Brett Busby was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas in 2019, confirmed unanimously by the Texas Senate, and elected to a full term in 2020. He previously practiced as an appellate litigator in Houston, served on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals and the Texas Multi-District Litigation Panel, and taught at U.T. Law School as an adjunct professor.
Brett is a seventh-generation Texan, third-generation Eagle Scout, and life-long violinist who grew up in Amarillo and Austin. After graduating with high honors from Duke University and Columbia Law School, he served as a law clerk to Justices Byron R. White (Ret.) and John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court, and to Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
In private practice, Brett presented oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court and handled dozens of appeals in that Court, the Supreme Court of Texas, and federal and state appellate courts. He is board-certified in civil appellate law, and his fellow Texas appellate lawyers elected him as Chair of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section in 2018. He has also served as Chair of the Texas Bar Committee on Pattern Jury Charges (Business, Consumer, Insurance, and Employment) and as a Director of the Texas Young Lawyers Association.
Brett serves as the Court’s liaison to the Texas Access to Justice Commission and Foundation, which help assure that Texans with limited means have access to basic civil legal services. He received the 2022 Judicial Civic Education Award from the American Lawyers Alliance for his work on the Teach Texas judicial civics program, a partnership with the Houston Bar Association and the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society that sends lawyers and judges to teach seventh graders about our court system and Texas legal history. The Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists named him Appellate Judge of the Year in 2018.
District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
Biography
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk serves as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas. He previously served in the (1) private, (2) government, and (3) nonprofit sectors:
Associate in the Dallas office of Baker Botts LLP
Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas
Deputy General Counsel to the First Liberty Institute
Judge Kacsmaryk is an Honors graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he joined the Federalist Society and served as an Executive Editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Judge Kacsmaryk co-founded the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter in 2012, coordinated the 2018 Texas Chapters Conference hosted by the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter, and presently serves on its Advisory Board.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Biography
Reed Charles O'Connor is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He joined the court in 2007 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
A native of Houston, Texas, O'Connor graduated from the University of Houston with his bachelor's degree in 1986 and from South Texas College of Law with his J.D. in 1989.
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.
Dr. Adam Feldman is the creator and author of the blog Empirical SCOTUS and the Substack Legalytics. He is also the statistics editor for SCOTUSblog. He also runs the legal analytics/AI consulting business Empiri-Law and teaches college courses in political science. He has a law degree from U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and practiced law as a trial lawyer for several years before starting a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Southern California. Upon completion of the Ph.D. Adam pursued a postdoctoral fellowship through Columbia Law School. He has fifteen published articles in law and peer-reviewed journals.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Biography
Judge Nelson was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in October 2018,as the youngest Circuit Judge to serve from Idaho and he has chambers in his hometown of Idaho Falls.Prior to his confirmation, Judge Nelson served for nine years as General Counsel of Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, Inc., a consumer goods company. He previously worked in Washington, DC, where he served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Counsel for Supreme Court nominations to the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Deputy General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice; and a law clerk to Judge Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has argued in most of the federal courts of appeals and worked on dozens of Supreme Court briefs. He started in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin as an appellate lawyer, after clerking for Judges Mosk and Brower of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and fornow-Judge Tom Griffith, then-Senate Legal Counsel, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Judge Nelson earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D., with honors, from BYU Law School. Judge Nelson has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1998.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Biography
Judge Nelson was confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in October 2018,as the youngest Circuit Judge to serve from Idaho and he has chambers in his hometown of Idaho Falls.Prior to his confirmation, Judge Nelson served for nine years as General Counsel of Idaho Falls-based Melaleuca, Inc., a consumer goods company. He previously worked in Washington, DC, where he served in all three branches of the federal government, including as Special Counsel for Supreme Court nominations to the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Deputy General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice; and a law clerk to Judge Henderson of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has argued in most of the federal courts of appeals and worked on dozens of Supreme Court briefs. He started in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin as an appellate lawyer, after clerking for Judges Mosk and Brower of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, and fornow-Judge Tom Griffith, then-Senate Legal Counsel, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton. Judge Nelson earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D., with honors, from BYU Law School. Judge Nelson has been a member of the Federalist Society since 1998.
Matthew Martens represents clients in their toughest civil and criminal investigations and litigation. He is one of the few lawyers who has appeared—and won—at trial at “all four tables”: civil plaintiff, civil defendant, criminal prosecution, and criminal defendant. In all, he has tried 26 cases ranging from securities fraud to patent infringement to consumer fraud to murder to employment law to money laundering, in New York, California, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Washington, South Dakota, New Jersey, and North Carolina. He has also argued 18 appeals in federal and state appellate courts across the country. Martens joined WilmerHale after a long career of government service, including both as Chief Litigation Counsel for the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and, earlier, as Chief of Staff for the Criminal Division at the US Department of Justice during the Bush Administration. He has been recognized as an AmLaw Daily Litigator of the Week, a National Law Journal Litigation Trailblazer and a Law360 Securities Law MVP.
At the SEC, Martens led the Enforcement Division's litigation program, managing cases nationwide and supervising a trial unit of approximately 40 attorneys in Washington DC, as well as coordinating the activity of litigators throughout the SEC's 11 regional offices. He personally developed and directed the Commission's nationwide litigation response to the Supreme Court's decision in Janus Capital, for which he received the SEC's prestigious Chairman's Award for Excellence.
Executive General Counsel, First Liberty Institute
Biography
Hiram Sasser is Executive General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, where he oversees First Liberty’s litigation and media efforts. Sasser’s practice focuses on First Amendment and other constitutional and civil rights issues relating to religious liberty. Sasser served as co-counsel in seven victories before the United States Supreme Court, including Groff v. DeJoy (landmark case overturning the “de minimis cost” test for Title VII in place almost 50 years), Kennedy v. Bremerton (landmark case overturning 50 years of Establishment Clause precedent), Carson v. Makin (overturning 40 years of Maine’s discrimination against parents choosing faith-based schools), American Legion v. American Humanist Association (landmark case ending Establishment Clause attacks on veterans’ memorials with religious imagery), Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (granted, vacated, and remanded (twice) in religious wedding service case), and Sause v. Bauer (summary reversal revoking qualified immunity for police who ordered a citizen not to pray in her own home).
In addition to his legal duties, Sasser develops, coordinates, and implements successful media strategies on behalf of his clients. This includes numerous appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the BBC as well as being heard on various radio stations throughout the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
In 2016, Sasser took a leave of absence to serve a temporary assignment as the Chief of Staff for the Attorney General of Texas. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at both The University of Texas at Austin School of Law (teaching Religious Liberty) and Oklahoma City University School of Law (teaching Civil Rights Procedure).
Mike Berry serves as Chief Counsel for United States Senator Ted Cruz. As Chief Counsel for Senator Cruz, Mike provides advice and counsel to the Senator with special emphasis on the Senate’s advice and consent role pertaining to judicial nominations.
Prior to working on the Hill, Mike spent many years in public interest litigation with various non-profits. Mike served for seven years as an attorney with the U.S. Marine Corps, leaving active duty in 2013. Among his numerous positions within the Marine Corps, Mike deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 and he served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the United States Naval Academy. Mr. Berry continues to proudly serve our nation as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve.
Mr. Berry earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, and he earned his law degree from The Ohio State University.