Chancellor Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law
Peltz-Steele received his law degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s in journalism and Spanish from Washington & Lee University. Peltz-Steele has won awards in teaching, research, and public service. He practiced commercial law in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and taught law for more than thirteen years before coming to UMass Law in 2011.
Peltz-Steele is author, co-author, or co-editor of qualitative and quantitative research in law and mass communication in journals and books, of treatises in law and development and access to information, and of textbooks in tort law and freedom of information. He is especially active in international media law and policy, having presented papers on five continents and having published in foreign journals and multinational collaborations. His current research focuses on comparative transparency in the context of development and in the private sector. Peltz-Steele serves in various roles in public service organizations, including the legal education committee of the American Bar Association, International Law Section.
Research Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Trevor Burrus is a research fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and Center for the Study of Science, as well as managing editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review. His research interests include constitutional law, civil and criminal law, legal and political philosophy, legal history, and the interface between science and public policy. His academic work has appeared in journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the New York University Journal of Law and Liberty, the New York University Annual Survey of American Law, the Syracuse Law Review, and many others. His popular writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, the Huffington Post, the New York Daily News, and others.
Burrus lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Foundation for Economics Education, and other organizations, and he frequently appears on major media outlets. He is also the co-host of Free Thoughts, a weekly podcast that covers topics in libertarian theory, history, and philosophy.
He is the editor of A Conspiracy against Obamacare (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and Deep Commitments: The Past, Present, and Future of Religious Liberty (Cato, 2017), and holds a BA in philosophy from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a JD from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
Historian and Author
Garrett Peck is an author, historian and tour guide in the nation's capital. He leads tours through The Smithsonian Associates, and his Temperance Tour of Prohibition-related sites has been featured on C-SPAN Book TV and the History Channel program "Ten Things You Didn't Know About" with punk rock legend Henry Rollins. He was featured on a two-hour documentary about Prohibition by the Smithsonian Channel. His seventh book, The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath, was published in 2018.
Peck was involved with the DC Craft Bartenders Guild in lobbying the DC City Council to have the Rickey declared Washington's native cocktail in 2011. He researched and pinpointed the Washington Brewery site at Navy Yard, and is particularly proud that Green Hat Gin is named after a character Peck wrote about in Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: congressional bootlegger George Cassiday. He has lectured at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution, and often speaks at historical societies, literary clubs and trade associations.
Peck is on the board of the Woodrow Wilson House and is a member of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of D.C. A native Californian and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and George Washington University and U.S. Army veteran, he lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Head Brewer, Atlas Brew Works
As Head Brewer at Atlas, Daniel oversees production of Atlas’ varied portfolio of ales and lagers. Daniel has a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from the University of Maryland and he is a graduate of the Siebel Institute's Concise Course in Brewing Technology. Daniel came to Atlas mere months after we opened from Franklin's Restaurant and Brewery in Hyattsville, MD. Before entering the craft beer industry, Daniel held a position with Chesapeake Spice Co, as a Quality Control technician. Raised in Prince George’s County, he works hard, has incredible tastes in suits, and loves pepperoni pizza.
Founder, Atlas Brew Works
Now a DC resident for more than a decade, Justin was born and raised in the Smokey Mountains of East Tennessee. Justin pursued his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University in Engineering Science and Economics. Shortly after, he moved to Washington, DC to work in business consulting. He returned to law school at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, VA. After graduating in 2009, Justin took a Presidential Management Fellowship with the General Services Administration.
Meanwhile, he honed his homebrewing skills, becoming a very popular neighbor by having lots of great beer always on hand. Justin decided to throw caution to the wind and explore his entrepreneurial side by opening Atlas Brew Works in his new hometown, the District of Columbia. Calling on long time friend Will Durgin to join as Head Brewer, the two opened the business in September of 2013.
When not putting out fires or marketing and selling beer, Justin enjoys any activity on the water, watching crappy reality TV, and spending time with his wife and English Bulldog.
