Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Biography
Judge Daniel A. Bress is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in San Francisco. A native of Gilroy, California, Judge Bress graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review. Following law school, Judge Bress clerked for the Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Honorable Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Bress was then a lawyer private practice, first at Munger Tolles & Olson and later at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a litigation partner. Judge Bress has also taught law school courses at the University of Virginia School of Law and the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. Judge Bress was nominated and confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in 2019.
Cory Liu is a state district judge in Austin, Texas. He previously served as assistant general counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Mr. Liu clerked for Judge Andrew Oldham on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Danny Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Chicago.
Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Global Law and P, Santa Clara Law
Biography
Professor Sloss is a prominent expert on the domestic application of international law in U.S. courts. He is the editor of a forthcoming book, to be published by Cambridge University Press, providing a comparative analysis of treaty enforcement in domestic courts. He has published articles in several leading law journals, including Stanford Law Review, Cornell Law Review, the American Journal of International Law, the Yale Journal of International Law, the Virginia Journal of International Law and the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Before embarking on an academic career, Professor Sloss spent nine years as a civil servant in the U.S. Government. During that time, he helped draft and negotiate several important arms control treaties and other international agreements. Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law (1999-2008); Associate, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (1997-1999); Law Clerk, Judge Joseph T. Sneed, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1996-97); U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1984-1993). Hampshire College, B.A. 1981 Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, M.P.P. 1983 Stanford Law School, J.D. 1996 with Distinction
Keith E. Whittington is the David Boies Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He is the faculty director of the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Yale. Prior to joining Yale, Professor Whittington was the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He writes about American constitutional law, politics and history and American political thought. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law, is a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, and served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Austin and completed his Ph.D. in political science at Yale University. His books include Constitutional Interpretation: Textual Meaning, Original Intent, and Judicial Review. His most recent books include You Can't Teach That! The Battle over University Classrooms and Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present.
E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law, University of Richmond School of Law
Biography
Professor Kurt Lash teaches and writes about constitutional law. Founder and director of the Richmond Program on the American Constitution, Professor Lash has published widely on the subjects of constitutional law and constitutional history, including The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2014), The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The American First Amendment in the Twenty-first Century: Cases and Materials(with William W. Van Alstyne) (5th ed., Foundation Press, 2014). An elected member of the American Law Institute, Professor Lash’s work has appeared in numerous legal journals including the Stanford Law Journal, Georgetown Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, andNotre Dame Law Review. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University School of Law and is the former director of the University of Illinois College of Law Program in Constitutional Theory, History, and Law.
Professor of Law and Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Biography
Professor Stinneford teaches and writes about legal ethics, criminal law, criminal procedure, and constitutional law. His work has been cited by the United States Supreme Court, several state supreme courts and federal courts of appeal, and numerous scholars. It has published in numerous scholarly journals including the Georgetown Law Journal, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, and the William & Mary Law Review. The Stanford-Yale Junior faculty forum selected one of his articles as the best paper in the category of Constitutional History, and the AALS Criminal Justice Section named another article as the best paper in its Junior Scholars Paper Competition. In the fall of 2015, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Georgetown Law Center, Center for the Constitution.
Before joining the Florida faculty in 2009, Stinneford clerked for the Hon. James Moran of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, served as an Assistant United States Attorney, and practiced law with Winston & Strawn in Chicago. Stinneford teaches first-year courses in Criminal Law and Constitutional Law, and upper-level courses in Professional Responsibility, Criminal Procedure, Federal Criminal Law, Law & Literature, and White Collar Crime.
Jeffery J. Ventrella leads TruthxChange, a ministry engaging in cultural apologetics that informs the public, equips the church, and protects the future. He also serves as Professor of Law for Trinity Law School, teaching Constitutional Law and international human rights. He also serves as Senior Lecturer at Arizona Christian University, teaching Constitutional Law and a course he designed, Law & Politics. He previously served as associate attorney general for the State of Idaho as well as senior counsel and senior vice president of academic affairs and training at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Upon joining ADF in 2000, he designed the curriculum for a number of ADF training programs, including the Blackstone Legal Fellowship (BLF), a unique training and professional development program for law students. He also helped design ADF International’s Areté Academy Europe, Areté Academy Asia, and Areté Latin America, which provide training for exceptional international advocates and cultural leaders who are on a path to future leadership in a variety of disciplines.
Dr. Ventrella has served as a research fellow and a member of an ad hoc graduate thesis committee for the department of philosophy and constitutional law at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He is also a distinguished fellow of law and culture for the Center for Cultural Leadership and a fellow with the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. In 2014, TruthXchange appointed him a senior fellow. As an approved speaker for the Federalist Society, Dr. Ventrella serves as an appointed member of the society’s executive committee – guiding its religious liberties practice group. His book, The Cathedral Builder: Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007), is part of the BLF core curriculum project. In addition, he also edits the BLF’s curriculum. He is the author of numerous monographs and has contributed to and/or edited ten books. Dr. Ventrella received a bachelor’s degree in music education, magna cum laude, from the University of Northern Colorado, where he specialized in trumpet performance. He holds a doctorate in church and state studies from Whitefield Theological Seminary and earned his J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of the Law. He has practiced law since 1985 and is a member of the Idaho State Bar serving on its professionalism and ethics and diversity sections. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge, United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Biography
United States District Judge Michael T. Liburdi began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth V. McGregor of the Arizona Supreme Court.
