Senior Legal Fellow and Manager, National Security Law Program, The Heritage Foundation
Biography
Charles “Cully” Stimson is a widely recognized expert in national security, homeland security, crime control, drug policy and immigration. A senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation since 2007, Stimson became Manager of the National Security Law Program in Heritage’s Institute for Constitutional Government in April 2013 after serving as Heritage’s chief of staff for a year.
Stimson writes and lectures on policy issues such as the law of armed conflict, terrorist detainee policy and interrogations, the Geneva Conventions, military commissions, the Patriot Act and FISA, criminal law and the death penalty, immigration and the war on drugs. As chief of staff to then-Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner, he was a key adviser on public policy matters as well as manager of Feulner’s office staff and Heritage’s day-to-day operations.
Stimson’s many research papers, op-eds and articles include special reports such as “Adult Time for Adult Crime,” a comprehensive study on the constitutionality of life sentences for teen-age murderers, and Sexual Assault in the Military: Understanding the Problem and How to Fix It, a ground-breaking paper detailing the inner workings of the military justice system compared to its civilian counterpart. His work on criminal and immigration law has been cited in briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He testifies before the U.S. Senate and House on national security issues, and recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Law of Armed Conflict, Law of War, and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.
Before joining the think tank in 2007, Stimson served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs. He advised then-Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates and coordinated the Pentagon’s global detention policy and operations, including at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was chairman of detainee-related panels such as the Defense Senior Leadership Oversight Committee, and the Special Detainee Follow Up Group. He represented the United States before the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2006 where he led the DOD delegation in defense of the United States’ Second Period Report on the Convention Against Torture.
An accomplished trial lawyer, Stimson worked as a prosecutor at the local, state and federal levels, where he concentrated on violent crimes such as homicide, sexual assault and domestic violence. A third generation naval officer, Cully also served as a military prosecutor, defense counsel, and recently served as Deputy Chief Judge of the Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary. He continues to serve, with the rank of Captain, as the Commanding Officer of the Preliminary Hearing Unit.
Stimson’s thousands of media interviews and appearances include Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, BBC, NPR and C-SPAN. He has been quoted by most major newspapers, including The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and London Times.
A businessman and educator by training, Stimson is Vice Chairman of his family’s commercial real estate company in Seattle. Before 9/11, he was a Vice President at a New York-based global financial services and insurance brokerage firm where ran the private equity mergers and acquisitions D.C. operation.
Stimson holds a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he later taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law. He is a graduate of Kenyon College, where he was Captain of the men’s varsity soccer team and an All-Conference player. He also studied at Harvard and Exeter universities. An avid soccer player and triathlete, he serves as Chairman of the Board of the United States Soccer Foundation, the charitable giving arm of U.S. Soccer.
William M. (Bill) McSwain practices in the area of litigation with a focus on white-collar criminal matters, internal investigations and complex business litigation. Bill is the immediate past U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (EDPA), which is one of the nation’s most populous districts, with nearly six million people residing within Philadelphia and its eight surrounding counties. As U.S. Attorney, he served as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the EDPA, responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions, investigations and civil litigation involving the United States. He supervised a staff of approximately 300, including more than 140 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, at offices in Philadelphia and Allentown, PA.
Most importantly, Bill is a fighter who knows how to win. For example, as U.S. Attorney, he personally served as lead counsel in United States v Safehouse, in which he challenged Philadelphia’s plan to be the first city in the country to open supervised heroin injection sites. He argued and won the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which ruled that such sites would violate the federal Controlled Substances Act.
A former U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer and scout/sniper platoon commander, Bill brings an aggressive and creative approach to private practice, representing clients involved in government investigations and high stakes litigation. In particular, he enjoys taking on the challenge of winning seemingly “impossible” cases. He has lived that mindset from the very outset of his legal career.
