President, Center for Individual Rights
Todd Gaziano is the President of the Center for Individual Rights. Mr. Gaziano received his J.D. in 1988 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. He received his B.A. from West Virginia University, summa cum laude in 1985. He was selected as a Truman Scholar from West Virginia while an undergraduate.
Mr. Gaziano’s previous legal work includes service as a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones, as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, as a chief subcommittee counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Houston trial attorney, and as a chief corporate legal officer. He also served a six-year term as commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2008-2013), where he helped conduct oversight and investigations of civil rights agencies.
For most of the last 25 years, Mr. Gaziano was a legal scholar and public interest law leader, promoting individual liberty in the Supreme Court and Congress. From 1997 to 2013, he was the founding director of the Edwin Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation. From 2014 until he joined CIR, he was the Chief of Legal Policy and Strategic Research, and Director of the Center for the Separation of Powers, at Pacific Legal Foundation.
Senior Fellow, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Peter J. Wallison holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Policy Studies and is co-director of AEI’s program on Financial Policy Studies. Prior to joining AEI, he practiced banking, corporate and financial law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., and New York. Mr. Wallison has held a number of government positions. From June 1981 to January 1985, he was General Counsel of the United States Treasury Department, where he had a significant role in the development of the Reagan Administration's proposals for deregulation in the financial services industry. During 1986 and 1987, Mr. Wallison was White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan, and between 1972 and 1976, he served first as Special Assistant to New York's Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and, subsequently, as counsel to Mr. Rockefeller as vice president of the United States.
Mr. Wallison was admitted to practice before the courts of New York and the District of Columbia, and is retired from practice in New York. He continues to be a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1963 and law degree from Harvard Law School in 1966.
Mr. Wallison is the author of Ronald Reagan: The Power of Conviction and the Success of His Presidency, published in December 2002 by Westview Press. On campaign finance, he is the author (with Joel Gora) of Better Parties, Better Government, (AEI Press 2009). On financial or regulatory matters, he is the author of Back From the Brink, a proposal for a private deposit insurance system, and co-author of Nationalizing Mortgage Risk: The Growth of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age; Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds; Bad History, Worse Policy: How a False Narrative about the Financial Crisis Led to the Dodd-Frank Act (AEI Press 2013); and Hidden In Plain Sight: What Caused the World’s Worst Financial Crisis and Why it Could Happen Again (Encounter Books 2015). His most recent book is Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State, published by Encounter Books in October 2018.
He testifies frequently before committees of Congress, and is a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal and other print and online journals. He has also been a speaker at many conferences on financial services, housing, the causes of the financial crisis, the Dodd-Frank Act, accounting, and corporate governance, and was a member of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee between 1995 and 2015. He was a member of the SEC Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (2008), co-Chair of the Pew Financial Reform Task Force (2009), and a member of the congressionally- appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (2009-2011). In May 2011, for his work in financial policy, Mr. Wallison received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Colorado.
Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
John Ohlendorf has extensive experience with every aspect of litigation, from arguing discovery disputes and cross-examining trial witnesses to working on appeals at all levels of the state and federal judicial systems. Mr. Ohlendorf has written dozens of briefs in the United States Supreme Court and has argued numerous cases, including appeals in both state and federal court. While much of his career has focused on appellate advocacy, he has also developed deep experience litigating at the trial-court level, consistent with the Firm’s frequent approach of handling a matter over its entire lifespan, from the filing of the complaint to proceedings in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Ohlendorf’s litigation experience is wide-ranging, but it includes a particular focus on constitutional law and suits against the government. He has litigated multiple claims involving the separation of powers, the Appointments Clause, freedom of speech, the Second Amendment, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Takings Clause. He has been heavily involved in over thirty matters defending the right to keep and bear arms, and he was Counsel of Record on an amicus brief in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a recent Supreme Court case involving the Second Amendment right to carry a firearm, that was singled out by Justice Kavanaugh during the oral argument as very helpful to his consideration of the case. Mr. Ohlendorf has also litigated many cases involving administrative law and government contracts.
Before coming to Cooper & Kirk, Mr. Ohlendorf clerked for Judge Raymond Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, taught at Northwestern University School of Law as an Olin-Searle-Smith Fellow, and then at Georgetown University Law Center as a Visiting Lecturer and Fellow at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. His articles have been published in the Notre Dame Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, National Affairs (with Joel Alicea), the Georgia Law Review, and the Maine Law Review. He received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 2010, where he was an Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and graduated with a B.A. from Bethany Lutheran College, summa cum laude, in 2007.
Senior Staff Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Theodore Hadzi-Antich is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation's National Litigation Center. He is the lead attorney in three cases under the Clean Air Act involving challenges to greenhouse gas regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These cases, which raise issues of first impression challenging carbon dioxide regulation under the Clean Air Act, involve thousands of parties litigating in federal courts located in the District of Columbia.