Partner, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
Candace has experience in the craft beer industry, which began while bartending at Hamilton’s Tavern, one of San Diego’s premier craft beer bars. She worked at Hamilton’s during law school, and the tavern is where she learned how craft brewers were lacking representation in the legal field, as many had trouble finding attorneys who could answer specific questions about the intricate alcohol-based industry. Craft brewers are constantly dealing with questions such as whether their clever craft brewery name will be approved by the trademark office or whether a lease for a new taproom space will protect their needs and interests. She is aware of what it takes to start, open, sustain and grow a craft brewery.
She has devoted her practice to serving the needs of craft brewers, and during her career, Candace has worked with more than 350 craft breweries and breweries-in-planning across the country. She has counseled them on issues, including business entity formation, alcoholic beverage law, contract review, trademark law and other legal needs.
Candace has also spoken to brewers guilds and at brewers association meetings nationwide on matters such as distribution laws and trademarks, to ensure clients and breweries-in-planning are complying with industry standards and regulations. She has also been a resource for brewery-related issues in newspapers, magazines, TV segments, online and at conferences across the country.
Constitutional Scholarship Director and Senior Legal Analyst, Pacific Legal Foundation
Anastasia Boden is Director of Constitutional Scholarship at Pacific Legal Foundation, where she leads the organization’s Supreme Court commentary and directs scholarly analysis in support of the firm’s litigation. She has represented entrepreneurs and small businesses nationwide in challenges to onerous licensing regimes, anti-competitive titling restrictions, Certificate of Need (“competitor’s veto”) laws, and other forms of unnecessary red tape that block economic opportunity.
Prior to this role, Anastasia developed nearly a dozen constitutional challenges to Certificate of Need laws across the country, helping spur legislative reform in Montana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Her victories include a ruling invalidating Houston’s busking restrictions, multiple appellate decisions expanding access to the courts for civil rights plaintiffs, and the legislative repeal of Virginia’s happy-hour advertising ban.
Her writings on law and liberty have been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and more, and she has appeared on Headline News, CBS News, Fox News, ReasonTV, Newsmax, and John Stossel. In 2020, she was featured on Libertarian Party presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen’s Supreme Court shortlist.
Anastasia earned her BA with dean’s honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was research assistant to Professor Randy E. Barnett—the “intellectual godfather” of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare. She is the co-creator of the podcast Dissed, about infamous Supreme Court dissents. She authors the biweekly newsletter SCOTUS Scoop and the column, “In Dissent” for SCOTUSblog.
Senior Counsel, Corporate Engagement Team, Alliance Defending Freedom
Brian Knight serves as senior counsel on the Corporate Engagement Team. His work focuses on issues of financial access, debanking, and preventing the power of the private sector from being weaponized against people of faith by both public and private actors.
Prior to joining ADF, Knight spent almost nine years at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, as both a senior research fellow and as a program director. In addition to managing a team of scholars, Knight’s research focused on financial regulation and the politicization of financial services. His research helped inform legislation and regulation at the federal and state level. He was also the lead author for two amicus briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of National Rifle Association v. Vullo.
Before joining Mercatus, Knight worked at the Milken Institute, where he focused on financial technology. He was also an entrepreneur, co-founding a firm focused on compliance for crowdfunding.
Knight earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary.
Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Conference of State Bank Supervisors
Margaret Liu is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). Margaret serves as a part of the CSBS legal and policy team, providing legal support for CSBS and its affiliated organizations as well as overseeing CSBS efforts representing the policy perspectives of state banking commissioners before Congress. She also serves as the lead CSBS staff member on fintech issues.
Margaret has worked as a consultant on financial services policy issues and in a variety of roles at Fannie Mae, including Vice President of Single Family Mortgage Business, Vice President for Industry Relations, and Vice President for Policy Communications at Fannie Mae.
Margaret is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Chicago Law School.
Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives, Arkansas's Third District
Congressman Stephen A. Womack, 61, is a native of Russellville, Arkansas. After attending K-10 in Moberly, Missouri, Womack’s family returned to Arkansas in 1973, and he graduated from Russellville High School in 1975. Womack earned a Bachelor’s degree from Arkansas Tech University in 1979 and, after graduation, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Arkansas Army National Guard.
On November 3, 1998, he was elected Mayor of Rogers and served in that capacity for twelve years. During his tenure, the City of Rogers experienced exponential economic growth, adding $1 billion in new development with major improvements to the city’s infrastructure, retail services, and quality of life amenities.
