Michael F. Cannon is the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies. His scholarship spans public health; regulation of clinicians, medical facilities, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices; employer‐sponsored and other private health insurance; Medicare; Medicaid; CHIP; the Veterans Health Administration; medical malpractice litigation; administrative law; international health systems; political philosophy; and more. Cannon is “an influential health‐care wonk” (Washington Post) and “the most famous libertarian health care scholar” (Washington Examiner). Washingtonian magazine named Cannon one of Washington, DC’s “Most Influential People” in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Cannon has appeared on ABC, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS, CNN, CNBC, C‑SPAN, Fox News Channel, NPR, and other broadcast media. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal; the New York Times; USA Today; the Washington Post; the Los Angeles Times; SCOTUSBlog; Forum for Health Economics and Policy; JAMA Internal Medicine; Health Matrix: Journal of Law‐Medicine; Harvard Health Policy Review; the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics; the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law; and Quinnipiac Health Law Journal. His latest book is Recovery: A Guide to Reforming the U.S. Health Sector.
Cannon was previously a domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, where he advised the Senate leadership on health, education, labor, welfare, and the Second Amendment. He is a member of the Board of Advisers of Harvard Health Policy Review and the Federalist Society Regulatory Transparency Project’s FDA & Health Working Group.
Cannon holds an MA in economics and a JM in law and economics from George Mason University and a BA in American government from the University of Virginia.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Biography
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Judge, United States District Court, District of Columbia
Biography
Judge Trevor N. McFadden was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2017. He received his B.A. in 2001 from Wheaton College, IL, magna cum laude. In 2006, he received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor for the Virginia Law Review.
Following graduation from law school, Judge McFadden clerked for Judge Steven Colloton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He then joined the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General and as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. Judge McFadden subsequently became a partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP in Washington, DC, where he focused on white collar investigations. He is also co-author of a treatise, Corporate Settlement Tools: DPAs, NPAs, and Cooperation Agreements.
After four years in private practice, Judge McFadden returned to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General and acted as the second-in-command of the Department's Criminal Division. As Deputy Assistant Attorney General, he managed the Division's Fraud and Appellate Sections.
Judge McFadden also has extensive experience in law enforcement. He served as an officer with the Fairfax County, VA, Police Department and as a deputy sheriff in Madison County, VA.
John A. Sibley Professor in Corporate and Business Law, The University of Georgia School of Law
Biography
Larry D. Thompson has served on the University of Georgia School of Law’s faculty as the holder of the John A. Sibley Chair of Corporate and Business Law since 2011, noting he was on a leave of absence from June 2012 through 2014. He is presently a member of the Faculty Division of the law school's Dean Rusk International Law Center Council.
Thompson first retired from PepsiCo in May 2011. In June 2012, he rejoined the company as executive vice president, government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary. His responsibilities included leading PepsiCo’s worldwide legal function, as well as its global government affairs and public policy group and its global citizenship and sustainability team. Thompson again retired from PepsiCo in December 2014.
Thompson has extensive leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. In 2001, Thompson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as deputy attorney general of the United States. As deputy attorney general, Attorney General John Ashcroft named Thompson in 2002 to lead the Department of Justice’s National Security Coordination Council. Also in 2002, President George W. Bush named Thompson to head the government-wide Corporate Fraud Task Force.
From 1982 to 1986, he served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia where he led major political corruption and drug trafficking prosecutions brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. As U.S. attorney, Thompson also led the Southeastern Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Thompson has held other significant leadership positions in the public sector. In 1995, he was named independent counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Investigation. In 2000, he was selected by the U.S. Congress to chair the bi-partisan Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control.
In the private sector, in addition to his leadership roles at PepsiCo, Thompson was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding. He was the founding co-chair of the firm’s special matters and government investigations practice.
Thompson has received numerous awards for his professional achievements, including the Edmund Jennings Randolph Award for outstanding contributions to the accomplishment of the Department of Justice’s mission, the Outstanding Litigator Award from the Federal Bar Association and a Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pace University in New York. He has also been recognized by Atlanta’s Gate City Bar Association as a member of its hall of fame.
Thompson is an elected Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. In 2014, Ethisphere magazine recognized him by noting that as “the outgoing General Counsel of one of the world’s most well-recognized corporations [Thompson] has set the bar high for GC’s everywhere. [His] background in both public and private sectors earned him the trust and respect of his peers worldwide as he demonstrated how ethics and integrity are essential components of business success.”