He entered private practice with the law firm of Brown & Bain P.A., which became the Phoenix office of Perkins Coie LLP. He later practiced at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.
From 2015-2018, Judge Liburdi served as General Counsel to Arizona Governor Douglas A. Ducey. Judge Liburdi provided legal advice to the Governor, advised on appointments to the state judiciary, directed litigation involving the state agencies, and worked with Arizona’s Congressional delegation on legal policy issues.
Immediately prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Liburdi was a shareholder at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Judge Liburdi’s private sector practice included complex commercial litigation, antitrust, constitutional law, and political and election law.
Judge Liburdi has served as an adjunct professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
Judge Liburdi earned his Juris Doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Biography
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Professor and Law School Fund Research Scholar, Boston College Law School
Biography
Kent Greenfield is Professor of Law and Law Fund Research Scholar at Boston College Law School, where he teaches and writes in the areas of business law, constitutional law, decision making theory, legal theory, and economic analysis of law. He is the past Chair of the Section on Business Associations of the American Association of Law Schools. In addition, he is the author of the book “The Myth of Choice,” published in 2011 from Yale University Press, Prunsoop Publishing (in Korean), and BiteBack Publishing (UK). Kirkus Reviews stated in its review: “The author deftly debunks prevailing dogma about the infallibility of free markets, especially important during a time when, as he reports, one in seven Americans are poor." He is also the author of the book “The Failure of Corporate Law” published by University of Chicago Press. The book has been called “simply the best and most well-reasoned progressive critique of corporate law yet written,” and the Law and Politics Book Review said that “it merits a place alongside Berle and Means, [and] Easterbrook and Fischel.”
Greenfield also has had journal articles published in the Yale Law Journal, the Virginia Law Review, the Boston College Law Review, the George Washington Law Review, and the Tulane Law Review, among others. His articles are widely cited, and he has been called “the leading figure” and “the most creative thinker” in the progressive, stakeholder school of corporate law scholarship. Greenfield has presented papers or lectured in 33 states, 7 foreign countries, and at 78 institutions (including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Stanford, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and the London School of Economics).
Greenfield was named B.C. Law Teacher of the Year for 2003-04, a recognition bestowed by the Law Students Association on vote of the entire student body. He was also awarded the Emil Slizewski Award for outstanding teaching, given by the graduating class of 2004. Greenfield has been a Law Fund Research Scholar, a recognition of his scholarly contributions, since 2003. He has taught at the University of Connecticut School of Law and the University of Hawaii School of Law, and at Brown University in the political science department.
He is the founder and president of the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), an association of three dozen law schools and other academic institutions organized to fight for academic freedom and against discrimination. FAIR brought suit against Donald Rumsfeld and others to contest the Solomon Amendment, which forces universities to assist military recruiters. The Supreme Court decided the case against FAIR on March 6, 2006. Greenfield’s work with FAIR was featured in numerous newspapers and media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, and NPR.
Greenfield also consults with litigators on issues of corporate accountability. He was instrumental in developing the theory of the case brought against Unocal Corporation for alleged human rights violations committed by the company in Burma.
Before joining the faculty in 1995, Greenfield served as a law clerk to Justice David H. Souter, of the United States Supreme Court, and to Judge Levin H. Campbell, of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He also worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling, in Washington, D.C., and as an corporate policy advisor at Levi Strauss & Co., in San Francisco.
Greenfield is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with honors and was awarded membership into the honorary society Order of the Coif. He also served as Topics and Comments Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. He received an A.B., with highest honors, from Brown University, where he studied economics and history. Before law school, he traveled extensively in South America and Africa.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Biography
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Biography
George Mocsary is an expert in corporate and small-business law, and the law of firearms.
Currently, he is Professor of Law, Founder & Director of Firearms Research Center, and Director of the Business Planning Practicum and at the University of Wyoming College of Law.
Professor Mocsary teaches and writes about Agency & Partnership, Contracts, Corporations, Securities Regulation, the Second Amendment, and Firearms Law, including the intersection of Firearms Law and private law. He is a co-author of Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy (3rd ed. 2021), the first casebook on this topic.
Prior to his appointment at Wyoming, he served as an Associate Professor of Law at the Southern Illinois University School of Law and spent two years as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. He practiced corporate and bankruptcy law at Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York, and clerked for the Honorable Harris L. Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Professor Mocsary holds a J.D. from Fordham Law School and an M.B.A. from the University of Rochester Simon School of Business. At Fordham, he graduated first in his class, and served as Notes and Articles Editor of the Fordham Law Review. He has published in the George Washington Law Review, George Mason Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Duke Law Journal Online, and other journals. His work has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States, several U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Delaware Court of Chancery, and other courts.