In the Army National Guard, Congressman Womack served in a variety of command and staff assignments, including command of 2nd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, 39th Separate Infantry Brigade. Following the tragic events of 9-11, Steve's battalion was mobilized for duty with the Multi-National Force and Observers (MFO), Sinai, Egypt in 2002. It marked the first time in the history of the 39th Brigade that a battalion was deployed overseas. It was also the first time in the MFO history the US Battalion mission was conducted by a pure National Guard unit. Congressman Womack's task force received praise from the highest levels of civil and military leadership around the world and is credited with convincing Army leadership of the capabilities and readiness of the Army Guard.
Representative Womack retired with over thirty years of service from the Arkansas Army National Guard October 31, 2009, at the rank of Colonel. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and the Global War on Terror Expeditionary and Service Medals, and the Arkansas Distinguished Service Medal. Steve was inducted into the Arkansas Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame in 2011, and in 2015, he was awarded the Harry S. Truman Award – the highest recognition conferred upon an individual by the National Guard Association of the United States – for his contributions of exceptional and far-reaching magnitude to the defense and security of the United States. In 2017, he received the Department of the Army Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service – the highest award that may be bestowed upon a civilian by the Secretary of the Army.
In the House, Congressman Womack serves as Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee. He also serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is a member of the Whip Team and various caucuses.
President, Housing Policy Council
Ed DeMarco is President of the Housing Policy Council. Prior to joining HPC in June 2017, DeMarco was a senior fellow in residence at the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets.
From 2009 to 2014, DeMarco was acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), where he served as the conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and regulator of those companies and the Federal Home Loan Banks. He was named HousingWire Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2012 for his impact on housing finance. DeMarco was chief operating officer and senior deputy director of the FHFA and its predecessor agency from 2006 to 2009.
DeMarco’s career in public service includes positions at the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, and GAO. He earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.
Senior Fellow, Mises Institute
Alex J. Pollock is a Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute, providing thought and policy leadership on financial issues and the study of financial systems. His work includes cycles of booms and busts, financial crises with their political responses, housing finance, government-sponsored enterprises, risk and uncertainty, central banking, banking and financial regulation, corporate governance, retirement finance, student loans, and the politics of finance.
He previously served as the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research in the U.S. Treasury Department 2019-2021. He was a Distinguished Senior Fellow with the R Street Institute 2015-2019 and 2021, and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, 2004-2015. Among the many aspects of his AEI work, he developed the One Page Mortgage Form to give borrowers in clear form the key information they need in order to know what they are committing themselves to. He was President and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. There he invented the Mortgage Partnership Finance program, which successfully created front-end mortgage credit risk sharing beginning in 1997. His decades of banking experience include being a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 1991.
Pollock was a director of the CME Group 2004-2019 and of Ascendium Education Group 1989-2019. He is a director and past-chairman of the Great Books Foundation and a past president of the International Union for Housing Finance.
He is the co-author of Surprised Again! - The COVID Crisis and the New Market Bubble (2022), and the author of Finance and Philosophy—Why We’re Always Surprised (2018) and Boom and Bust: Financial Cycles and Human Prosperity (2011), as well as numerous articles and Congressional testimony.
Pollock is a graduate of Williams College, the University of Chicago, and Princeton University.
His work is available on alexjpollock.com.
Professorial Lecturer in Law, George Washington University Law School
Theodore C. (Ted) Hirt was an attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Division from August 1979 to March 2016. He was in its Federal Programs Branch from 1979 to 2008 (trial attorney, senior trial counsel, assistant director), and then in its Office of Immigration Litigation from 2008 to 2016 (trial attorney and senior litigation counsel). Among his responsibilities (September 2001 to March 2016) was being an advisor to the Assistant Attorneys General for the Civil Division, who serve ex officio on the Civil Rules Advisory Committee. Mr. Hirt’s areas of specialization include First Amendment issues, internet and telecommunications law, and electronic discovery. From 1976 to 1979, he was an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman. From 1975 to 1976 he was an attorney in the Prehearing Division of the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Chief Investigative Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Steve Castor is chief investigative counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC). He has served on the committee staff since 2005, and during his twelve-year tenure participated in a wide variety of high-profile oversight investigations. Prior to working for Congress, he practiced commercial litigation in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. He earned his law degree from George Washington University.
