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Regulatory Transparency Project

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Regulatory Transparency Project

The Regulatory Transparency Project was a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort dedicated to fostering discussion and a better understanding of regulatory policies.

California v. EPA: Using the Congressional Review Act to Roll Back State Waivers

Sep 21 2026

Monday 12:00 p.m. EST

California v. EPA: Using the Congressional Review Act to Roll Back State Waivers

Speakers:

Michael Buschbacher • Andrew Ceonzo • Daniel M. Flores

Topics:

Administrative Law & Regulation • Environmental & Energy Law • Litigation • Federalism & Separation of Powers

Sponsors:

Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group • Litigation Practice Group • Energy & Environment Practice Group • Regulatory Transparency Project

Webinar

Bias, DEI, and CLE: Navigating the Constitutional Limits of Mandatory Training

Sep 2 2026

Wednesday 12:00 p.m. EST

CLE 1 hour

Bias, DEI, and CLE: Navigating the Constitutional Limits of Mandatory Training

Speakers:

Josh Blackman • William Jacobson • Daniel Lennington • Michael S. McGinniss

Topics:

Civil Rights • Professional Responsibility & Legal Education

Sponsors:

Professional Responsibility & Legal Education Practice Group • Regulatory Transparency Project

Webinar

Civil Rights in the Second Trump Administration: A Whole-of-Government Shift

Aug 27 2026

Thursday 12:30 p.m. EST

Civil Rights in the Second Trump Administration: A Whole-of-Government Shift

Speakers:

Brittany Bull Panuccio • Kenneth L. Marcus • Craig Trainor • Devon Westhill

Topics:

Civil Rights • Separation of Powers

Sponsors:

Civil Rights Practice Group • Labor & Employment Law Practice Group • Regulatory Transparency Project • Structural Constitution Initiative

Live Stream
Webinar

Commentary

Feb 18 2020 Podcast

Explainer Episode 11 – GDPR Compliance and Cybersecurity Concerns

Ashley Baker, Neil Chilson

In this episode, Ashley Baker and Neil Chilson discuss the implications for data security...

Topics: Administrative Law & Regulation · Regulatory Transparency Project · Communications & Technology

Sponsors: Regulatory Transparency Project

Feb 5 2020 Video

Government Surveillance: Security v. Liberty?

Matthew R. A. Heiman, Julian Sanchez, Faisal Gill

Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Video

Modern surveillance activities by the United States government have taken place since World War I...

Topics: Administrative Law & Regulation · Regulatory Transparency Project · International & National Security Law

Sponsors: Regulatory Transparency Project

ner 66Explainer 56 - Affirmative Action in Employment

Affirmative action plans, though perhaps most associated with college admissions and higher education, actually crop...

Topics: Affirmative Action · Labor & Employment Law · Regulatory Transparency Project

Sponsors: Regulatory Transparency Project

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Speaker Information

Michael Buschbacher

Managing Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC

Biography

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.

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Speaker Information

Andrew Ceonzo

Counsel, Sen. Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee

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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.

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Speaker Information

Josh Blackman

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.

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Speaker Information

William Jacobson

Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School

Biography

William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic.

He is a 1981 graduate of Hamilton College and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School. At Harvard he was Senior Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and Director of Litigation for the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project.

Prior to joining the Cornell law faculty in 2007, Professor Jacobson had a highly successful civil litigation and arbitration practice in Providence, Rhode Island, concentrating in investment, employment, and business disputes in the securities industry, including many high profile cases reported in leading newspapers and magazines.

Professor Jacobson has argued cases in numerous federal and state courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Professor Jacobson has a national reputation as a leading practitioner in securities arbitration. He was Treasurer, and is a former member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a professional organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting public investors. He frequently is quoted in national media on issues related to investment fraud and investor protection, and in the past has served as one of a small number of private practice attorneys who trained new arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Professor Jacobson is co-author of the Securities Arbitration Desk Reference (Thomson-Reuters), updated annually.

Professor Jacobson also is the founder and publisher of Legal Insurrection, a popular politics and law website. He is frequently quoted in the media on political and legal topics, has authored many Op-Eds in major publications, and appears on television and radio to discuss politics and the law.

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Speaker Information

Daniel Lennington

Vice President and Deputy Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty

Biography

Dan Lennington is Vice President and Deputy Counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), where he directs the Equality Under the Law Project. Started in early 2021, the EUL Project has represented dozens of individuals and businesses nationwide, successfully advocating for race neutrality in both public and private programs.

Dan is also an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, where he teaches Civil Rights Litigation. Before joining WILL, Dan served as Assistant Deputy Attorney General in Wisconsin and Assistant U.S. Attorney in Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Hillsdale College.

Dan can be reached at dan@will-law.org.

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Speaker Information

Michael S. McGinniss

Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow, University of North Dakota School of Law

Biography

Michael S. McGinniss is Professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where he joined the faculty in 2010 and served as the Dean from 2019 to 2022. He chairs the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Practice Group on Professional Responsibility and Legal Education.

Before entering the legal academy, Professor McGinniss served for twelve years as a Disciplinary Counsel for the Supreme Court of Delaware. He currently teaches courses on Professional Responsibility, Advanced Legal Ethics, Civil Procedure, and Federal Courts. He also serves as Faculty Advisor for the North Dakota Law Review and the UND Law Federalist Society student chapter.

