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.
Independent Consultant
Since 2001, Dr. Richard Belzer has been an independent consultant in regulation, risk, economics and information quality. Previously he was a visiting professor of public policy at Washington University in St. Louis and economist in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (1989), Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (now Harvard Kennedy School) (1982), and MS and BS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis (1979, 1980). He is a regular contributor to scholarly professions through journal peer review and service to professional societies. He was elected Treasurer of the Society for Risk Analysis (1998, 2000) elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (2008, 2010, 2012). He earned multiple awards for exemplary performance at OMB, the SRA’s Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the SBCA’s Richard O. Zerbe, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (2017). In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society. In 2017, Dr. Belzer completed a 2-year term as a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-wide Modeling. He serves as a member of the RTP Energy and Environment Working Group.
Senior Vice President, HSBC Bank USA, N.A.’s Office of Public Affairs
Michael Geffroy is Senior Vice President in HSBC Bank USA, N.A.’s Office of Public Affairs, where he is responsible for public policy and government affairs at the federal level.
Prior to joining HSBC, Mr. Geffroy had extensive experience in the U.S Congress, and in the Executive Branch. Most recently, he was the General Counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (2014-2017), and he previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel to the Committee on Homeland Security (2012-2014).
Mr. Geffroy’s tenure in the Executive branch includes his time as the Assistant Director for Enforcement at the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Department of Justice, and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia.
Mr. Geffroy is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (ret). His military service includes tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr. Geffroy is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Brown University and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.
Partner, Eversheds Sutherland LLP
Michael Bahar, a partner in the Washington DC office of Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP, is the US leader of the global cybersecurity and privacy practice and a member of the firm’s Litigation practice. As former Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council at the White House, former Minority Staff Director and General Counsel for the US House Intelligence Committee, and as a former Active Duty Navy JAG, Mr. Bahar provides advice on cybersecurity and privacy, international law and national security law. While with the House Intelligence Committee, he was lead drafter and negotiator for the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, the USA Freedom Act (which reformed certain key surveillance authorities) and four annual Intelligence Authorization Acts. More recently, he was a leader of the Committee’s investigation into the Russian hacking of the 2016 election. Michael offers clients a wealth of knowledge about cybersecurity, information sharing, privacy, crisis management and establishing cybersecurity programs that are not only in accordance with evolving laws and regulations but that also find business opportunities.
His in-depth knowledge and deep understanding of these topics—particularly in assessing the appropriate levels of cybersecurity investment based on litigation and regulatory risk analysis—allows Mr. Bahar to effectively advise clients and has made him a sought-after speaker at industry and corporate conferences across the country.
Mr. Bahar’s previous experience includes serving nearly 10 years on Active Duty with the Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, where he litigated felony court-martials, dealt with cutting-edge legal issues involving the laws of war, led the capture and investigation of the US Navy’s first set of captured pirates in generations, led a team of lawyers deployed to Afghanistan in support of a Special Operations Task Force, and completed two Pentagon tours. He has received two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, six Navy Commendation Medals and one Navy Achievement Medal, in addition to earning his Navy Parachutist Wings.
Mr. Bahar is admitted to the New York State Bar. He has submitted his application to The District of Columbia Bar. His work is supervised by District of Columbia Bar members.
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Gates Corporation
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.
Senior Vice President, Cornerstone Government Affairs
Heather Molino joined Cornerstone in 2015 after two decades of Capitol Hill and communications experience, where she developed significant expertise in cyber, defense, space, intelligence and national security. Prior to joining Cornerstone, Ms. Molino was the minority staff director for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) under Ranking Member C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD).
As staff director, Ms. Molino helped returned the House Intelligence Committee to the business of passing budget bills and other important legislation. Her achievements include helping pass into law five Intelligence Authorization Acts in four years, for Fiscal Year 2011 through 2015. Heather and her team helped create a coalition of business support to pass the most prominent cyber legislation in the House, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), as well as major intelligence reform legislation, the USA Freedom Act, all by strong bipartisan margins.
In her role, Ms. Molino was also responsible for advising Members of the Committee on policy, politics and communications to ensure U.S. intelligence professionals have the resources, capabilities and authorities needed to keep our country safe. Heather also organized and managed Democratic staff, handled the committee’s budget, oversaw press strategy and ensured proper and efficient oversight of our nation’s intelligence agencies. Before joining the committee, Heather served as deputy chief of staff and director of communications in Congressman Ruppersberger’s personal office.