For example, prior to his service as U.S. Attorney, Bill took on the case of an Iranian immigrant, Ken Hamidi, who was locked in a battle with Intel over emails that Mr. Hamidi has sent to Intel employees. After Mr. Hamidi had lost his case in the trial and intermediate appellate courts with other counsel, Bill took over and argued the case in front of the Supreme Court of California. In Intel Corp. v. Hamidi, 30 Cal.4th 1342 (2003), he won a 4-3 decision that established the legal rules for trespass liability on the Internet, one of the most significant cyberlaw rulings in the United States. Soon thereafter, Bill represented Chester County, Pennsylvania in its dispute regarding the attempted removal of an historic Ten Commandments plaque hanging on the façade of the County Courthouse. After the County lost at trial with other counsel, Bill stepped in and argued the case in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Chester County, PA v. Freethought Society, et al., 334 F.3d 247 (3d Cir. 2003), he won a 3-0 decision that preserved the plaque, which is hanging on the Courthouse to this day. In one of his most challenging assignments, Bill began representing the Boy Scouts in 2008 in its dispute with the City of Philadelphia. Facing eviction from its historic headquarters building, the Scouts sued the City, alleging a violation of their First Amendment rights. In Cradle of Liberty Council, Boy Scouts of America v. City of Philadelphia, No. 2:08-cv-02429-RB (E.D. Pa.), Bill won a nationally publicized, three-week jury trial, and even secured a court ruling that the City had to pay the Scouts’ attorney’s fees.
Bill understands that, in a very real sense, anybody or any organization squaring off against the government – especially against the federal government – is an underdog. Bill has a long record of success advocating for clients in those situations. For example, in United States v. Bruno, No. 2:13-cr-00039-LS-6 (E.D. Pa.), he represented a Pennsylvania judge against federal conspiracy, wire fraud and mail fraud charges and won a full acquittal after a two-month jury trial. In United States. v. Brown, No. 2:12-cr-00367-RBS-1 (E.D. Pa.), Bill represented a nationally renowned charter school educator who faced a massive 67-count indictment alleging conspiracy, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. After a two-month trial, the jury acquitted Bill’s client on several counts and deadlocked on the others. The government eventually withdrew all of the deadlocked charges.
His record in the courtroom notwithstanding, Bill is also a thoughtful, intellectually curious strategist who has resolved numerous contentious matters out of court on terms his clients found favorable. He is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1991) and the Harvard Law School (J.D., 2000), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, won the Ames Moot Court Competition and received the George Leisure Award as the Best Oralist in the Ames Competition. He is an adjunct lecturer in law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He began his legal career by clerking for the Hon. Marjorie O. Rendell, U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Deputy Solicitor, Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Department of the Interior
Biography
Biography of Karen Budd-Falen
Deputy Solicitor – Parks and Wildlife – Department of the Interior, Washington D.C.
Karen Budd-Falen was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior (DOI) as the Deputy Solicitor for Parks and Wildlife in November, 2018. Prior to her current appointment, Karen served for three years in the Reagan Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. She later served as a law clerk to the Assistant Solicitor for Water and Power. In between her stints in Washington D.C., she, along with her husband Frank Falen, were the owners of a private law firm located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Karen has also worked as an attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation, a public interest legal foundation in Denver, Colorado.
At DOI, Karen works on issues relating to the Endangered Species Act, national wildlife refuges and National parks. While she was in private practice, Karen represented private property owners, ranching and farming organizations, and local governments. Karen has assisted local governments in asserting their rights of consistency review, cooperation and coordination in federal agency decisions; private property owners in protecting their Constitutionally guaranteed property rights, other multiple users in supporting grazing and multiple use on federal/public lands; exposing the amount of fees paid by the taxpayers under the attorney fee shifting statutes.
Some of Karen's publications include The Right to Graze Livestock on the Federal Lands: The Historical Development of Western Grazing Rights, Idaho Law Review, Spring, 1994; Protecting Community Stability and Local Economies: Opportunities for County Government Influence in Federal Decision and Policy Making Processes, Whitman College, 1996; and Counterpoint: Opportunities Lost and Opportunities Gained: Separating Truth from Myth in the Western Ranching Debate, Karen Budd-Falen editor, Lewis and Clark Law School Environmental Law, 2006.
