Executive Director, Consumers’ Research
Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research. Will has a decade of non-profit, legal and public policy experience. Prior to joining CR, Will served as the Deputy Director of the Regulatory Transparency Project. Before that, he worked at the Philanthropy Roundtable as the Director of External Affairs for the Culture of Freedom Initiative, and as the Chief Operating Officer of that Initiative when it grew to become a separate organization. He helped co-found the public interest law firm, Cause of Action, and served as the firm’s acting communications director for nearly a year.
Will received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Will resides in Bethesda, MD, with his wife Cheryl, a practicing OB/GYN, and their son Liam.
Former Congressman, VP and Dir., Center for Law and Government, Liberty University
Former Congressman Hurt is the Vice President and Director of the Center for Law and Government at Liberty University. From 2011 to 2017 he represented Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and served on the House Financial Services Committee.
Congressman Hurt began his time in public service in 2001 as a member of the Chatham Town Council. From 2002 to 2007, Hurt served in the Virginia House of Delegates, and from 2008 to 2010, he represented the 19th District in the Senate of Virginia for two years.
Congressman Hurt lives in Chatham, Virginia with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons, Charles, Clement and John.
Principal, Legis Matters
Karl T. Kurtz is principal of Legis Matters, a consulting firm that focuses on strengthening democratic institutions, especially legislatures, at home and abroad. He previously worked for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) from its founding in 1975 until his retirement in 2014.
Karl has written, consulted and lectured widely on American state legislatures, elections and public opinion. He is coauthor of Republic on Trial: The Case for Representative Democracy and coeditor of Institutional Change in American Politics: The Case of Term Limits. He has provided advice and assistance in the development of democratic institutions to legislators and legislative staff throughout the world. As a consultant to NCSL, Karl is currently leading a national study of how legislatures can overcome problems of political polarization and effectively reach settlements and negotiate differences on critical issues.
Before joining NCSL, Karl taught political science at the University of Georgia. He worked on the staff of the United States Congress as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association. He holds an AB degree from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. from Washington University (St. Louis).
Executive Director, Consumers’ Research
Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research. Will has a decade of non-profit, legal and public policy experience. Prior to joining CR, Will served as the Deputy Director of the Regulatory Transparency Project. Before that, he worked at the Philanthropy Roundtable as the Director of External Affairs for the Culture of Freedom Initiative, and as the Chief Operating Officer of that Initiative when it grew to become a separate organization. He helped co-found the public interest law firm, Cause of Action, and served as the firm’s acting communications director for nearly a year.
Will received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Florida. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Will resides in Bethesda, MD, with his wife Cheryl, a practicing OB/GYN, and their son Liam.
Former Congressman, VP and Dir., Center for Law and Government, Liberty University
Former Congressman Hurt is the Vice President and Director of the Center for Law and Government at Liberty University. From 2011 to 2017 he represented Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and served on the House Financial Services Committee.
Congressman Hurt began his time in public service in 2001 as a member of the Chatham Town Council. From 2002 to 2007, Hurt served in the Virginia House of Delegates, and from 2008 to 2010, he represented the 19th District in the Senate of Virginia for two years.
Congressman Hurt lives in Chatham, Virginia with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons, Charles, Clement and John.
Principal, Legis Matters
Karl T. Kurtz is principal of Legis Matters, a consulting firm that focuses on strengthening democratic institutions, especially legislatures, at home and abroad. He previously worked for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) from its founding in 1975 until his retirement in 2014.
Karl has written, consulted and lectured widely on American state legislatures, elections and public opinion. He is coauthor of Republic on Trial: The Case for Representative Democracy and coeditor of Institutional Change in American Politics: The Case of Term Limits. He has provided advice and assistance in the development of democratic institutions to legislators and legislative staff throughout the world. As a consultant to NCSL, Karl is currently leading a national study of how legislatures can overcome problems of political polarization and effectively reach settlements and negotiate differences on critical issues.
Before joining NCSL, Karl taught political science at the University of Georgia. He worked on the staff of the United States Congress as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association. He holds an AB degree from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. from Washington University (St. Louis).
Welpton & Wise Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law
Professor Rick Duncan is the Welpton & Wise Professor of Law at the University Of Nebraska College Of Law. He is a graduate of the Cornell Law School and served as an editor of the Cornell Law Review. He teaches Constitutional Law with a special emphasis on the law of religious freedom, free speech, and federalism. Duncan has written numerous books, articles, and commentaries on a wide variety of legal topics. His recent publications include an article on Justice Scalia’s legacy, another on Kermit Gosnell and Roe v. Wade, a piece on the Electoral College and Federalism, a 2019 piece on Masterpiece Cakeshop and the First Amendment, and three recent articles on the “no compelled speech” doctrine as a First Amendment defense against authoritarianism and tyranny. His most recent article, on School Choice and the First Amendment, will be published in 2023 in Case Western Law Review. He is also the co-author of a book on Secured Transactions under Article 9 of the UCC. He served as Chairman of the Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the Reagan Administration. He also loves to speak at Federalist Society meetings around the country on life, liberty, and the pursuit of federalism.
Duncan has five children, five grandchildren, and a wonderful wife who help him pursue happiness. He loves lifting weights (particularly going heavy on the incline bench press), attending Broadway musicals and plays, including Hamilton: An American Musical which he has seen 12 times (possibly a Nebraska record). He regularly reads both the Bible and the New York Times because it is important to keep up with what both sides have to say. He loves following major league baseball, especially the San Diego Padres. And his favorite legal aphorism is “first come rights then comes government to secure those rights.”
George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
TODD J. ZYWICKI is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and Research Fellow of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. During the Fall 2023 semester he served as the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy for the Bruce Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado-Boulder. From 2020-2021 he was Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law. In 2021 he was inducted to the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He is also a Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at George Mason University and a former Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute. From 2015-2017 he was Executive Director of the George Mason Law and Economics Center. He served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2006-2017. From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, Mississippi College School of Law, and China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics. Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum Laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.
Professor Zywicki is also a Lone Mountain Fellow of the Property and Environment Research Center, a Fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy, and a former Senior Fellow of the Goldwater Institute. During the Fall 2008 Semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala. In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a Member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on “Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System.”
Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 130 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals. He is one of the Top 10 most-cited law professors in the field of Commercial Law and one of the Top 25 law professors on Twitter as measured by engagement levels. He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network. He has testified multiple times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Neil Cavuto Show, Fox & Friends, Smerconish, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Show, Jerry Doyle Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.
Professor Zywicki is former Chairman and a current member of the Board of Directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Humane Studies, Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment. He formerly served on the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business. He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Ralston College and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University. From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
Professor of Political Science, Professor of International and Public Affairs, and Chair of Political Science, Brown University
Wendy Schiller is Professor of Political Science, Professor of International and Public Affairs, and Chair of Political Science at Brown University. She did her undergraduate work in political science at the University of Chicago, served on the staffs of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Governor Mario Cuomo, and then earned her PhD from the University of Rochester. After fellowships at the Brookings Institution and Princeton University, she came to Brown in 1994. She teaches popular courses titled The American Presidency, Introduction to the American Political Process, and Congress and Public Policy.
Among books she has authored or co-authored are Electing the Senate: Indirect Democracy before the Seventeenth Amendment (Princeton University Press), Gateways to Democracy: An Introduction to American Government (Cengage), The Contemporary Congress (Thomson-Wadsworth), and Partners and Rivals: Representation in U.S. Senate Delegations (Princeton University Press). She has also published articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Studies in American Political Development, and the Journal of Politics.
Schiller has been a contributor to MSNBC, NPR, CNN.com, and Bloomberg News. She provides local political commentary to the Providence Journal, WPRO radio, RIPBS A Lively Experiment, and is the political analyst for WJAR10, the local NBC affiliate in Providence.
Professor of Politics, Wake Forest University
John Dinan, author of "State Constitutional Politics: Governing by Amendment in the American States," can comment on mid-term elections and the state constitutional amendments appearing on the ballot. From voter identification to redistricting, Dinan can place particular amendments in nationwide and historical perspective. Based on his research, he can also address the arguments and issues that routinely surface in campaigns supporting and opposing various amendments. He is also prepared to comment on federal and state policies in areas ranging from the Affordable Care Act to legislative redistricting to voter-registration rules. Dinan closely follows U.S. and North Carolina political races, including gubernatorial and congressional races. Dinan teaches courses on campaigns and elections, state politics and congress and policymaking. He frequently provides commentary for news outlets across the country and his research was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015). He is also the author of "The American State Constitutional Tradition" and an annual review of state constitutional developments in the 50 states, as well as numerous articles on state and federal politics.
Regents Professor, University System of Maryland
Professor Graber held a faculty position in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1993-2007 and taught at the University of Maryland School of Law as an adjunct professor beginning in the fall of 2002. In 2004, he was appointed Professor of Government and Law at the School of Law, a title he held until May 1, 2015 at which time he received an appointment as the Jacob A. France Professor of Constitutionalism. In 2016, he was named Regents Professor, one of only seven Regents Professors in the history of the University System of Maryland and the only Regents Professor on the UMB campus. He served as associate dean for research and faculty development from 2010 to 2013. He has also been one of the organizers of the annual Constitutional Law "Schmooze", which attracts scholars from across the country to the law school.
He is the author of A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism, forthcoming in 2013 from Oxford University Press, and co-editor (with Keith Whittington and Howard Gillman) of American Constitutionalism: Structures and Powers and American Constitutionalism: Rights and Powers, both also from Oxford University Press. He is presently working on Forged in Failure, a book that will examine how much constitutional change in the United States has been caused by the failure of constitutional practices to function as expected.
Professor Graber is also the author of scores of articles, including "The Non-Majoritarian Problem: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary" in Studies in American Political Development, "Naked Land Transfers and American Constitutional Development", published in the Vanderbilt Law Review and "Resolving Political Questions into Judicial Questions: Tocqueville’s Aphorism Revisited", published by Constitutional Commentary.
During fall 2013, he was a visiting faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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.
Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Julie Silverbrook is Executive Director of The Constitutional Sources Project (www.ConSource.org), a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization devoted to increasing understanding, facilitating research, and encouraging discussion of the U.S. Constitution by connecting individuals with the documentary history of its creation, ratification, and amendment. ConSource educates lawyers, judges, teachers, and students about United States Constitutional History. Prior to leading ConSource, Ms. Silverbrook was the Founding Director of an award-winning constitutional literacy program called Constitutional Conversations, in collaboration with the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and the Williamsburg Regional Library System. Ms. Silverbrook has given lectures and presentations on the Constitution at a number of colleges and universities, as well as at historical societies, presidential homes, state bar associations and social studies associations.
Ms. Silverbrook holds a J.D. from the William & Mary Law chool, where she received the National Association of Women Lawyers Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award and served as a Senior Articles Editor on the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. She graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa (elected as Junior) from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Science. Upon graduation, she was awarded the GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar Award, the highest academic award given to a student in the arts and sciences college. Ms. Silverbrook was also awarded the John C. Morgan Prize by the Department of Political Science–an award given annually to an outstanding graduate pursuing a law degree after graduation. In 2013, she was awarded a GW Political Science Department 100th Anniversary Alumni Award.
Lecturer, University of Virginia, University of Richmond
Lynn Uzzell received her B.A. in speech communications at Black Hills State University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in politics at the University of Dallas. She has taught extensively on political philosophy, rhetoric, the United States Constitution, and American political thought at Baylor University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Richmond. She specializes in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. For four years she was also the scholar in residence at the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier.
Professor of Politics, Wake Forest University
John Dinan, author of "State Constitutional Politics: Governing by Amendment in the American States," can comment on mid-term elections and the state constitutional amendments appearing on the ballot. From voter identification to redistricting, Dinan can place particular amendments in nationwide and historical perspective. Based on his research, he can also address the arguments and issues that routinely surface in campaigns supporting and opposing various amendments. He is also prepared to comment on federal and state policies in areas ranging from the Affordable Care Act to legislative redistricting to voter-registration rules. Dinan closely follows U.S. and North Carolina political races, including gubernatorial and congressional races. Dinan teaches courses on campaigns and elections, state politics and congress and policymaking. He frequently provides commentary for news outlets across the country and his research was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015). He is also the author of "The American State Constitutional Tradition" and an annual review of state constitutional developments in the 50 states, as well as numerous articles on state and federal politics.
Regents Professor, University System of Maryland
Professor Graber held a faculty position in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1993-2007 and taught at the University of Maryland School of Law as an adjunct professor beginning in the fall of 2002. In 2004, he was appointed Professor of Government and Law at the School of Law, a title he held until May 1, 2015 at which time he received an appointment as the Jacob A. France Professor of Constitutionalism. In 2016, he was named Regents Professor, one of only seven Regents Professors in the history of the University System of Maryland and the only Regents Professor on the UMB campus. He served as associate dean for research and faculty development from 2010 to 2013. He has also been one of the organizers of the annual Constitutional Law "Schmooze", which attracts scholars from across the country to the law school.
He is the author of A New Introduction to American Constitutionalism, forthcoming in 2013 from Oxford University Press, and co-editor (with Keith Whittington and Howard Gillman) of American Constitutionalism: Structures and Powers and American Constitutionalism: Rights and Powers, both also from Oxford University Press. He is presently working on Forged in Failure, a book that will examine how much constitutional change in the United States has been caused by the failure of constitutional practices to function as expected.
Professor Graber is also the author of scores of articles, including "The Non-Majoritarian Problem: Legislative Deference to the Judiciary" in Studies in American Political Development, "Naked Land Transfers and American Constitutional Development", published in the Vanderbilt Law Review and "Resolving Political Questions into Judicial Questions: Tocqueville’s Aphorism Revisited", published by Constitutional Commentary.
During fall 2013, he was a visiting faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Law.
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.
Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Julie Silverbrook is Executive Director of The Constitutional Sources Project (www.ConSource.org), a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization devoted to increasing understanding, facilitating research, and encouraging discussion of the U.S. Constitution by connecting individuals with the documentary history of its creation, ratification, and amendment. ConSource educates lawyers, judges, teachers, and students about United States Constitutional History. Prior to leading ConSource, Ms. Silverbrook was the Founding Director of an award-winning constitutional literacy program called Constitutional Conversations, in collaboration with the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and the Williamsburg Regional Library System. Ms. Silverbrook has given lectures and presentations on the Constitution at a number of colleges and universities, as well as at historical societies, presidential homes, state bar associations and social studies associations.
Ms. Silverbrook holds a J.D. from the William & Mary Law chool, where she received the National Association of Women Lawyers Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award and served as a Senior Articles Editor on the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. She graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa (elected as Junior) from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Science. Upon graduation, she was awarded the GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Scholar Award, the highest academic award given to a student in the arts and sciences college. Ms. Silverbrook was also awarded the John C. Morgan Prize by the Department of Political Science–an award given annually to an outstanding graduate pursuing a law degree after graduation. In 2013, she was awarded a GW Political Science Department 100th Anniversary Alumni Award.
Lecturer, University of Virginia, University of Richmond
Lynn Uzzell received her B.A. in speech communications at Black Hills State University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in politics at the University of Dallas. She has taught extensively on political philosophy, rhetoric, the United States Constitution, and American political thought at Baylor University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Richmond. She specializes in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. For four years she was also the scholar in residence at the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier.
Necessary & Proper Episode 51: National Security and Executive Power
A discussion of National Security and Executive Power, recorded on October 10 at the Georgetown...
Laboratories of Democracy, Part 2: Can Congress learn from State Legislatures?
Will Hild, Robert Hurt, Karl Kurtz
Article I Initiative
The concept of states serving as important test cases for national governance dates to the...
Laboratories of Democracy, Part 2: Can Congress learn from State Legislatures?
Will Hild, Robert Hurt, Karl Kurtz
Article I Initiative
The concept of states serving as important test cases for national governance dates to the...
Topics
The Political — and Solely Political — Power of Impeachment
The story of impeachment is a simple and straightforward one. So much so, in fact,...
Necessary & Proper Episode 48: The Electoral College
Richard F. Duncan
Recorded at University of St. Thomas School of Law on September 19, this event focused...
Topics
Impeaching Donald Trump: A Game of Political High Stakes Poker
On September 24, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would begin a...
Elected v. Appointed: Senators & the Seventeenth Amendment [POLICYbrief]
Todd J. Zywicki, Wendy Schiller
Short video featuring Wendy Schiller and Todd Zywicki
Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, U.S. senators were appointed by their state legislators...
Laboratories of Democracy - Part I: Early State Constitutions and Their Influence on the Legislative Branch
John Dinan, Mark Graber, Nathan Kaczmarek, Julie Silverbrook, Lynn Uzzell
Article I Initiative
On July 19, 2019, the Federalist Society's Article I Initiative cosponsored a two-part panel with...
Laboratories of Democracy - Part I: Early State Constitutions and Their Influence on the Legislative Branch
John Dinan, Mark Graber, Nathan Kaczmarek, Julie Silverbrook, Lynn Uzzell
Article I Initiative
On July 19, 2019, the Federalist Society's Article I Initiative cosponsored a two-part panel with...
Topics
Announcing the Third Annual Article I Initiative Writing Contest
The Federalist Society's Article I Initiative is focused on the critical issue of why the modern Congress...