National Cotton Council v. EPA and NPDES Permits
Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group
Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, any entity that disposes pollutants...
Energy & Environment Practice Group
Charles Tebbutt, Ellen Steen, Doug T. Nelson
Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group
Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, any entity that disposes pollutants...
A central feature of the Clean Water Act (CWA) is cooperative federalism. In fact, right...
Thomas Tanton, James T.B Tripp, Steven J. Eagle
Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group
On September 15, 2009, following the administration’s announcement in May of a new regulation limiting...
This has been a big week for fans of state constitutional law. Georgia and Pennsylvania...
Please mark your calendars for Friday, May 15, 2020 at 2:30pm Eastern Time, for the...
Solicitor General of Nebraska
Cody Barnett previously served as legal counsel on Alliance Defending Freedom’s Appellate Advocacy Team, where he represented various ADF clients before appellate courts across the country.
Before joining ADF, Barnett served as the William H. Rehnquist Fellow at Cooper & Kirk PLLC. He then went on to clerk for the Honorable Amul R. Thapar and the Honorable Raymond M. Kethledge, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, and for the Honorable Justin R. Walker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Barnett earned his J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2017, where he graduated first in his class. He also served as president of the Christian Legal Society and as an articles editor for the Kentucky Law Journal. He completed ADF’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship in 2017. Prior to law school, Barnett earned a Bachelor of Arts in both history and political science from Transylvania University.
Barnett is admitted to practice law in Kentucky, the District of Columbia, and before several U.S. Courts of Appeal.
Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Thomas Berry is the director in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation and clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His academic work has appeared in NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, Washington and Lee Law Review Online, and Federalist Society Review. His popular writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Law Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, National Review Online, and The Hill Online. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, and his work has been cited by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Berry holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was a senior editor on the Stanford Law and Policy Review and a Bradley Student Fellow in the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He graduated with a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
THOMAS W. MERRILL is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. He previously taught at Northwestern University School of Law and Yale Law School. He has undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a law degree from the University of Chicago. He clerked on the D.C. Circuit (for Chief Judge David Bazelon) and the U.S. Supreme Court (for Justice Harry Blackmun). From 1987-1990 he served as Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice. Professor Merrill’s writings related to property include Property: Principles and Policies (Foundation Press Second Edition, 2012) (with Henry E. Smith); Property: The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law (Oxford U. Press, 2010); Property: Takings (Foundation Press, 2002)(with David Dana); and numerous articles, including “The Economics of Public Use” (Cornell Law Review 1986); “The Landscape of Constitutional Property” (Virginia Law Review 2000); and “The Character of the Governmental Action” (Vermont Law Review 2012). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Chief Deputy Solicitor General, Director of the Tenth Amendment Center, Ohio Attorney General's Office
John serves in the Office of the Solicitor General as a Deputy Solicitor General and as the Director of the Tenth Amendment Center. In his role, John monitors federal actions, orders, statutes, and regulations for potential overreach and advises the Solicitor General about potential actions to protect the interests of the State of Ohio. John works in both state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court.
John previously practiced as a litigator at two large law firms in Columbus. He clerked for Judge Joseph Hood on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Judge Eugene Siler for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Senior Fellow in Executive Power, Cato Institute
Molly Nixon is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, where she focuses on the scope, use, and history of executive power as well as its limits under the Constitution. Molly was previously an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation’s separation of powers practice, where she litigated cases challenging congressional delegations of legislative power and executive branch overreach. Before that, she served as an Attorney-Advisor at the Department of the Interior and as Legislative Counsel for Congressman Justin Amash.
Molly holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. in History and International Relations from Boston University. She clerked for the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska and practiced law at a firm in New York City for several years before moving to Washington, D.C.
Attorney, Separation of Powers, Pacific Legal Foundation
Josh Robbins is an attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation’s separation of powers group. He litigates cases to defend the structural protections of the U.S. and state constitutions that guarantee liberty for all Americans. He wants to help ensure Americans receive due process from the government when their lives and property are at stake and that the laws are made by our democratically elected representatives and not by unaccountable bureaucrats.
As an attorney in private practice, Josh saw firsthand how the government can embroil people (and even large corporations) in years-long legal battles. At PLF, he works to provide those without great resources an opportunity to vindicate their right to a properly ordered government, which is the right of all Americans.
Prior to joining PLF, Josh was an associate at a large law firm where he litigated cases in federal and state courts. He clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Houston.
Josh earned a B.A. in economics and international studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. While at UVA, he served as an articles editor for the Virginia Law Review. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and enjoys hiking, swimming, and attending Washington Nationals games.