Karen was featured in Newsweek Magazine's "Who's Who: 20 for the Future" for her work on property rights issues (September 30, 1991). Karen was awarded Wyoming’s Outstanding Ag Citizen in 2001; the “Always There Helping” award from the New Mexico Stock Growers Association in 2003; the “Bud’s Contract” award from the New Mexico Public Lands Council in 2006 and the Individual of the Year award from the Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Economic Growth in 2011.
Karen has presented testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Forest Health; the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources; the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources relating to the National Environmental Policy Act; the U.S. House of Representatives Full Committee on Natural Resources; and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Karen has also testified before committees of the Wyoming Legislature.
Karen is an active volunteer and coach for Future Farmers of America (“FFA”). Karen grew up as a fifth generation rancher on a family-owned ranch in Big Piney, Wyoming. She received her undergraduate degrees and her law degree from the University of Wyoming. Karen and Frank have two children, Isaac (wife Reva Falen) and Sarah and grandson, Wesley.
Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Biography
Michael Stokes Paulsen is Distinguished University Chair & Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas, where he has taught since 2007. Professor Paulsen was previously the McKnight Presidential Professor of Law & Public Policy and Associate Dean at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he taught from 1991-2007. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Yale Law School, and Yale Divinity School. He has served as a federal prosecutor, as Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as counsel for the Center for Law & Religious Freedom.
Paulsen has taught as a visiting professor at Princeton University, Pepperdine University, Georgetown University, Bethel University, Uppsala University (Sweden), Daystar University (Kenya), and University of the Andes (Chile). He has been a guest lecturer at universities around the nation, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Penn, NYU, Georgetown, Virginia, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, University of Chicago, and Northwestern.
Professor Paulsen is the author of more than ninety scholarly articles and book chapters on a wide variety of constitutional law topics, published in law journals including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, and the Northwestern University Law Review. He is the author or co-author of three books, including The Constitution: An Introduction (Basic Books, 2015) (co-authored with Luke Paulsen) and the casebook The Constitution of the United States, now in its fifth edition with Foundation Press, co-authored with Michael McConnell, Samuel Bray, and Will Baude.
Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law
Biography
Michael D. Ramsey is Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he teaches and writes in the areas of Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law and International Law. He is the author of The Constitution’s Text in Foreign Affairs (Harvard University Press), co-editor of International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Continuity and Change (Cambridge University Press), and co-author of two casebooks, Transnational Law and Practice (2d ed., Aspen) and International Business Transactions: A Problem-Oriented Coursebook (14th ed., West). His scholarly articles have appeared in publications such as the Yale Law Journal, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal and the American Journal of International Law. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Dartmouth College and his J.D. summa cum laude from Stanford Law School. Prior to teaching, he served as a judicial clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court, and practiced law with the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he specialized in international finance and investment. He has taught as a visiting professor at the University of California, San Diego, in the Department of Political Science and at the University of Paris – Sorbonne, in the Department of Comparative Law.
Chairman, Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Practice, Baker Botts LLP
Biography
Aaron Streett is the Chairman of Baker Botts’ Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Practice. He has presented oral argument in scores of appeals, covering the U.S. Supreme Court and courts around the country—including over 40 arguments between the Fifth and D.C. Circuits alone. Mr. Streett’s practice involves virtually all substantive areas of the law, including commercial litigation, statutory interpretation, constitutional law, administrative law, securities, and jurisdictional issues. Mr. Streett maintains an active practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, having represented parties in merits cases seven times since 2010, as well as filing numerous amicus and certiorari-stage briefs. Mr. Streett was named one of only six “Appellate MVPs” for 2014 by Law360, which had previously recognized him in 2011 as one of the top five appellate “Rising Stars” under age 40. Mr. Streett has been featured on National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List three times in recent years and in 2021 was named Houston’s “Lawyer of the Year” for Appellate Practice by Best Lawyers magazine. Mr. Streett is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Fifth Circuit Bar Association and previously served as President of the Houston Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. Mr. Streett speaks regularly on the Supreme Court and constitutional law to attorneys and law students around the country. Following graduation from Hillsdale College and University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Streett served as a law clerk to the Honorable David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Biography
On November 19, 2019, Judge Robert J. Luck was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by President Donald Trump. Prior to serving on the federal bench, he was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 14, 2019. He previously served on the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami after his appointment there by Governor Rick Scott in March 2017.