Professor McGinniss’ research and scholarship interests are wide-ranging and include lawyer and judicial ethics, lawyer discipline and regulation of the profession, constitutional law (especially First Amendment, separation of powers, and federalism), and cultural challenges faced by conservatives in the law schools and the legal profession. His most recent law review article, Declaring Independence to Secure Integrity: The Supreme Court Justices' Code of Conduct, was published in the Federalist Society Review. His article Expressing Conscience with Candor: Saint Thomas More and First Freedoms in the Legal Profession, was published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Professor McGinniss has spoken to Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country about judicial independence and ethics, especially relating to the federal courts and the United States Supreme Court Justices. In addition, he has spoken to several chapters about rising challenges to ideological diversity and targeting of conservative viewpoints in law schools and the legal profession. Although he is very pleased to speak on these and many other topics that may be of interest to lawyer and student chapters, in 2026-2027, he has particular interest in speaking on the topic “Lawyer Discipline as Political ‘Resistance’: Separation of Powers, Federalism, and the Rule of Law,” concerning his work-in-progress on the weaponization of professional disciplinary processes against conservative lawyers for political and ideological purposes.

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Speaker Information

Brittany Bull Panuccio

Commissioner, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

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Speaker Information

Kenneth L. Marcus

Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law

Biography

Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the leading civil rights legal organization fighting against anti-Semitism. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.” He been described, in that paper, as “the single most effective and respected force” to combat anti-Semitism.

During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

In academia, he serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College, served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, and was a Board of Visitors member George Mason University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at that university’s law school. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.

Marcus is also author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also serves as Chairman emeritus of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.

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Speaker Information

Craig Trainor

Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

Biography

Craig Trainor is Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. President Trump nominated Mr. Trainor for this position on February 11, 2025, and the United States Senate confirmed him on October 7, 2025.

A “Day One” Trump-Vance Administration official, he previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education, where he spearheaded the Department’s efforts to reorient America’s civil rights regime from an unjust spoils system to one that protects the rights of all Americans. Mr. Trainor’s February 14, 2025, “Dear Colleague” letter is widely considered the Trump Administration’s blueprint for enforcing civil rights laws and restoring the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.

Prior to serving in the Trump-Vance Administration, he was Senior Special Counsel with the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Senior Litigation Counsel with the America First Policy Institute under the Honorable Pam Bondi.

For over ten years, Mr. Trainor was a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in New York City, litigating cases in New York state court and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Prior to founding his law practice, he served as a New York City prosecutor, an associate attorney at a white collar criminal defense firm, and a law clerk to Chief Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.

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Speaker Information

Devon Westhill

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Biography

Devon Westhill is the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Westhill on October 7, 2025.

Westhill returns to the USDA where he previously headed the civil rights office as Deputy Assistant Secretary in President Trump’s first term. His previous government appointments also include service at the U.S. Department of Labor, liaison to the Administrative Conference of the U.S., and liaison to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Prior to returning to government service, Westhill was President and General Counsel of a nonprofit civil rights organization.

Westhill has testified on civil rights matters before Congress, federal agencies, and as an expert witness in federal court. He has spoken hundreds of times at college campuses, conferences, and on radio and TV programs, and he is frequently quoted in print publications, and his writing has appeared in numerous national outlets. A U.S. Navy veteran, Westhill earned his BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD from the University of Florida.

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Contributor Information

Ashley Baker

Executive Director, Committee for Justice

Biography

Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.

Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.

Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.

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Contributor Information

Neil Chilson

Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute

Biography

Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”

Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.

Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.

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Contributor Information

Matthew R. A. Heiman

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation

Biography

Matthew R. A. Heiman joined the Company in May 2026 and has served as the Company’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since June 2026. As Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Heiman is responsible for all legal functions for Gates, including securities and corporate governance, M&A, litigation, commercial, regulatory, compliance, patents and trademarks, real estate, employment and labor, sustainability and environmental matters. Prior to joining Gates, Mr. Heiman held senior legal leadership roles at Waystar, where he served as Chief Legal & Administrative Officer from 2023 to 2025 and as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from 2020 to 2023. Prior to that, he was with Johnson Controls, where he served as Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and Associate General Counsel. Mr. Heiman has been a Senior Fellow for the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law since 2018.

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Contributor Information

Julian Sanchez

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

Biography

Julian Sanchez is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and studies issues at the busy intersection of technology, privacy, and civil liberties, with a particular focus on national security and intelligence surveillance. Before joining Cato, Sanchez served as the Washington editor for the technology news site Ars Technica, where he covered surveillance, intellectual property, and telecom policy. He has also worked as a writer for The Economist’s blog Democracy in America and as an editor for Reason magazine, where he remains a contributing editor.

Sanchez has written on privacy and technology for a wide array of national publications, ranging from the National Review to The Nation, and is a founding editor of the policy blog Just Security. He studied philosophy and political science at New York University.

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Contributor Information

Faisal Gill

Attorney & former Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Homeland Security

Biography

Faisal is a lawyer living in Vermont with his children. Faisal is a former Republican who served in the George W Bush Administration Senior Policy Advisor to the Under at the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to that, Faisal worked at the White House Office of Homeland Security and then later the Homeland Security Council as associate counsel. Prior to his appointment at the White House, Faisal served as the Deputy General Counsel for Policy at the Office of Personnel Management. Faisal Gill also served in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

He has a BA and JD from American University in Washington, DC.

It was reported that Faisal was one of the prominent Muslim Americans that NSA was spying on.

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