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.
Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
Biography
Judge J. Philip Calabrese was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in December 2020. Previously, he served on the State trial court in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Before taking the bench, he had a complex litigation practice for nearly two decades and was a partner at what is now Squire Patton Boggs and at Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, LLP, where he co-chaired the firm’s class action practice. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Judge Calabrese began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he teaches an advanced course on expert evidence and at the University of Akron School of Law where he teaches the First Amendment’s Speech Clause.
Ashley Keller is one of the founding Partners of Keller Postman LLC. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, Ashley helps set strategic direction across virtually all of the firm’s cases. He represents clients in a wide variety of practice areas and types of claims, including product-liability, antitrust, class action, and arbitration matters.
Ashley is one of the leaders of Keller Postman’s national product-liability practice. He leverages his ability to detangle complex concepts and develop novel legal theories to support individual client matters and as counsel on numerous product-liability multidistrict litigation matters. He chairs the plaintiffs’ Law & Briefing Committee in the Zantac (Ranitidine) Product Liability MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Ashley also litigates complex antitrust and class action matters. Among his notable cases, Ashley represents numerous States in antitrust litigation against Google for monopolizing products and services used by advertisers and publishers in online-display advertising.
Ashley also has played a central role in developing the firm’s pioneering arbitration practice, which includes pursuing individual arbitrations for clients whose claims are subject to arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. In part through managing the complexity of pursuing these individual claims simultaneously, the firm has secured millions in settlements for more than 500,000 employees and consumers.
Before launching Keller Postman, Ashley co-founded the litigation finance firm Gerchen Keller Capital, which grew to more than $1.3 billion in assets under management and was the world’s largest private investment manager focused on legal and regulatory risk prior to being acquired by Burford Capital in 2016.
Previously, Ashley was a partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, The American Lawyer’s litigation boutique of the year. While there, he handled various trial and appellate matters involving multi-billion-dollar securities and patent cases, contract disputes, mass torts, and class actions.
Ashley also worked as an analyst at Alyeska Investment Group, a Chicago-based market-neutral hedge fund, where he focused on investments in companies facing litigation and other complicated regulatory matters.
Ashley was named a 2021 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazer by the National Law Journal. He is also listed on Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers, Lawdragon’s Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100, and Illinois Super Lawyers.
Ashley was a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge Richard Posner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated first in his class.
John Masslon is a Counsel at Keller Postman LLC, where he works on a broad range of disputes, including products liability and consumer protections suits. He helps develop legal strategies, writes briefs, and presents argument on legal questions. Before joining Keller Postman, John was senior litigation counsel at Washington Legal Foundation. There, he wrote about 100 amicus briefs supporting free enterprise in courts across the country. He filed the first amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting the challenge to OSHA’s vaccine mandate. He also filed a brief supporting ending the in-house proceedings at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, John served as assistant solicitor general in a state attorney general’s office. There, he was first chair in a federal trial challenging a state election law that was ultimately upheld. He also wrote the briefs that convinced the state supreme court to uphold the State’s right-to-work statute.
John obtained his B.S. in economics with a minor in mathematical sciences from Clemson University. He then received his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, John worked for Judge Arthur J. Schwab of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and clerked for Judge Judith Ference Olson of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Antonin Scalia Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Biography
Stephen E. Sachs is the Antonin Scalia Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches civil procedure, conflict of laws, and seminars on constitutional law. His research focuses on the law and theory of constitutional interpretation, the jurisdiction of state and federal courts, the history of procedure and private law, and the role of the general common law in the U.S. legal system.
Sachs has authored numerous articles, essays, and book chapters. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute, an adviser to the ALI’s project on the Restatement of the Law (Third), Conflict of Laws, a former member of the Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, and a founding member of the Academic Freedom Alliance.
In 2020, Sachs received the Federalist Society’s Joseph Story Award, which recognizes a young academic who has demonstrated excellence in legal scholarship, a commitment to teaching, a concern for students, and who has made a significant public impact in a manner that advances the rule of law in a free society.
Sachs previously taught at Duke University School of Law and as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Before entering academia, he practiced in the Washington, D.C., litigation group of Mayer Brown LLP, and he clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. as well as for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Sachs received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal and served both as executive editor and articles editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review. A Rhodes Scholar, he graduated from Oxford University with a first-class BA (Hons) degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. He received his A.B. degree summa cum laude in history from Harvard University, earning the Sophia Freund Prize.
Sachs is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, and he is authorized to practice before the D.C. Circuit, the Second Circuit, the Seventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Faculty Director of International Programs, Hofstra University School of Law
Biography
Professor Ku’s primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He has also conducted academic research on a wide range of topics including international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China’s relationship with international law. He teaches courses such as U.S. constitutional law, U.S. foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law’s study abroad, exchange and LL.M. programs. Professor Ku also teaches Constitutional Law in our online degree programs: Master of Laws in American Law and Master of Arts in American Legal Studies. He has also been selected as the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar and as a Hofstra Law Research Fellow. He is a member of the American Law Institute.
He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press 2012). He also has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters and symposia essays. He has given dozens of academic lectures and workshops at major universities and conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia.
He co-founded the leading international law weblog Opinio Juris, which is read daily by thousands worldwide. His essays and op-eds have been published in major news publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the NYTimes.com. He has been frequently interviewed for television news programs and quoted in print and electronic media. He has also signed or submitted amicus briefs to national and international courts and served as an expert witness in both domestic and international proceedings.