Josh is a member of the bar only in the states of Virginia and D.C.
Executive Director, Alliance For Consumers; President & CEO, American Juris Link
O.H. Skinner is the President & CEO of American Juris Link, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating nonprofit litigation to advance freedom, liberty, and the rule of law. O.H. has a long track record in facilitating strategic nonprofit litigation in his role as the Executive Director at Alliance For Consumers as well as from his time serving Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in senior positions, including as Arizona Solicitor General. O.H. is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the Arizona Attorney General's Office, O.H. practiced at WilmerHale and Ropes & Gray in Boston, and clerked for the Hon. J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In 2023, O.H. was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School, where he counseled students as a Harvard-identified “outstanding public interest attorney.”
Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
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
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives
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.
Blaine T. Phillips Distinguished Professor in Environmental Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Law and economics expert Jason Scott Johnston joined the Virginia Law faculty in 2010 and is the Blaine T. Phillips Distinguished Professor in Environmental Law. He formerly served as the the Nicholas E. Chimicles Research Professor in Business Law and Regulation at Virginia Law, and the Robert G. Fuller, Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Program on Law, Environment and Economy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Johnston’s scholarship has examined subjects ranging from natural resources law to torts and contracts. He has published dozens of articles in law journals, such as the Yale Law Journal, and in peer-reviewed economics journals, such as the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. He is currently working on a book that critically analyzes the foundations of global warming law and policy, a series of articles on the economics of regulatory science and another series of articles on various aspects of the law and economics of consumer protection. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Law and Economics Association, on the National Science Foundation’s Law and Social Science grant review panel, and on the Board of the Searle Civil Justice Institute. He won Penn Law’s Robert A. Gorman Award for Teaching Excellence in 2003.
After earning his A.B. from Dartmouth College and both his J.D. and Ph.D. (economics) from the University of Michigan, Johnston clerked for Judge Gilbert S. Merritt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He then taught at Vermont Law School and Vanderbilt Law School before joining Penn’s faculty. He has been a visiting professor or held fellowship appointments at Yale Law School, the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, the American Academy in Berlin and the Property and Environment Research Center.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins
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.
Consumer Protection Bureau Chief, Nebraska Attorney General's Office
Bebe Strnad serves as Consumer Protection Bureau Chief at the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office. She oversees work related to unfair and deceptive trade practices, antitrust, scams, fraud, and data privacy. Bebe previously worked at a private law firm where she focused on intellectual property, complex commercial litigation, and online enforcement. Before law school, Bebe attended art school and worked in marketing. Once a lifelong big-coastal-city-dweller, Bebe is now enjoying heartland living.
Western Environmental Law Center
Partner, Crowell & Moring
Ellen Steen is a partner specializing in environmental and natural resources law. She has represented a broad range of industrial, mining, timber, and agricultural clients in matters involving the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), Emergency Protection and Community Right-to-Know Act ("EPCRA"), Toxic Substances Control Act ("TSCA"), Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act ("FIFRA"), and the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA").
Ellen's litigation practice has included a wide range of cases concerning the scope of EPA's regulatory authority (both challenging and defending EPA regulations), as well as enforcement actions by EPA and citizens groups. She has litigated Clean Water Act cases involving National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") permitting, including storm water permitting, as well as section 404 wetlands ("dredge and fill") permitting, antidegradation policies, the total maximum daily load ("TMDL") program, state water quality certification requirements, and Endangered Species Act consultation in connection with EPA action under the Clean Water Act. Some of the more significant policy-related Clean Water Act cases include the successful challenge to aspects of EPA's NPDES regulations for concentrated animal feeding operations ("CAFOs"), Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. v. EPA, 399 F.3d 486 (2nd Cir. 2005), the successful defense of EPA's current general permit for construction-related storm water discharges, Texas Independent Royalty Producers and Owners Ass'n v. EPA, 410 F.3d 964 (7th Cir. 2005), and on-going litigation concerning EPA's 2008 revised CAFO rules, National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. EPA, No. 08-61093 (5th Cir.), and administrative reporting exemption from EPCRA release reporting requirements, Waterkeeper Alliance, et al. v. EPA, No. 09-1017 (D.C. Cir.). Ellen has defended against numerous administrative and judicial enforcement actions under the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws, including citizens' suits alleging violations of hazardous substance release reporting requirements, as well as citizen claims for RCRA "imminent and substantial endangerment" and open dumping. She has litigated NEPA cases, defending federal projects from challenges to the adequacy of environmental impact analyses, and has extensive experience in Superfund contribution and cost recovery litigation.