Formerly an environmental regulator, law professor, and private practitioner, Mr. Hadzi-Antich has over 30 years of experience as an environmental lawyer and has handled a wide variety of matters under the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and their state counterparts. He also has handled numerous environmental issues arising in connection with business transactions on four continents. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Mr. Hadzi-Antich served for 15 years as the founder and principal of The Law Offices of Theodore Hadzi-Antich, a law firm in Buffalo, New York, concentrating on environmental and international issues.
Mr. Hadzi-Antich is admitted to practice law in California, New York, Maryland, Tennessee, the District of Columbia, and the United States Supreme Court. He has been a frequent author and lecturer on environmental topics during his three decades as an environmental lawyer.
Mr. Hadzi-Antich received a J.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1976 and a B.A. degree from the University of Connecticut in 1973.
Partner, Consovoy McCarthy
Mr. Green helps clients litigate constitutional, statutory, and regulatory issues in courts and agencies throughout the country. Before joining the firm, he served as the Solicitor General of the State of Utah for five years. In that role, he oversaw all civil and criminal appellate matters in which the State of Utah or its officers or agencies were a party. While serving as solicitor general, he successfully argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and the Utah Supreme Court. He also led the Utah Attorney General office’s multistate litigation efforts, both challenging and defending regulatory actions by the federal government and other states. And he oversaw the division of the Utah Attorney General’s office responsible for defending cases challenging the constitutionality of state law. Before his service to the State of Utah, Mr. Green was Deputy Chief Counsel for Litigation at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center. He began his career at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where he litigated a variety of appellate and trial-court cases. Mr. Green served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Supreme Court, to Judge Michael McConnell at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and to Judge Paul Cassell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Utah. At the College of Law, he served as Editor in Chief of the Utah Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif and first in his class. He currently serves on the Utah Supreme Court’s advisory committee for the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure and has been named one of Utah’s Legal Elite by Utah Business magazine.
Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
Nonresident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Ajit Pai, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on issues pertaining to technology and innovation, telecommunications regulatory policy, and market-based incentives for investment in broadband deployment. Concurrently, he is a partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, a global investment firm.
Mr. Pai’s distinguished career at the FCC includes two leadership roles following presidential appointments. He was appointed commissioner by President Barack Obama in 2012, designated chairman by President Donald Trump in 2017, and twice confirmed by the US Senate. While at the helm of the FCC, Mr. Pai had a transformative impact on the future of US technology and communications policy, implementing major initiatives to help close the digital divide; advance US leadership in 5G and other wireless technologies; promote innovation; protect consumers, public safety, and national security; and make the agency itself more open, transparent, and data-driven.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pai served in various public-sector positions in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel, the US Department of Justice, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also worked as a partner at Jenner & Block and associate general counsel at Verizon Communications.
Mr. Pai graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree, and from the University of Chicago Law School, where he received a law degree and was an editor on the University of Chicago Law Review.
Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Bryan Tramont, the firm’s managing partner, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. He is regularly called on to advise companies as they develop and evaluate new business opportunities in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Tramont also designs and leads the execution of the firm’s strategic plan and directs client management and development. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2017, he was named to the inaugural Legal 500 Hall of Fame List, which highlights individuals who have received constant praise by their clients and who have been recognized by the Legal 500 as an elite leading lawyer for six consecutive years. He has been awarded The Best Lawyers in America © 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” for Media Law and “Lawyer of the Year" in Communications Law in 2016. In 2016, he was also named one of the Top 10 Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
Mr. Tramont serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), advising the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at NTIA. Appointed under the Bush and Obama Administrations, he also served as the committee’s Co-Chairman from 2008-2010. In addition, Mr. Tramont is active in the Federal Communications Bar Association, where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including as President from 2010-11 and has been awarded the organization’s Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Tramont chairs the Federalist Society’s Telecommunications Practice Group Executive Committee, serves on the International Institute of Communications Canada Board of Directors, and previously served on the Governing Committee of the ABA Forum on Communications Law. Mr. Tramont currently is an adjunct law professor at The Catholic University of America as part of the Communications Law Institute, is a senior adjunct fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has served as the Syracuse University Law School’s Practitioner in Residence, and is on the Board of Trustees at William Woods University. Mr. Tramont is the author of numerous articles on communications policy and is a frequent speaker and lecturer at academic and industry events. Prior to joining Wilkinson Barker Knauer, Mr. Tramont served as Chief of Staff of the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont managed all aspects of the agency’s operations and directed FCC staff in implementing all components of the agency’s policy portfolio including media, broadband, mobility, and traditional telephone services. Before being elevated to Chief of Staff, Mr. Tramont was Chairman Powell’s Senior Legal Advisor, advising him on strategic policy matters and on wireless, international, technology, satellite, and consumer issues. Mr. Tramont also served as Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy and, before that, to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Duane Benton on the Supreme Court for his home state of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Tramont has served as an expert witness in a number of communications-related litigation matters.
Bryan Tramont graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review.
Dr. John Eastman is the former Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former Dean at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters and has argued before the Supreme Court. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in more than one hundred cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Kelo v. New London, Ct. (eminent domain), and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case). He has also appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, NewsHour, and The O'Reilly Factor.
General Counsel, Strive Asset Management
When she was unanimously confirmed by the United States
Senate to serve as United States Attorney for the District of
Minnesota in 2006, Rachel Kunjummen Paulose became
the first Indian American woman in American history to be
nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate
for any federal appointment.
Under Paulose’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Minnesota recorded the highest number of prosecutions in its history, reflecting the collaborative hard work of law enforcement partners, attorneys, staff, and civic leaders. Paulose also oversaw landmark prosecutions of white collar
crime (including securities, health care, and public corruption cases), narcotics and firearms trafficking cartels, and civil commitment of sexual predators. Paulose tripled child pornography prosecutions, doubled gun prosecutions, and initiated the
first ever prosecutions of human trafficking and aggravated identity theft. Paulose has first chaired jury and bench trials in federal court, briefed and argued cases before the federal appellate courts, and investigated multinational companies in complex parallel criminal and civil international proceedings.
Among other positions in public service, Paulose served as a law clerk to Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James B. Loken; Trial Attorney for the Voting Section, Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program; Assistant U.S. Attorney; Senior Counsel to the Deputy
Attorney General; Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud to the Deputy Attorney General; and Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. Paulose also served as Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Paulose previously worked as a partner at DLA Piper LLP, then the
largest law firm in the world, and an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C.
Paulose has been active in community leadership by serving as a Director of the Yale Law School Fund, Scholarship Judge for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, Eighth Circuit Vice President of the Federal Bar Association, Co-Founder of the Federal Bar Association’s Diversity Committee, Director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, American Bar Association
Standing Committee on Public Education, American Bar Association Standing Committee Member on Silver Gavel Awards, Girls State Governor Advisor (after election as the 1990 Ohio Girls State Governor of the largest such program in the nation), Director of the League of Women Voters, Chair of the Committee regarding
the reappointment of the Federal Public Defender of the District of Minnesota (by appointment of the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit),
Director of the YMCA Board, guest columnist for the Asian American Press, and frequent contributing author to the American Bar Association Preview of Supreme
Court Cases.
Paulose is a frequently sought commentator. She has provided legal analysis for the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, The Spectator, LBC, Sky News, FOX MN, ABC MN, CBS MN, NBC MN, MPR, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, among other media representatives. Her live commentary on the Jacob Wetterling plea deal helped KSTP-TV win an Emmy for the day’s
breaking coverage. She has given the keynote addresses at the North American South Asian Bar Association Annual Convention, the North American South Asian Law Students Association Annual Conference, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Meeting (Minnesota). She also presented at the
Nobel Peace Prize Forum, American Bar Association Annual Convention, International Business Law Institute, Jewish Community Relations Council, Yale Law School, and Harvard Law School, among other institutions.
In February 2015, Paulose was honored as one of the thirty leading Minnesota women history makers by the Chief Judge of the District and the Federal Bar Association in what is now a traveling court exhibit. In April 2016, Paulose’s biography was added to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection and featured in the
Smithsonian’s collection, “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation” to honor the stories of groundbreaking Indian Americans.
Paulose taught criminal law, criminal procedure, investigations, and human exploitation (human trafficking and child pornography) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. She served as the faculty advisor to the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the Federalist Society. She also served as a faculty mentor
to graduates and current students, particularly women and students of color.
Paulose received her J.D. from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow, Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and Commencement Standard Bearer. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, which she attended on full merit scholarships and where she was the Commencement Speaker, Chair of the Student Representatives to the Board of
Regents, and Phi Beta Kappa. Paulose is a 1991 Harry S. Truman Scholar.
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Engage Volume 15, Issue 3
October 2014
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Commissioner Ajit Pai on Net Neutrality - Podcast
Ajit V. Pai, Bryan N. Tramont
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Did Congress Really Give the Secretary of Homeland Security Unfettered Discretion Back in 1986 to Confer Legal Immigrant Status on Whomever He Wishes?
John C. Eastman
Engage Volume 15, Issue 3
Note from the Editor: This article is about the executive action on immigration announced by...
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Rachel K. Paulose
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On December 8, 2014, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Warger v. Shauers. The question...