Brian Kemp is a husband, father, businessman, and public servant. On November 6, 2018, he was elected as Georgia's 83rd Governor, earning more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history.
Governor Kemp built his first business – Kemp Development and Construction Company – with a pick-up truck and a shovel. Over thirty years later, he is a successful entrepreneur with businesses and investments in banking, farming, timber, manufacturing, and real estate.
Kemp served on the Board of Suncrest Stone in Tifton as a Founding Director of First Madison Bank and St. Mary’s Hospital Board in Athens. From the backhoe to the board room, Governor Kemp understands how to successfully create jobs, grow companies, recruit start-ups, and make deals on the international stage while also providing opportunities for hundreds of hardworking Georgians.
Out of frustration with government, Brian Kemp ran for public office in the early 2000s.
In the State Senate, Kemp was instrumental in fighting to cut fees, taxes, and mandates on job creators and Georgia families. As Secretary of State, Kemp utilized technology and innovation to cut bureaucratic red tape, slash spending, and streamline government.
As Governor, Brian Kemp is fighting to make Georgia #1 for small business through regulatory reform. He will ensure that all parts of our state - including rural Georgia - have opportunities to grow and thrive. Kemp is fundamentally reforming state government, keeping our families safe, and always putting hardworking Georgians first.
Kemp, 56, is married to the former Marty Argo of Athens. They are the proud parents of three daughters – Jarrett, Lucy, and Amy Porter – and active members of Emmanuel Episcopal Church.
First Lady of Georgia Marty Kemp is a devoted wife and mother, small business owner, and graduate of the University of Georgia.
First Lady of Georgia Marty Kemp is a devoted wife and mother, small business owner, and graduate of the University of Georgia. She began her career with her family’s travel agency and later joined Governor Kemp at Kemp Development and Construction, which heads multiple projects statewide. Throughout Governor Kemp's time in office, the First Lady has led the charge to end human trafficking in the state through the formation of the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education (GRACE) Commission and by spearheading passage of eight pieces of legislation with overwhelming support from the General Assembly. Her other top priorities as First Lady include pet adoption, supporting Georgia agriculture and the Georgia Grown program at the Governor's Mansion, promoting literacy and mental health, and promoting foster care and adoption reform initiatives. First Lady and Governor Kemp are proud parents to three daughters: Jarrett, Lucy, and Amy Porter.
Shlomo Klapper is the founder of Learned Hand, a generative AI platform aimed to be used by judges and courts.
Speaker Information
Lyrissa Lidsky
Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Eminent Scholar Chair in US Constitutional Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Biography
Lyrissa Lidsky is the Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Eminent Scholar Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law at Florida Law. She previously served as Dean of the University of Missouri School of Law from 2017-2022. The focus of her research and teaching is the intersection of Tort Law and the First Amendment, with an emphasis on defamation and free speech issues in social media. Missouri Lawyers Media named Lidsky its 2020 Woman of the Year based on her scholarship, passion for law, mentorship of students, and engagement of constituencies supporting the school of law.
Before becoming dean at Missouri, Lidsky served in a variety of leadership roles at UF Law, including as associate dean for graduate and international programs and associate dean for faculty development. She also held the Stephen C. O’Connell Chair in Law and received a number of teaching awards during her 23-year tenure at UF, including student-selected awards such as Teacher of the Year (twice) and Faculty Graduation Speaker (three times), as well as Teacher of the Year, which was selected by a faculty committee.
Lidsky is co-reporter on the Restatement of Defamation and Privacy, which is now in progress. She is co-author of a leading Media Law casebook, a First Amendment casebook, and a reference book on press freedom and has published dozens of articles, culminating in a forthcoming article in the Virginia Law Review, co-authored with Professor Christina Koningisor, called First Amendment Disequilibrium. Her work on anonymous speech has been cited by a number of state supreme courts and the highest courts of Canada and Hong Kong.
Before becoming a law professor, Lidsky served as a clerk for the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, Calif. Lidsky received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law with high honors. She was initiated into Order of the Coif in recognition of her scholastic achievement and served as articles editor of the Texas Law Review. Before law school, she was a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University in England, studying medieval legal history and early development of the Common Law. She received her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in English and political science from Texas A&M University.
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Biography
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), as well as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. He recently retired from teaching at UCLA, after 30 years there, and is now focusing on research.
Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (8th ed. 2023), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 academic law journal articles, mostly on First Amendment law. He is a member of The American Law Institute; the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Free Speech Law; and the creator and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog founded in 2002 (hosted at the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017 and now at Reason Magazine).