Ellen's regulatory counseling and permitting expertise includes Clean Water Act permitting and compliance (related to both NPDES and section 404 dredge and fill regulation), as well as counseling on a variety of issues concerning the regulation of chemical substances, site remediation under the Superfund National Contingency Plan, hazardous substance release reporting, hazardous waste management, and pesticide regulation. She regularly prepares formal comments and engages in administrative advocacy related to EPA initiatives concerning NPDES permitting rules and permit issuance, water quality standards, effluent limitations guidelines, and TMDLs.
She serves as a vice-chair of the Agricultural Management Committee within the ABA's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. She is a member of the bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, various federal appellate courts, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina.
Senior Advisor, Trade, Intellectual Property and Strategic Issue, CropLife America
Douglas T. Nelson is senior advisor, for trade, intellectual property and strategic issues for CropLife America, the largest national trade organization representing developers, manufacturers, formulators and distributors of agricultural pesticides across the United States.
Prior to CropLife America, Nelson served as assistant general counsel and assistant secretary of Unilever United States, Inc. in New York, N.Y.
Other previous positions included acquisitions and divestitures counsel at Union Carbide Corporation in Danbury, Conn., and associate positions at the New York law firms of Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Coudert Brothers.
Nelson is an appointed member of the United States Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, which advises the U.S. trade representative and the Secretary of Commerce on intellectual property rights aspects of U.S. trade policy.
Nelson holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., a master’s degree and Ph.D. in European history from Columbia University and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law, in New York, N.Y.
Nelson holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., a master’s degree and Ph.D. in European history from Columbia University and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law, in New York, N.Y.
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daren Bakst is Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment and a Senior Fellow. In this role, he manages, develops, and leads the coalition, advocacy, and research activities of the Center, which is one of the most effective advocates for Free Market Environmentalism.
Before joining CEI as Deputy Director in March, 2023, Daren was a Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Policy and Regulation at the Heritage Foundation, where he played a leading role in the launch of the organization’s new energy and environment center, and created and hosted the Heritage Foundation’s energy and environment podcast the “PowerCast.” During his decade at Heritage, Daren wrote about energy and environmental policy, food and agricultural policy (including editing and co-authoring the book Farms and Free Enterprise), regulation, and trade among other topics.
Daren also worked on environmental policy and regulation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he was a policy counsel and served as the executive to the association’s Government Oversight, Operations & Consumer Affairs committee, which was responsible for issues such as regulatory process reform. Daren has significant state level experience, working for seven years at the Raleigh, N.C.-based John Locke Foundation, one of the largest state-based, free-market think tanks. As director of legal and regulatory studies, his broad portfolio included energy and environmental policy, regulatory reform, and property rights.
Daren has testified numerous times before Congress, regularly submits comments to federal agencies and has appeared in or been quoted by a wide range of media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Times, CNN, Fox Business News, Al-Jazeera America, and U.S. News and World Report. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Executive Committee and serves on the College Level Advisory Board for Constituting America, an organization that informs and educates about the importance of the U.S. Constitution.
Daren, who hails from Florida, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from George Washington University. A licensed attorney, he holds a law degree from the University of Miami and a master of laws degree from American University.
Senior Fellow, Pacific Research Institute
Tom Tanton is a Senior Fellow with the Pacific Research Institute as well as the Principal of T2 & Associates, a firm providing consulting services to the energy and technology industries. Mr. Tanton has over 35 years experience in the energy, economy, and environmental fields.
T2 & Associates are active in the area of energy and interconnected infrastructures, analyzing and providing advice on their impacts on energy prices, environmental quality, and regional economic development. Principals and associates of T2 & Associates have well over a half-century of experience in technology and legislative interface, having been central to many of the critical legislative changes that enabled technology choice and economic development at the state and federal level.
Mr. Tanton’s previous employment includes serving as Vice President and Senior Fellow with the Institute for Energy Research, from 2002 to 2006, and General Manager for EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute, from 2000 to 2003.
Mr. Tanton has a wealth of experience in energy-related issues in the state of California and nationally. Prior to 2000, Mr. Tanton was the principal policy advisor with the California Energy Commission (CEC) where he was responsible for designing and implementing legislation including electric restructuring, gasoline and natural gas supply and pricing, energy facility siting, environmental issues, technology development, and transportation.
In 1998, Mr. Tanton also served as a team member of the California Governor's Office task force on critical infrastructure security. He was also the lead advisor on energy and infrastructure to California's task force on 21st Century development in 1999.
He has made presentations to a number of commissions and boards in California and nationally, including the California Energy and Public Utilities Commissions. He has also testified before several state legislatures and Congress and provided expert testimony in power plant sitting cases.
Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund
James T. B. Tripp has served as Counsel for Environmental Defense Fund since 1973 and as General Counsel since 1983. Mr. Tripp is responsible for the review of all Environmental Defense Fund legal action initiatives and has been admitted to the New York State Bar, the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, several U.S. courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court.
Through Environmental Defense Fund’s Living Cities program, he works on a wide range of land use, transportation, water resources, solid waste, ecosystem restoration and energy issues in the NY metropolitan region. His expertise led to his appointment to the New York State Department of Transportation's Advisory Panel on Transportation Policy for 2025 (2004), New York Governor George Pataki's Greenhouse Gas Task Force (2001-2002), and to Governor Pataki's Superfund Work Group (1999-2000).
Mr. Tripp helped to design a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program in the Long Island Pine Barrens, and has also been extensively involved in land conservation and smart growth efforts in the Highlands ecosystem, which stretches from eastern Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York into western Connecticut.
Through EDF’s Land Water and Wildlife program, he has also been engaged in state and federal efforts to restore the Mississippi River Delta in south Louisiana and bottomland hardwood resources in the lower Mississippi Basin for more than 30 years. He served on former Louisiana Governor Michael Foster's Commission on the Future of Coastal Louisiana, and has served on the Louisiana Governor's Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation.
Chairs the board of New Partners for Community Revitalization and the Long Island Pine Barrens Clearinghouse Advisory Board. Formerly, he has chaired the Highlands Coalition Board and the New York City Water Board. He is a member of the Civitas Board, and also serves on the Boards of the Tri-State (New York, New Jersey, & Connecticut) Transportation Campaign, the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, and the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
Author or co-author of numerous articles on wetland preservation, groundwater quality, solid waste, design of rights transfer systems, Cuba environmental law and NEPA reform. Recipient, Robert C. Stover Environmental Advocate Award, given by New York State Bar Association (1986).
Assistant US attorney, Southern District of New York (1968- 1973); summer volunteer, lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (1967, 1968); associate, Hale, Russell & Stentzel (1966-1968).
Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
With his work in regulatory takings and other aspects of property law, professor of law Steven Eagle plays an important role in the ongoing dialogue among American legal scholars, lawyers, and judges on the proper interpretation of property rights in the Constitution. He is the author of a leading property treatise and scholarly and popular articles and teaches in programs for judges and the practicing bar.
Professor Eagle came to George Mason in 1987 and also has taught at the law schools of Vanderbilt University, the University of Toledo, and Pace University. He earned his B.B.A. from the City College of New York (1965) and his J.D. from Yale Law School (1970). Professor Eagle teaches the first-year course, Property, Land Use Planning, and an advanced constitutional law seminar on property rights.
Adam Griffin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. During law school, he served as a research assistant to Professor Stephen E. Sachs and UNC Law Dean Martin Brinkley. After law school, Adam spent two years litigating for liberty at the Institute for Justice as an inaugural Law and Liberty Fellow. He then served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Richard E. Myers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and previously worked at Pacific Legal Foundation and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Director of Property Rights Litigation, Pacific Legal Foundation
Robert Thomas is Pacific Legal Foundation’s director of its Property Rights practice group. He is an expert on property rights, takings, land use, and eminent domain issues.
After more than three decades in private practice in Hawaii and California representing property owners in takings, eminent domain, and land use cases, Robert joined PLF’s team of freedom fighters in 2021.
He has litigated cases in both state and federal court. As counsel for the property owners in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Limited Partnership, he helped establish the rule that courts are not mere “rubber stamps” when a local government is taking property by eminent domain. Another case, Hamilton ex rel. Lethem v. Lethem, held that a parent’s liberty interest in raising and disciplining his child included a right to fair procedures, including notice and a judicial hearing before the family court could restrict parent-child contact.
Robert is a frequent speaker on property rights, takings, land use, and eminent domain issues nationwide. He also regularly publishes scholarly and practical articles in his area of practice, most recently including, “Hoist the Yellow Flag and Spam® Up: The Separation of Powers Limitation on Hawaii’s Emergency Authority”, 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. 71 (2020) and “Evaluating Emergency Takings: Flattening the Economic Curve”, 29 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 1145 (2021).
An elected member of the American Law Institute, Robert received his LLM, with honors, from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his JD from the University of Hawaii School of Law, where he served as editor of the Law Review. He also serves as the inaugural Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he teaches upper-division courses in eminent domain, land use, property rights, and property law.
When he’s not working, you might find Robert writing and publishing his blog on land use, property, and takings law, inversecondemnation.com, one of the most widely read blogs on those subjects.