Prior to Capitol Hill, Ms. Molino worked in broadcast journalism for over 10 years. She was a TV reporter and anchor in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Washington State and North Carolina. Ms. Molino holds a B.A. in Economics and Government from Cornell University. She is married to West Point graduate, Michael Molino. The couple has three small children.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
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.
Founder, Chef, Chef Geoff's
Geoff graduated from Georgetown University in 1995 with a degree in theology. He then went on to graduate first in his class at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Geoff opened Chef Geoff’s in 2000 and Chef Geoff’s Downtown in 2002. Both were opened before he reached the age of 30. In 2006 Geoff opened his third restaurant, LIA’S in Chevy Chase, MD. In late 2008 Geoff opened Hank’s Tavern & Eats in Hyattsville, MD. He operates the 200 seat restaurant in partnership with his brother Chris Tracy. Geoff’s fifth restaurant, Chef Geoff’s Tysons Corner opened in 2009 in Vienna, VA. The sixth restaurant, Chef Geoff’s Rockville, opened in 2012.
Geoff, along with a very talented team, oversees restaurant operations as well as managing the concept, menu development, marketing, finances, and growth at each of the restaurants. The restaurants serve 750,000 guests every year and employ more than 400 amazing people.
Geoff is also the co-author of the New York Times Best Seller, Baby Love. Baby Love teaches busy parents how to feed “Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler”. The book is published by St. Martin’s Press.
As an active member of the Washington DC community, Geoff serves as vice chairman on the executive board of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. Additionally, Geoff contributes to more than 150 charities and organization every year in the form of silent auctions, fundraising appearances, and even the Chef Geoff sponsored Little League team. Geoff is also a member of the Washington Baltimore chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.
In 2006 the National Restaurant Association awarded Chef Geoff’s The Best Neighbor Award for its contributions to the community. In 2009 Geoff was awarded the Albert Uster “Chef of the Year Award”. In 2010 Geoff was named one of the top 40 business people under the age of 40 by Washington Business Journal. In 2011 Chef Geoff’s Tysons won the RAMMY award for “Hottest Restaurant Bar Scene”. In 2009 and 2011 Lia’s was selected as “Best Restaurant in Chevy Chase” by Bethesda Magazine in its annual Reader’s Choice Awards. In 2012, the readers of Washingtonian Magazine selected Geoff as “Best Local Chef”.
Geoff is extraordinarily fortunate to be married to the love of his life and CBS This Morning Anchor Norah O’Donnell. They reside in both New York City and Washington DC with their three beautiful children Grace, Henry, and Riley.
Partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Gregory Jacob is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, D.C. office. Greg Jacob represents financial services companies including banks, investment managers, health care payors, and insurers, as well as other employers, in class action and other litigation concerning ERISA and other labor and employment matters. A former Solicitor of Labor, Greg has extensive knowledge on a wide variety of labor and employment issues including ERISA, FLSA, OFCCP, and whistleblower law. He regularly litigates in federal courts throughout the country, defends clients against Department of Labor investigations, and provides counseling to plans and plan sponsors.
Prior to rejoining O’Melveny in 2021, Greg served as Counsel to Vice President Pence and Deputy Assistant to the President. He directly advised the Vice President on all legal issues relating to the Office of the Vice President, and advised the White House Coronavirus Task Force concerning the Defense Production Act and other legal issues related to bolstering the domestic supply chain.
Partner and Co-Chair, Constitutional and Appellate Law Practice Group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Allyson N. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and co‐chair of the Firm’s nationwide Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group.
Mrs. Ho is “undoubtedly one of the premier appellate lawyers in the United States” (Chambers). She has presented over 100 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide, including multiple high‐stakes cases on behalf of business before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Her most significant winning arguments include a U.S. Supreme Court reversal worth billions of dollars for unionized employers in the Sixth Circuit; a U.S. Supreme Court reversal limiting the power of federal regulators; a multi‐billion dollar environmental win in the Fifth Circuit; a multi‐billion dollar commercial victory for the founder of a technology company in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court; a billion dollar environmental win in the Houston Court of Appeals; a nine‐figure commercial victory in the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals; and a nine‐figure arbitration win in the Fifth Circuit.
