Professor of Government, Claremont Graduate University
Michael Uhlmann has been a professor in the Division of Politics & Economics at Claremont Graduate University since 2002. His research specializations include American presidency, executive–congressional relations, and the federal judiciary—namely, the federal administrative process and national security decision making. In addition to his regular coursework at CGU, Uhlmann teaches in and directs CGU’s Tribal Administration Certificate Program, made possible through a generous grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Uhlmann received his PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University after receiving his BA in History from Yale University and his LLB from the University of Virginia Law School. Immediately prior to joining the CGU faculty, Uhlmann served as a senior vice president of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before that, he was a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. He had also served for many years as a partner in the Washington office of Pepper, Hamilton, & Scheetz, a large international law firm, where he specialized in federal antitrust and administrative law. Concurrently held alongside his position at CGU, Uhlmann is an adjunct professor at Claremont McKenna College, teaching a variety of courses in the Department of Government.
In addition to his academic career, private legal practice, and philanthropic work, Uhlmann has had a distinguished career in government, beginning with service as a staff and committee counsel in the U.S. Senate and as assistant general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission. In 1974, following Senate confirmation, he was appointed by President Gerald Ford to be assistant attorney general for Legislative Affairs in the Department of Justice. From 1981 to 1984, he served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and associate director of the White House Office of Policy Development. He directed legal and administrative policy for the Reagan presidential transition in 1980–1981 and chaired the Department of Justice transition team for President-Elect George H. W. Bush in 1988–1989.
Uhlmann has written for many leading newspapers and journals of opinion, including National Review, Weekly Standard, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, First Things, and Claremont Review of Books.
Deputy Counsel, the President
Gary currently is the Deputy Counsel to the President. He was previously a partner at the Dhillon Law Group and worked at the Department of the Interior and Federal Election Commission. He is a native of Virginia, and earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia.
Armand is the founder & CEO of Belle, a Nashville-based tech company that provides on-demand preventive nail and foot care services. Prior to founding Belle, he spent four years in business strategy consulting and more than two years in private equity and venture capital, where he oversaw a venture portfolio of over 2,000 companies.
CFO and Co-founder, Flytenow, Inc.
Alan is the CFO and Co-founder of Flytenow, Inc., a ridesharing service for small planes. Flytenow was admitted to Y Combinator, an American seed accelerator, which Fast Company has called "the world's most powerful start-up incubator".
Alan received his MBA and JD from Northeastern University in 2014. Prior to launching Flytenow, Alan served as Counsel to Carbonite, Inc. (NASDAQ: CARB) an online data backup company headquartered in Boston, MA and later, as Vice President, Finance & Strategy at Bannerman, a technology-enabled security company.
Alan earned his private pilot’s license in 2009.
He lives in San Francisco, CA.
Senior Director of Strategy and Research, The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University
Christopher Koopman is the Senior Director of Strategy and Research at The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. He previously served as a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Technology Policy Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He specializes in regulation, competition, and innovation. His research and commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg,and NPR. He is also a contributor at The Hill, and was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 2016 for law and policy.
Koopman earned his J.D. from Ave Maria University and his LL.M. in law and economics at George Mason University where he now teaches in both the economics department and the George Mason University School of Law.
Professor of Law and Public Policy, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law
Greg McNeal is an award winning entrepreneur, professor, and investor. He co-founded AirMap, a multinational aerospace and defense company honored as one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company and ranked as an Inc.com 25 Most Disruptive Company. The company also received a Los Angeles Business Journal Innovation Award, and a Consumer Electronics Show “Innovation Award.” The company was acquired in 2021.
He invests in and advises companies and entrepreneurs in SAAS, Defense, AI, and entertainment. The companies he founded or serves on the corporate board of have raised over $100 million in funding with his direct participation in the process. Those investors include Microsoft, Flexport, Sony, Qualcomm, Rakuten, Baidu, Airbus, and top global financial services and venture capital funds including Greycroft, Social Capital, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Bullpen Capital, Bay Bridge Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures, Operate Studio, TenOneTen, Temasek, Macquarie Group, Graph Ventures and many others. The companies he advises have raised substantially more funding, in part due to his advice and mentorship.