In 2004, Thompson served as a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Thompson speaks and writes frequently on a number of legal topics. His recent publications include:
● “The Responsible Corporation: Its Historical Roots and Continuing Promise" in 29 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 199 (2015).
● “In-sourcing Corporate Responsibility for Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" in 51 American Criminal Law Review 199 (2014).
● “Keynote Speech: The Reality of Overcriminalization” in 7 George Mason University Journal of Law, Economics and Policy 577 (2011).
Thompson holds a B.A. from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, a M.A. from Michigan State University and a law degree from the University of Michigan.
Assistant Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America
Biography
Chad Squitieri is an Assistant Professor of Law at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. There he serves as the Director of the Separation of Powers Institute, and as a Managing Director of the Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Professor Squitieri’s scholarship addresses administrative law and constitutional law topics, including separation-of-powers principles. His scholarship has appeared in the Administrative Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and the Baylor Law Review, among other publications.
Prior to joining the faculty at the Catholic University of America, Prof. Squitieri practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as a member of the Appellate and Constitutional Law and Administrative Law and Regulatory practice groups. He also served as a Special Assistant to former United States Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, and as a law clerk to then-Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
University of Maryland School of Law and President, Center for Progressive Reform
Biography
Rena Steinzor is a Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and teaches an environmental survey course, as well as offerings in risk assessment, critical issues in law and science, legal methods, contracts, and an introduction to the administrative system. During the course of her academic career, Professor Steinzor has written extensively on efforts to reinvent environmental regulation in the United States, the use and misuse of science in environmental policy making, and the devolution of legal and administrative authority to the states.
Professor Steinzor edited the book A New Progressive Agenda for Public Health and the Environment (Carolina Academic Press 2005) with Professor Christopher Schroeder of the Duke Law School. The book proposes an alternative set of values and principles that should guide efforts to reform environmental law. She worked with Professor Wendy Wagner of the University of Texas School of Law, to edit a book of essays by prominent academics entitled Rescuing Science from Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2005) writing an introduction and conclusion summarizing the issues and recommendations suggested by the book. Professor Steinzor's book entitled Mother Earth and Uncle Sam: How Pollution and Hollow Government Hurt Our Kids was published by the University of Texas Press in the fall of 2007.
Professor Steinzor is the president of the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) (http://www.progressivereform.org/), a think tank comprised of some 52 member scholars from universities across the United States. CPR is committed to developing and sharing knowledge and information, with the ultimate aim of preserving the fundamental value of the life and health of human beings and the natural environment. One component of CPR's mission is to circulate academic papers, studies, and other analyses that promote public policy based on the multiple social values that motivated the enactment of our nation's health, safety and environmental laws. CPR seeks to inform the public about scholarship that envisions government as an arena where members of society choose and preserve their collective values. CPR rejects the idea that government's only function is to increase the economic efficiency of private markets.
Before joining the law school faculty, Professor Steinzor was the partner in charge of the environmental practice at Spiegel & McDiarmid, a Washington D.C. Law firm specializing in the representation of state and local government entities in the energy and environmental areas. Prior to joining the firm, Professor Steinzor was counsel to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation & Tourism of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which was then chaired by James J. Florio (D-N.J.). She advised the Subcommittee during its consideration of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 and the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986. She also served as an attorney advisor to Commissioner Patricia P. Bailey of the Federal Trade Commission and worked as a consumer protection attorney at the FTC in various staff positions.
Bruce P. Frohnen holds the Ella and Ernest Fisher chair in the College of Law. Prior to joining ONU Law in 2008, he served as a legislative aide for a United States senator, as a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and as secretary and director of program at the Earhart Foundation. He has held visiting posts as Charles Evans Hughes professor of jurisprudence at Colgate University and as Thomas Bahnson and Anne Bassett Stanley professor of ethics and integrity at the Virginia Military Institute.
Frohnen’s most recent book, Constitutional Morality and the Rise of Quasi-Law, co-authored with George W. Carey, was published in 2016 by Harvard University Press. He is the author of two other books and editor or co-editor of eight. His co-edited volume, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia, was the subject of a front page article in The New York Times. His two most recent volumes, The American Nation: Primary Sources and Rethinking Rights (edited with Kenneth Grasso) were named Outstanding Academic Titles by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. His articles have appeared in journals such as the George Washington Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the American Journal of Jurisprudence. In 2015, he received the Fowler V. Harper Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship.