Vice President, Networks, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Nathan Kaczmarek is Vice President for Networks at the Federalist Society. He began his legal career in Detroit representing nationwide clients in all phases of healthcare litigation and complex medical malpractice claims. He has since served as a Senior Legal and Policy Advisor in the U.S. House of Representatives and as Counsel for the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management in the U.S. Senate. Prior to overseeing the Networks, he was Director of the Practice Groups, the Regulatory Transparency Project, and the Article I Initiative for the Federalist Society.
Nathan holds degrees from Hillsdale College and Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He is a Liaison Representative for The Administrative Conference of the United States. He also serves as Vice President of the Associates of St. John Bosco, a Virginia based non-profit dedicated to Catholic high school and college students.
Of Counsel, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Amanda H. Neely is of counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and is a member of the Public Policy, Congressional Investigations, White Collar, and National Security practice groups.
Ms. Neely has extensive experience working on Capitol Hill. She leverages that expertise to advise clients regarding their interactions with Congress and the executive branch. Over the course of ten years, Ms. Neely held several senior staff positions in Congress. She served as Director of Governmental Affairs for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and General Counsel to Senator Rob Portman. Under Senator Portman’s chairmanship, she also served as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In those roles, she managed Senator Portman’s regulatory reform agenda and led oversight of federal government agencies and investigations into private entities. She previously served in several other Capitol Hill offices including as Oversight Counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Investigations: At Gibson Dunn, Ms. Neely has represented clients undergoing investigations by numerous congressional committees, including the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Senate Finance Committee; Senate Judiciary Committee; Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; House Committee on Oversight and Accountability; House Judiciary Committee; and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In the course of those representations, Ms. Neely assists clients in all stages of investigations, including responding to letter requests and subpoenas to preparing witnesses for interviews, depositions, and congressional hearings. She also has assisted clients appearing before independent commissions such as the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
Public Policy: Ms. Neely also works with clients to advance their legislative interests on Capitol Hill by gathering intelligence, formulating strategic plans, and executing lobbying campaigns. In those matters, she has represented a wide range of clients from the fields of technology, healthcare, finance, and energy.
Regulatory Counseling: Ms. Neely regularly advises clients regarding their interests before regulatory agencies. Her expertise in the CHIPS and Science Act allows her to help clients comply with the Department of Commerce’s regulations and assist them in commenting on agency rules and applying for funding. She also works with clients to engage in the rulemaking process at agencies ranging from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ms. Neely also has participated in a variety of litigation matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including several class action defense and False Claims Act cases.
Ms. Neely clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She earned her law degree cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she served as the Articles Editor for both the Alaska Law Review and the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. She was a member of the Duke Law Moot Court Board and served on the executive board of the Duke Law Federalist Society.
Ms. Neely graduated cum laude from Princeton University, where she majored in English and earned a certificate in Medieval Studies. She served for two years on United States Senator Elizabeth Dole’s staff as a legislative correspondent, focusing on banking, housing, budget, and tax issues. Ms. Neely is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Thomas Smith Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also the Thomas Smith Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
His most recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court, co-authored with Robert Delahunty, was published in 2023. Professor Yoo’s other books include Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power; Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War; Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare; and Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George Bush.
He is a co-author of volumes 1 and 2 of R. Rossum, G. Tarr, V. Munoz & J. Yoo American Constitution Law (Routledge, 2026), and a co-editor of the eight-volume series on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, We Hold These Truths, with Yuval Levin and Adam White of the American Enterprise Institute.
Professor Yoo has published more than 100 articles in academic journals on subjects including national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He also regularly contributes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review, among others.
Professor Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Civic Leadership, Seoul National University, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Keio University, Trento University, the University of Chicago, and the Free University of Amsterdam.
Professor Yoo supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center. He also serves on the boards of Founding Forward, the Washington Legal Foundation, the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Ulysses Grant Institute, the Federalist Society’s Separation of Powers and Federalism Division, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur Law School, and the Asia-Pacific Law Institute at Seoul National University. He is a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul Bator award and the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Originalism Lectureship.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
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