He is a tenured Professor of Law and Public Policy at Pepperdine University and a faculty member with the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law and teaches courses in technology, public policy, internet, and privacy law.
As a public policy and legal expert, Greg has worked with the White House, the Department of Defense, the State Department, and independent regulatory agencies on matters related to technology, law and policy. He has on multiple occasions testified before Congress and state legislatures about entrepreneurship and emerging technology and has aided state legislators, cities, municipalities, and executive branch officials in drafting legislation and ordinances related to technological advances and has been appointed by Cabinet officials to serve on Federal Rulemaking Committees.
He is a frequent keynote speaker at industry events and academic conferences related to technology, law, and public policy. He advises venture capital firms and other investors, start-ups, law enforcement, consulting firms, and Fortune 500 companies about the legal and regulatory issues associated with emerging technologies.
He regularly appears on television and radio to discuss technology and business, wrote a column on business and technology for Forbes and has authored Op-Eds for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Washington Times, among others. In his early career he worked on national security, international criminal law and counterterrorism matters and served as an Army officer.
Vice President for Litigation & General Counsel, Goldwater Institute
Jon Riches is the Vice President for Litigation for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute. He litigates in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, taxpayer protections, public labor issues, government transparency, and school choice, among others.
Jon has developed and authored several pieces of legislation, including the landmark Right to Earn a Living Act, which provides some of the greatest protections in the country to job-seekers and entrepreneurs facing arbitrary licensing regulations. He also developed legislation eliminating deference to administrative agencies in Arizona—a first-of-its-kind regulatory reform that can serve as a model for the rest of the country.
His work at the Institute has been covered by national media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS This Morning, Bloomberg News, and Politico. Jon is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project: State and Local Working Group.
Prior to joining the Goldwater Institute, Jon served on active duty in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. While on active duty, Jon represented hundreds of clients, litigated dozens of court-martial cases, and advised commanders on a vast array of legal issues.
He previously clerked for Sen. Jon Kyl on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, worked for the Rules Committee in the Arizona State Senate, and clerked in the Office of Counsel to the President at the White House. Jon received his B.A. from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law.
Jon served as a presidentially appointed Panel Member on the Federal Service Impasses Panel. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University School of Law. Jon is a native of Phoenix.
Director, Climate & Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
David Doniger has been at the forefront of the battle against air pollution and global climate change since he joined NRDC in 1978. He helped formulate the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to stop the depletion of the earth's ozone layer, as well as several essential amendments to the Clean Air Act. In 1993, he left NRDC to serve on the White House Council on Environmental Quality, followed by key posts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He rejoined NRDC in 2001 and has since been working to defend the Clean Air Act from assaults in Congress. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Partner, Crowell & Moring
Mr. Lorenzen is a partner in Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the Environment & Natural Resources and Government Affairs groups. He works with clients seeking to successfully navigate the federal environmental rulemaking process.
With a decade of Justice Department experience managing the legal defense of all EPA rules, Mr. Lorenzen has a unique ability to help clients shape environmental policy, provide vital input on proposed federal environmental regulations through written comment and direct interaction with regulators, and mount effective judicial challenges to EPA actions that adversely affect his clients' interests. He also helps clients ensure compliance with existing environmental regulations. In addition, he is a noted appellate lawyer who has briefed, argued, or supervised hundreds of petitions for review of EPA regulations and other final EPA actions.
While he was at the Department of Justice, Mr. Lorenzen oversaw many of the seminal environmental cases of the last decade. These include Massachusetts v. EPA, in which the Supreme Court affirmed EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and Entergy v. Riverkeeper, in which the Court held that EPA has discretion under the Clean Water Act to consider or decline to consider costs in determining how to regulate cooling water intake structures. In the D.C. Circuit and the other federal courts of appeals, he oversaw the government's defense in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, in which the court upheld EPA's first suite of greenhouse gas regulations (largely upheld by the Supreme Court in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA); EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v. EPA and North Carolina v. EPA, in which the court reviewed EPA's various attempts to address interstate transport of air pollutants; numerous cases challenging EPA regulations governing emissions of hazardous air pollutants; and National Cotton Council v. EPA, in which the Sixth Circuit reviewed EPA's Clean Water Act regulations governing the application of pesticides over waters of the United States.
Mr. Lorenzen is a frequent lecturer and commentator in print, on the internet, and on television regarding federal environmental law, climate change regulation, administrative law, federal policymaking, and effective appellate brief-writing and argument.
Director, Commercial Freedom; Senior Fellow, R Street Institute
C. Jarrett Dieterle researches and writes on regulatory affairs, alcohol policy, occupational licensing and other commercial freedom issues. He also oversees the Institute’s postal, labor and disintermediation policy programs.
Jarrett previously worked as a regulatory attorney at a Washington law firm. In that role, he advised private companies on how to navigate complex regulatory regimes and helped them challenge overreaching regulations. He also practiced appellate advocacy, co-authoring several Supreme Court amicus briefs. He previously clerked for a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and has worked and written for numerous policy organizations and think tanks such as the Reason Foundation, Manhattan Institute, Mackinac Center, Federalist Society, Institute for Justice, Atlantic Legal Foundation and the Washington Legal Foundation.
Jarrett earned his bachelor’s from the University of Richmond, with a major in political science and minor in economics. He received his juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.
Jarrett currently lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Maria, and their Australian shepherd, Pepper.
CEO and Master Distiller, Silverback Distillery
Christine Riggleman is the CEO and Master Distiller of Silverback Distillery. Born and raised in Manassas, Virginia, Christine married her high school sweetheart, Denver, at the age of 19. Shortly after, Denver joined the Air Force and their journey across the United States and far-off lands began. Christine earned a scholarship from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in 2000 but due to her husband's military career, she turned down the offer. Christine’s passion for culinary delights never wavered and eventually veered into the world of extraordinary spirits. She became fascinated with distilling on a tour of Ben Nevis Distillery in Scotland in 2012, and shortly after began researching distillation and maturation processes with Denver. In 2014, after a year and a half of strenuous planning, research and construction, Silverback Distillery opened its doors. Although Silverback has only been open since August of 2014, Christine’s spirits have racked up accolades, earning 16 international awards among numerous local and statewide awards. In 2014, she was named one of the top gin distillers in the United States through MSN.com, and in 2017 became the first person inducted into the ABV Network's Bourbon Hall of Fame.
Co-Owner, Silverback Distillery
Denver is co-owner of Silverback Distillery, husband to the indomitable Christine Riggleman and father to an extraordinary trio of daughters. Between splitting his time as a Department of Defense senior consultant and advocating for small business rights in his home state of Virginia, he assists in marketing and business practices for Silverback Distillery- and a touch of distilling. Despite rumors to the contrary, Denver has never been an exotic dancer or movie star. His occupations over the last twenty years include: USAF avionics technician, commissioned USAF Intelligence Officer and co-founder and former CEO of a successful federal contracting company. Denver's other Silverback responsibilities range from authoring pithy social media posts and creating wonderful, esoteric ideas for advertising videos to being the world's preeminent "taste-tester" for all Silverback products. Denver is also an aspiring author and space traveler.
Senior Vice President, Industry Affairs and General Counsel, National Beer Wholesalers Association
Paul Pisano leads the association’s efforts in industry, legal and state governmental affairs and serves as a liaison to state distributor associations and outside groups.
Prior to joining NBWA, he served at the Department of Commerce, most recently as director of congressional affairs at the U.S. Census Bureau. He also spent six years working in senior positions on Capitol Hill.
Pisano holds a B.A. degree from Hampden-Sydney College and earned his J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.
Government Relations, Virginia Distillers Association
Curtis served as the Chief Operating Officer of Virginia ABC for over 20 years. Prior to that Curtis was a Lieutenant for the Virginia State Police for nearly 10 years, and worked as the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Nottoway VA. In his downtime, Curtis enjoys singing in his church choir and spending time with his family.
Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Angela Logomasini is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Logomasini specializes in environmental risk, regulation and consumer freedom.
Since joining CEI in 1998, her work has appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Logomasini was also the editor of CEI's book "The Environmental Source" (2008). Logomasini has appeared on television programs on CNN, CNBC, C-SPAN, Fox Business, and dozens of radio shows, including programs on NPR, CNN Radio, and Radio America.
Prior to joining CEI, Logomasini served as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and was also environmental editor for the Research Institute of America.
In addition to her work with CEI, she manages SafeChemicalPolicy.org, is a senior fellow at Independent Women’s Forum, and is a wine educator and real estate investor.
She received her Ph.D. in American Government from The Catholic University of America.
Dr. John Eastman is the former Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former Dean at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters and has argued before the Supreme Court. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in more than one hundred cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Kelo v. New London, Ct. (eminent domain), and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case). He has also appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, NewsHour, and The O'Reilly Factor.
Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
Damien Schiff is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. He leads its environmental practice group, a unique initiative that draws broadly from PLF’s expertise and success in property rights and separation of powers litigation. Over the years, Damien has represented hundreds of landowners and property rights advocates to defend their liberties against heavy-handed and unwarranted environmental and land-use regulation. His litigation experience includes Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a groundbreaking decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of landowners to challenge Clean Water Act compliance orders issued by EPA, and Contoski v. Norton, PLF’s successful effort to force the federal government to make good on its promise to delist the bald eagle from the Endangered Species Act.
Besides litigation, Damien has written academic articles on a variety of subjects, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, greenhouse gas torts, the duty to rescue, and international water law. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Magazine, and The Economist, among other publications.
He obtained his law degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law, and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University. While at USD, he was a research assistant for Professor Bernard Siegan, a leading constitutional theorist and advocate for property rights and economic liberty. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Damien clerked for Judge (and former PLF attorney) Victor Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Damien credits the mentoring and examples of Professor Siegan and Judge Wolski for his decision to pursue a career in liberty-based public interest litigation.
Damien lives in Sacramento with his wife, two young sons, four chickens, and a cat named Princess. In his off hours he enjoys stamp collecting, Gregorian chant, and martinis—preferably at the same time.
Andrew Varcoe was formerly a partner at Boyden Gray & Associates in Washington, D.C. From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Varcoe was Deputy General Counsel at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the trade association for the biotechnology industry. He previously served as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. While at USDA, he briefed, argued, and mediated cases in the federal courts of appeals and helped manage USDA’s and its agencies’ nationwide appellate litigation docket, working closely with trial and appellate lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice. Before joining USDA, Mr. Varcoe was an associate and then counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (previously Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering). Mr. Varcoe served as a law clerk to Justice Francis X. Spina of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (from 1999 to 2000), and to Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (from 2001 to 2002).
Mr. Varcoe received his J.D. cum laude in 1999 from Harvard Law School, where he was a research assistant to Professor Martha Minow and an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Mr. Varcoe graduated with honors in 1995 from the University of Chicago, where he was Student Ombudsperson (a mediator, reporting to the President of the University, who investigated and resolved student grievances) and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
In 2018 and 2019, Mr. Varcoe served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group.
Distinguished Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School
James R. May is Distinguished Professor of Law, and Chief Sustainability Officer, Widener University (USA). He also serves as co-Director of the Environmental Rights Institute and co-Director of the Dignity Rights Project at Widener University Delaware Law School. May is also an Adjunct Professor of Graduate Engineering, and founded and co-chairs a program on marine policy. May is the editor of Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law (American Bar Association), and co-editor of Shale Gas and the Future of Energy (Edward Elgar), Global Environmental Constitutionalism (Cambridge), Environmental Constitutionalism in Context (Edward Elgar), New Frontiers in Environmental Constitutionalism (United National Environment Programme, forthcoming), Implementing Environmental Constitutionalism(Cambridge, forthcoming), Standards of Environmental Constitutionalism (Cambridge, forthcoming), and Human Rights and the Environment: Indivisibility, Dignity and Legality (Edward Elgar, forthcoming). May is also author or co-author of more than 100 articles and book chapters, and numerous amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. federal courts of appeal on issues including environmental law, constitutional law, comparative constitutional, international environmental law, environmental rights, and human dignity.
May founded two non-profit environmental organizations (the Mid-Atlantic and the Eastern Environmental Law Centers), and has litigated more than 200 public interest environmental claims, including cases throughout the Mid-Atlantic to restore water and air quality, conserve rare species and habitats, and protect biodiversity.
May is a Member of Faculty to the National Judicial College, and a Fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, for whom he has served as a delegate to Haiti and China. May has also served as a consultant to the U.S. Embassy on legal education in the Philippines, and to the Hungarian Embassy and the Moroccan Human Rights Council on constitutional reform. May is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, serves on numerous boards, and has won numerous awards, including from Pace University, Sierra Club, and the American Canoe Association. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas (Bowman Scholar), J.D. from the University of Kansas (Appellate Advocacy Scholar and national moot court champion), and LL.M. in Environmental Law from Pace University, where he was the Feldshuh Fellow and graduated first in class.
May is a member of the bar in the State of Pennsylvania, several federal courts of appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Administrative State and Its Discontents
Michael Uhlmann
Short video featuring Michael Uhlmann
What are the roots of the administrative state? Professor Michael Uhlmann of Claremont Graduate University...
Deep Dive Episode 19 – Does the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Prohibit Incidental or Accidental Killing?
Gary Lawkowski
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Pursuant to a modern interpretation of a 100-year old law, every American who owns a...
Regulatory Hurdles for Entrepreneurs: The Story of Project Belle
Armand Lauzon
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Armand Lauzon created a cutting-edge business called Project Belle. Belle is a service that connects...
Topics
The Need for Enduring Open Internet Reform
As I argued in a recent op-ed, while the FCC’s decision to reverse the Obama...
Topics
Understanding the Congressional Review Act
Until 2017, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) was an afterthought, even to those who follow...
Regulating Planesharing: Flytenow and the FAA
Alan Guichard, Christopher L. Koopman, Gregory S. McNeal, Jonathan Riches
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Video
Flytenow, founded by Alan Guichard and Matt Voska, was a ridesharing platform for small planes....
The Clean Power Plan: Litigation and Regulatory Challenges, Old and New
David D. Doniger, Thomas A. Lorenzen
Environmental Law & Property Rights Teleforum
In January 16, 2018, the comment period will close on the Environmental Protection Agency’s notice of proposed...
American Spirit: A Story of Virginia's Liquor Laws
Jarrett Dieterle, Christine Riggleman, Denver Riggleman, Paul Pisano, Curtis Coleburn, Angela Logomasini
Documentary short from Motivo Media and FedSoc Films
From the Whiskey Rebellion to prohibition, the 21st Amendment to a modern cocktail renaissance, America's...
A Change of Guard at the CFPB
John C. Eastman
Federalism & Separation of Powers and Financial Services & E-Commerce Practice Groups Teleforum
On the day he was to resign, former CFPB Director Richard Cordray appointed his former...
Courthouse Steps: Juliana v. United States
Damien Michael Schiff, Andrew R. Varcoe, James R. May
Environmental Law & Property Rights Teleforum
On December 11, a Ninth Circuit panel heard argument in San Francisco in an unusual appellate proceeding...