Mathura Sridharan serves as the 12th Solicitor General of Ohio. She previously served as Deputy Solicitor General and as Director of Ohio’s Tenth Amendment Center, where she initiated and directed suits to defend Ohioans against unlawful federal policies and to preserve the separation of powers between the federal and state governments. Across these roles, she has briefed and argued numerous appeals before the Ohio Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and other Circuits. In 2024, Mathura argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Ohio v. EPA, representing several States in a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Good Neighbor Rule regulating the interstate transport of air pollution.
Before joining the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Mathura clerked for Judge Steven J. Menashi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Deborah A. Batts of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She holds a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Michael Buschbacher is the managing partner of Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Counsel, Sen. Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee
Speaker Information
Daniel M. Flores
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives
Biography
Daniel Flores is a Senior Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his current position, he served in the House as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Before coming to the House, he served as an Acting Associate Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in other roles in EPA's Office of General Counsel, as a Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. He serves as a House liaison to the Administrative Conference of the United States and has served on the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.
Michael Francisco is a public and commercial litigator with extensive appellate experience who often serves as a strategic advisor to clients facing acute legal challenges. He has represented clients nationally for public impact litigation, bet-the-company lawsuits, and in defense of constitutional rights. Michael served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Michael regularly takes on challenging matters where citizens must rely on the judiciary to vindicate their rights. His experience runs the gambit from successfully seeking injunctive relief, winning critical legal motions, defending judgments on appeal, overturning multi-million-dollar judgments, and obtaining discretionary high court review. He relishes the opportunity to develop a well-crafted legal strategy to solve the most novel and complex problems that may arise.
Michael has deep experience with political litigation representing candidates, voters, political parties, and advocacy organizations for ballot access, election administration, campaign finance, and for the unfortunate trend of criminalization of political activity.
After deciding to pursue a legal career to defend religious liberty, Michael has regularly engaged in constitutional litigation under the religion clauses and the free speech clause. He has been involved in many recent U.S. Supreme Court cases involving these core freedoms, including Groff v. DeJoy, 303 Creative v. Elenis, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, National Institute of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra, Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley, and similar cases in lower courts on topics ranging from the ministerial exception, church property disputes, to religious land use disputes.
As an appellate advocate Michael frequently handles matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and Colorado appellate courts. He has argued four times before the Colorado Supreme Court and briefed 19 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Michael also frequently advises clients on strategic public matters challenging federal government authority and overreach. He has regularly litigated business disputes, employment matters, as well as represented clients before state and federal administrative agencies or arbitration panels.
Prior to joining First & Fourteenth, Michael was a partner at McGuireWoods, LLP in Washington D.C., representing litigation, white collar, and government investigation clients.
At home Michael is married with four children and he enjoys many outdoor activities, ranging from competitive shooting to fixing his jeep.
Chris Murray is a nationally recognized public litigator. His practice focuses on litigating high-stakes cases with significant policy or political implications, and he excels in matters involving novel or rarely litigated legal issues.
When the case is both controversial and has potentially significant impacts on the public, clients call Chris. His unique combination of experience in commercial and public law matters allows him to advise on and litigate high-stakes issues from emergency actions in elections and political matters to strategic commercial and public litigation involving issues of first impression or novel fact patterns. Chris represents a broad range of clients including businesses, political parties, trade associations, nonprofits, and even individuals in high-profile matters, both in trial and appeals. He advises on and regularly litigates federal and state constitutional issues touching on public policy, in contexts ranging from election recounts to strategic litigation against governments to preparing amicus briefs for appellate courts.
Chris also regularly advises clients on strategy for political participation and compliance with federal and state political disclosure laws.
Timothy P. Carney is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on economic competition, cronyism, civil society, localism, and religion in America. He is concurrently the commentary editor at the Washington Examiner.
In addition to his Washington Examiner columns, Mr. Carney’s work has been published in a variety of magazines, websites, and newspapers, including The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, Reason Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. His television appearances include CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the “PBS NewsHour.”
Mr. Carney has a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Speaker Information
Gene P. Hamilton
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Biography
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Biography
Judge Menashi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 14, 2019. Previously, he served as special assistant and associate counsel to the President in the White House and as acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. He was assistant professor of law at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where he taught administrative law and civil procedure, and a research fellow at New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He was also a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, where he practiced appellate and commercial litigation, and served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, and from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in to an eight-year term as Tennessee’s Attorney General and Reporter on September 1, 2022.
Prior to his current role, General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General to his predecessor, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery.
Before working for the State of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis. His legal career began with nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor. He worked at the Civil Rights Division at Main Justice and then at the Memphis U.S. Attorney’s Office and prosecuted sex traffickers, corrupt government officials, and violent white supremacists. In addition, General Skrmetti taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jonathan clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and four children.