Before joining the Hofstra Law faculty, Professor Ku served as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as an Olin Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School. Professor Ku also practiced as an associate at the New York City law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, specializing in litigation and arbitration arising out of international disputes. He has been a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary Marshall- Wythe School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia; a Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer in Law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China; and a Taiwan Fellow at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. He is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
Corinne principally practices in environmental law, with an emphasis on litigation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and defense against government investigations and enforcement actions.
Corinne draws on wide experience at the U.S. Department of Justice, including serving as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, which oversees all civil litigation on behalf of the United States, and as Counselor in the Office of the Attorney General.
Corinne most recently served as Counsel and Chief of Staff in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she assisted in managing a 600-person division that included 400 lawyers. In this role she helped manage the Division’s civil and criminal litigation arising under more than 150 environmental and natural resources laws.
She also worked closely with the General Counsel’s Offices for multiple federal agencies, including the EPA, Departments of Interior, Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the White House and Counsel on Environmental Quality to advise high-ranking officials on policy and litigation risks associated with the environmental and natural resource laws.
She has personally argued cases in three U.S. Courts of Appeals, and multiple district courts, and served as the lead or co-lead counsel in district court litigation defending agency regulations, approvals, and permits related to oil and gas operations and other energy extraction projects.
Her roles in government have given her a unique perspective into the decision-making processes in the federal government.
In the private sector, Corinne counsels clients on environmental compliance across a variety of industries, including energy, chemical, manufacturing, and mining sectors. In the transactional context, she assists in the drafting and negotiating of the environmental terms in purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, credit agreements, and disclosures for debt and equity offerings and public filings. She has also drafted comments on behalf of clients to agencies on proposed rules with significant implications for the oil and gas industry.
Professor of Law and Jamie L. Whitten Chair in Law and Government, University of Mississippi School of Law
Biography
Christopher Green (https://law.olemiss.edu/faculty-directory/christopher-green/) is Professor of Law and Jamie L. Whitten Chair in Law and Government at the University of Mississippi, where he has taught since 2006. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, and has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He clerked for Judge Rhesa H. Barksdale on the Fifth Circuit and is the author of Equal Citizenship, Civil Rights, and the Constitution: The Original Sense of the Privileges or Immunities Clause (2015) and a large number of articles and essays on constitutional theory and the Fourteenth Amendment, including the two-part Original Sense of the (Equal) Protection Clause and Clarity and Reasonable Doubt in Early State-Constitutional Judicial Review. He is an affiliated scholar with the University of San Diego Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Speaker Information
John K. Bush
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Biography
John K. Bush is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His chambers are in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to joining the court, Judge Bush was a partner in the Louisville office of Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP, where he also was co-chair of the firm’s litigation department. He began his legal practice in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
Judge Bush served as a law clerk for Judge J. Smith Henley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He was graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1986, and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1989.
Ms. Meehan’s practice focuses on constitutional litigation, election law matters, and complex federal statutes. She has represented states, state legislatures, and individual clients in the U.S. Supreme Court, state supreme courts, federal courts of appeals, and federal district courts. She has served as trial and appellate counsel for disputes about legislative privilege for state legislators and has successfully appealed to federal appellate courts to halt subpoenas targeting high-ranking public officials. She has served as trial and appellate counsel in recent redistricting litigation in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. And she has had the privilege of defending other state laws in every stage of litigation, including in state supreme courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2022, Ms. Meehan served as counsel of record for the Wisconsin Legislature in Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 595 U.S. 398 (2022). The U.S. Supreme Court granted the legislature’s request to summarily reverse the state supreme court’s redistricting decision, which would have racially gerrymandered electoral districts on the eve of elections. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328 (2022), and the court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Years earlier, the en banc Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue a federal habeas case as the court-appointed amicus curiae, and the en banc court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Before joining Consovoy, Ms. Meehan was a partner at Bartlit Beck, where she served as a trial lawyer for high-stakes commercial disputes and constitutional litigation.
Ms. Meehan is a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was selected for Order of the Coif and served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. Before law school, Ms. Meehan graduated first in her class from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her first writing job was bylining a human-interest column inspired by Studs Terkel for her Indiana hometown paper.
Adam Mortara graduated from the University of Chicago in 1996 with a B.Sc. in chemistry. He then attended Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he received a masters degree in astrophysics on a British Marshall Scholarship.
Mr. Mortara graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with highest honors in 2001. Following graduation, he clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then for Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. After his clerkships, he was a Temple Bar Scholar of the American Inns of Court.
From 2003 to 2020, Mr. Mortara was with Bartlit Beck LLP where he tried high stakes intellectual property cases and, more notably, Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard. He retired from Bartlit Beck and founded Lawfair LLC, a civil and voting rights firm. He has been a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School since 2007, where he teaches Federal Habeas Corpus, Federal Jurisdiction, Criminal Procedure, and Writing for the Judiciary.
University of Chicago, 2001, J.D., with Highest Honors
University of Cambridge, Magdalene College, 1998, M.A., Astrophysics
University of Chicago, 1996, Sc.B., Chemistry, General and Special Honors
Daniel Suhr serves as president of the Center for American Rights, where he spends every day on the front lines of the fight to preserve our rights and liberties. The Center's mission is to advance free speech, free enterprise, and parental freedom in education through strategic, precedent-setting litigation.
Daniel formerly worked as policy director for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as chief of staff for Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and as a law clerk for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He holds a B.A. and J.D. from Marquette University, and master’s degrees from Georgetown and the University of Missouri.
