for the popular Volokh Conspiracy law and politics blog, now affiliated with Reason magazine (previously affiliated with the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017). From 2006 to 2013, he served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country’s top-rated law and economics journals.
Somin has served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has also been a visiting professor or scholar at the Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Hamburg, Germany, the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Uriel Reichman University in Israel, and Zhengzhou University in China. He is a University Affiliate of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, and an affiliated faculty member of the George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Before joining the faculty at George Mason, Somin was the John M. Olin Fellow in Law at Northwestern University Law School in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002, he clerked for the Hon. Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Professor Somin earned his B.A., Summa Cum Laude, at Amherst College, M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and J.D. from Yale Law School.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Associate Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
Christopher C. Lund is an associate professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, where he teaches a variety of courses, including Torts, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Religious Liberty in the United States and Evidence. Excited to teach students, he has been voted Professor of the Year five times.
Prof. Lund's scholarly interests vary, but his principal focus has been in the field of religious liberty. His academic work has been (or shortly will be) published in student-edited law reviews, such as the Northwestern University Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and the Minnesota Law Review; peer-reviewed legal journals, such as the Journal of Law and Religion; and peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals, such as History of Religions. He recently joined Michael McConnell and Thomas Berg as the new co-author on their leading casebook, Religion and the Constitution, the fourth edition of which was published by Aspen in 2016.
Prof. Lund's academic work has been cited in articles, books and judicial opinions. He is regularly called on for his expertise by media outlets, civil rights organizations and religious groups. Two of his amicus briefs have been quoted in opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Stephen Breyer calling one of them "very excellent" at oral argument. He is a past chair of the Law and Religion Section of the Association of American Law Schools, as well as past chair of the Section on New Law Professors. He sits on the lawyers' committee of the ACLU of Michigan.
Prof. Lund joined Wayne University Law School in 2009 from the Mississippi College School of Law. Before teaching, he clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, served as the Madison Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and practiced law at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia. Prof. Lund earned his law degree with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts from Rice University, summa cum laude, with majors in mathematics and psychology.
During fall semester 2013, Lund was on leave from Wayne Law, teaching at the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center
Voisine v. United States - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
David B. Kopel
SCOTUScast 8-18-16 featuring David Kopel
On June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court decided Voisine v. United States. Stephen Voisine was...
Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
Lance Sorenson
SCOTUScast 8-18-16 featuring Lance Sorenson
On June 9, 2016, the Supreme Court decided Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle. Sanchez Valle...
Who is Winning The Intimidation Game?
Kimberley A. Strassel
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Ilya Somin
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Thomas C. Berg, Christopher C. Lund, Martin S. Lederman
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America to hand off Internet in under two months
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On June 28th, after previously splitting 4-4 on the case, the Supreme Court declined a...
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