Among her numerous accolades, Mrs. Ho is one of only a small group of appellate lawyers nationwide, and the only one in Texas, to be nationally ranked by Chambers every year for the past ten years (2012‐21). She is also one of the few appellate lawyers nationwide to be named to the BTI Client Service All‐Stars List, an honor bestowed by the corporate counsel community for lawyers “who stand above all the others in delivering the absolute best in client service.” She is also routinely named as a leading appellate lawyer by Benchmark, The Best Lawyers in America®, The Legal 500, Texas Super Lawyers, and D Magazine.
Mrs. Ho has received the Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award (Texas Bar Foundation, June 22, 2018), been named a “Distinguished Leader” (Texas Lawyer, Sep. 1, 2017) and “Appellate MVP” (Law360, Nov. 23, 2015), and been recognized on the “Appellate Hot List” (National Law Journal, Nov. 16, 2015). In addition, she has been profiled in “Texas Powerhouse” (Law360, Aug. 2, 2021), “Texas Appellate Power Couple” (Texas Lawbook, January 7, 2021), “Litigators of the Week” (The American Lawyer, May 8, 2020), “Litigation Powerhouse” (Law360, Aug. 10, 2016), “Supreme Court Insider” (National Law Journal, July 21, 2016), “Supreme Court Specialists, Mostly Male, Dominated Arguments This Term” (National Law Journal, May 11, 2016), “Attorney of the Year Finalist” (Texas Lawyer, Nov. 2, 2015), “Litigation Department of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 1, 2015), “Employment Group of the Year” (Law360, Jan. 13, 2015), “A Supreme Month: Lawyer Credits Preparedness in Ability to Argue Two U.S. High Court Cases in Three Weeks” (Texas Lawyer, Dec. 8, 2014), “High Court Debuts for Two Lawyers” (National Law Journal, Nov. 3, 2014), “Women in Business Awards” (Dallas Business Journal, Aug 29, 2014), “Litigation Departments of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 2, 2014), “Winning Women” (Texas Lawyer, Aug. 22, 2011), and “High court practitioners: increasingly diverse” (National Law Journal, June 6, 2011).
Federal and State Appellate Practice
Mrs. Ho has argued a series of high stakes, landmark cases on behalf of the business community before the U.S. Supreme Court. National Law Journal called her a “Veteran SCOTUS Advocate” in the “upper echelons of Supreme Court practice.” Law360 named her a “Supreme Court Star” and “one of the nation’s preeminent appellate lawyers.” And EmpiricalSCOTUS.com ranked her among “the most successful attorneys that currently practice before the Court.” Mrs. Ho once argued two significant business cases before the Court within the span of 21 days—including a “significant ruling for employers” that “paved a new path for companies paying millions of dollars in retiree health care benefits” (Law360), as well as a landmark administrative law dispute in which “several justices agreed with Ho’s contention that SCOTUS should revisit and overrule its own precedent” (Law360). She also prevailed against the EEOC in a case that the employment defense bar called “good news for employers across the country.” And in “the most important patent case in modern history” according to patent law experts, her argument before the Court was credited for “pick[ing] up two votes that pundits thought unreachable.”
She has appeared before every federal court of appeals in the country, including en banc arguments before the Fourth and Sixth Circuits. She has successfully represented business clients in every circuit, including the First (Pruco Life Insurance Company), Second (Swiss Federation; Rite Aid), Third (Johnson & Johnson), Fourth (Genex Services), Fifth (United Space Alliance LLC; Elliott Co.; MERSCORP; 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc.; Stream Energy; Health Management Systems), Sixth (Deutsche Bank; American Airlines; M&G Polymers), Seventh (Expedia), Eighth (Cotter), Ninth (Boeing; JP Morgan Chase Bank), Tenth (Mitchell International), Eleventh (AstraZeneca), D.C. (FedEx), and Federal (Repros Therapeutics) Circuits.
In addition, Mrs. Ho regularly appears in state appellate courts across the country. She has argued numerous cases in the Texas Supreme Court, Texas appellate courts in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Eastland, and state appellate courts in Arizona, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, prevailing on behalf of Ford Motor Company, PepsiCo, International Paper, Tenet, GameStop, Deutsche Bank, and Unit.
Government and Public Service Experience
Mrs. Ho has a distinguished record of experience at the highest levels of the federal government. She served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft, and law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Her record of public service also includes appointments to various boards and commissions. Among the most notable are her election as a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a trustee of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society, and a trustee of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. She is also vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, appointed by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to evaluate potential appointments of all federal judges and U.S. Attorneys in Texas, and has previously served on the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas.