Earlier, Judge Luck served on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida from September 2013 to March 2017. He presided in the Criminal, Civil, and Appellate Divisions. Judge Luck, in his years as a trial court judge, tried seventy jury trials, and heard dozens of appeals from the county court and municipal agencies. Judge Luck was appointed to the circuit court in 2013 and was elected by the voters of Miami-Dade County to retain his seat in 2016.
Prior to his service on the bench, Judge Luck was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. In his years as a federal prosecutor, he was assigned to the Appeals, Major Crimes, and Economic Crimes Sections of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Judge Luck tried nineteen jury trials before the federal district court and argued three appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In his final year in the Office, he was a Deputy Chief in the Major Crimes Section.
Earlier in his career, Judge Luck was a legislative correspondent for two United States Senators, a law clerk and staff attorney to Circuit Judge Edward E. Carnes on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and a part of the Greenberg Traurig firm’s appellate section. Judge Luck received his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law magna cum laude and was asked to join the Order of the Coif. Judge Luck also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Law Review. Judge Luck received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Florida with highest honors.
Executive Director, Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society, The Ohio State University
Biography
Professor Lee J. Strang serves as the inaugural executive director of the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at The Ohio State University.
Initiated in 2023 by the state of Ohio, the Chase Center will be an academic home at Ohio State for teaching, research, and programing on the foundations of the American constitutional order and its impact on society. As executive director, Professor Strang is responsible for organizing the center, overseeing the hiring and appointment of the center’s faculty, developing curriculum, and delivering student and academic programming. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State.
Professor Strang is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has published dozens of articles in leading journals in the fields of constitutional law and interpretation, property law, and religion and the First Amendment. He co-edits the textbook Federal Constitutional Law, and his most recent book, Originalism’s Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution is the first book-length, natural law justification for originalism. He currently is writing on civic thought and leadership, and he is finalizing a book on the history of American Catholic legal education (with John M. Breen).
Before joining Ohio State, Professor Strang served as the inaugural director of the University of Toledo’s Institute of American Constitutional Thought & Leadership. He joined the Toledo College of Law faculty in 2008, was granted tenure in 2010, and was named John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values in 2015. The University of Toledo awarded Professor Strang its Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2017. Before that, he was a visiting professor at Michigan State University College of Law. A graduate of the University of Iowa, where he was articles editor of the Iowa Law Review and Order of the Coif, Professor Strang holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School.
Professor Strang has been a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. In 2016, he was appointed to the Ohio Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and reappointed as chair in 2023.
Prior to teaching, Professor Strang served as a judicial clerk for Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was also an associate for Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago, where he practiced in general and appellate litigation.
Professor Strang is a frequent presenter at scholarly conferences. He is the president of the Board of Trustees of Northwest Ohio Classical Academy, Ohio’s first classical charter school. He is also a regular participant in debates at law schools across the country, a contributor to the media, and a speaker to political, civic, and religious groups.
Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Delaware
Biography
Colm F. Connolly has served as a United States District Judge since August 3, 2018. He was a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP from 2009 until he took the bench in 2018. He served as the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware from 2001 to 2009 and was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1993 to 1999. He was a partner with the firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell from 1999 to 2001.
Judge Connolly was a law clerk for the Honorable Walter K. Stapleton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1991 to 1992. He hold degrees from the Duke University School of Law, the London School of Economics, and the University of Notre Dame.
Judge Connolly is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute.
United States District Judge, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Biography
Judge Wolson was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in May 2018 and was confirmed in May 2019. Judge Wolson earned his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from law school, he served as a law clerk for Hon. Jan E. DuBois of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He then maintained a complex commercial litigation practice, first as an associate with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., and then as a partner with Dilworth Paxson in Philadelphia.