Frohnen teaches a variety of courses in public and commercial law. His research focuses on the development of constitutionalism, rights and the rule of law. He holds a J.D. from Emory University Law School and a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.
Samuel D. Green serves as President & General Counsel at Reason for Life, a nonprofit ministry working to end abortion in America. In this role, Samuel focuses on educating, but he has also served as counsel of record on amicus briefs in multiple cases, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (abortion) and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (freedom of speech).
Before founding Reason for Life, Samuel spent five years at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), where he engaged in litigation to defend the sanctity of life, freedom of speech, and religious liberty. Samuel has also worked as a litigation associate at a large law firm (Jenner & Block), as a member of a presidential campaign’s legal team, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Samuel finished first in his class at Pepperdine University School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2011. He also studied political science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he graduated, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2008.
Samuel has provided legislative testimony, preached sermons about the sanctity of life, and given presentations across the country to various groups or their chapters (including the Federalist Society, the Christian Legal Society, the St. Thomas More Society, Turning Point USA, Students for Life of America, Live Action, 40 Days for Life, Summit Ministries, and Teen Pact Leadership Schools). Samuel has also participated in media interviews and published articles with various outlets, including Newsweek, The Hill, The Seattle Times, WORLD, Washington Examiner, Arizona Capitol Times, The Federalist, and The Daily Signal.
Samuel is admitted to practice law in California, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, the U.S. Supreme Court, and multiple federal district and appellate courts.
Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Biography
Professor Craig Green has taught and written in the fields of Administrative Law, American Legal History, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, and Federal Courts; he has also taught in the field of Reproductive Rights. Other teaching interests include Conflicts of Law, Remedies, Civil Procedure II, Complex Civil Litigation, Civil and Political Rights, First Amendment, Separation of Powers, Legislation, Federalism, Constitutional History, History of American Judging, and Sentencing. In 2009 and 2015, Green received Temple Law School’s George P. Williams Award as “Outstanding Professor of the Year,” and in 2010 he received Temple University’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Green’s research has addressed the role of federal courts in overseeing the executive branch, and the significance of iconic cases like Erie v. Tompkins in legal discourse. He has published articles concerning wartime detention, federal common law, judicial activism, precedential interpretation, equal protection, the federal sentencing guidelines, constitutional history, the economic recession of 2008, and customary international law. He has been invited to present research to the Sentencing Commission’s legal staff, as a keynote speaker at the Japanese-American Society for Legal Studies Annual Meeting in Kyoto, as a participant in the Turkish Institute for Justice’s conference “The Balance Between Freedom and Security in Fighting against Terrorism,” and as an organizing panelist for the British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists at the University of Warwick. In 2012, Green received Temple Law School’s Friel-Scanlan Award for Outstanding Scholarship.
In 2018, Green received a Ph.D from Princeton University’s History Department for completing his dissertation, “Creating American Land: A Territorial History from the Albany Plan to the U.S. Constitution.” The dissertation seeks to explain (1) how the United States’ imperial legal structure emerged from Revolution’s anti-imperial moment, (2) how American states and statehood emerged from the legal destruction of British colonies, (3) how Native American ideas about territory influenced and were affected by the law of Britain and the United States, and (4) what “law” meant in a context where institutional enforcement was most often impossible.
Green has an active interest in appellate litigation, and has served on moot courts for Supreme Court advocates at the University of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court Institute, the Georgetown Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute, the National Association of Attorneys General, and law firms in Washington D.C.
Eli Nachmany is an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in the Washington, DC, office. He clerked for Judge Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Eli graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Prior to law school, Eli served as the speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and as a domestic policy aide in the White House Office of American Innovation. He graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.S. in Sports Management. Eli’s scholarship on administrative law and executive power has appeared in the BYU Law Review, George Mason Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum.
Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Biography
Aditya Bamzai is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. He teaches administrative law, civil procedure, computer crime and conflicts of law, and he has written about these and related subjects. He has argued cases relating to the separation of powers and national security in the U.S. Supreme Court, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, D.C. Circuit and other federal courts of appeals. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a federal agency charged with ensuring that the government’s national security efforts are balanced with the need to protect privacy and civil liberties. Before entering the academy, Bamzai was an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, and an appellate attorney in both private practice and for the National Security Division of the Department of Justice. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Biography
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.