Other Background Information
An active pro bono litigator, Mrs. Ho works most frequently with the First Liberty Institute and as amicus counsel for the State and Local Legal Center, the National Organization for Victim Assistance, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute. She is a frequent public speaker and active member of the Federalist Society, the American Law Institute, and the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Policy Advisory Board.
Mrs. Ho graduated from Duke University magna cum laude with a B.A. in English, Rice University with an M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors. She was a member of the Law Review and Order of the Coif. She and her husband Jim, a federal judge, have a twin daughter and son.
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.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity, The Heritage Foundation
David R. Burton focuses on tax matters, securities law, entrepreneurship, financial privacy and regulatory and administrative law issues as The Heritage Foundation’s senior fellow in economic policy.
Mr. Burton was general counsel at the National Small Business Association for two years before joining Heritage’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies in 2013. He previously was chief financial officer and general counsel of the start-up Alliance for Retirement Prosperity, a conservative alternative to AARP.
For 15 years, Mr. Burton was a partner in the Argus Group, a Virginia-based law, public policy and government relations firm. His career in financial and tax matters also includes the posts of vice president for finance and general counsel of New England Machinery, a multinational manufacturer of packaging equipment and testing instruments, and manager of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tax Policy Center.
Mr. Burton received a juris doctor degree from the University Of Maryland School Of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Born at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary’s County, Md., Mr. Burton grew up in Baltimore. He and his wife, Nancy, currently reside in Mason Neck, Va.
AEI Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Clay R. Fuller is a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on authoritarian survival, corruption, and the means through which dictators, terrorists, and criminals use free markets to restrict freedom, sow discord, and legitimize their actions. He also collects data on the use of special economic zones and sovereign wealth funds in nondemocratic countries.
Previously, Dr. Fuller taught international relations, American government, and modern dictatorships, among other courses, at the University of South Carolina, Western Carolina University, Midlands Technical College, and Texas State University.
Dr. Fuller has been published in peer-review journals. He is currently working on a book titled “The Economic Foundations of Authoritarian Rule.” His forthcoming studies include “The Who and the How of Authoritarian Rule” and “The Rise of Authoritarian Liberalism.”
Dr. Fuller has four degrees in political science: a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of South Carolina, another M.A. from Texas State University, and a B.A. from West Virginia State University.
Analyzing how EPA is Addressing “Secret Science”
Daren Bakst, Richard B. Belzer
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that his agency would no longer allow the use of...
Topics
Restoring the Constitutional Congress
The Federalist Society's Article I Initiative Writing Contest recently sought submissions from across the country...
The Role of Congressional Intelligence Committees
Michael Geffroy, Michael Bahar, Matthew R. A. Heiman, Heather Molino
International & National Security Law Practice Group and Article I Teleforum
Former Minority Staff Director and General Counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence...
Towards an Administrative Rule of Lenity: Restoring the Constitutional Congress by Reforming Statutory Interpretation
Joel S. Nolette
Federalist Society Review, Volume 19
Note from the Editor: In this article, Joel Nolette proposes an “administrative rule of lenity”...
Virginia’s (Un)happy Hour: Is the State Restricting Ads and Economic Rights?
Anastasia P. Boden, Geoffrey Tracy
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
In Virginia, it’s perfectly legal to have a happy hour; it’s just illegal to talk...
Introduction to the Labor & Employment Working Group
Gregory Frederick Jacob
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Video
Gregory Jacob is the Chairman of RTP’s Labor & Employment working group and Partner, O’Melveny...
South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. [SCOTUSbrief]
Allyson Newton Ho
Short video featuring Allyson Ho
The world of retail changed forever in 1994 when the first online retailers entered the...
Privatization: Boon to Efficiency or Slow Motion Revolution?
Ted Hirt
Federalist Society Review, Volume 19
A review of: Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic, by Jon D. Michaels...
Citizenship and the Census
John S. Baker
Litigation Practice Group Teleforum
On March 26, the Commerce Department announced that the 2020 census will include a question...
Beneficial Ownership
David R. Burton, Clay R. Fuller
Litigation and Corporations & Antitrust Practice Groups Teleforum
Hearings have been held recently in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate...