Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice
Brett A. Shumate was sworn in as the Civil Division’s 36th Assistant Attorney General on June 11, 2025. He previously served in the Civil Division from 2017 to 2019 as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Federal Programs Branch. Prior to rejoining the Department, Mr. Shumate was a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Shumate clerked for Judge Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated from Wake Forest University School of Law and Furman University.
Chairman Emeritus, Wiley Rein LLP
Dick, co-founder and name partner of the firm, has received numerous accolades throughout his storied career, including being named a Washington “Visionary” by The National Law Journal, the “most influential media and telecommunications lawyer in the United States” by the International Herald Tribune, one of the top “100 Men of the Century” by Broadcasting & Cable, and the “Father of High-Definition” television by The Globe and Mail. As Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), he fostered increased competition and lessened regulation in the communications field. Dick played a pivotal role in the development of HDTV in this country, serving for nine years as Chairman of the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service. He has represented a number of major communications-oriented organizations, including Verizon, AT&T, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Newspaper Association of America, Motorola, CBS, Belo, Gannett, Sirius/XM, Emmis, Gray Television, and LG. Dick also is a frequent author and lecturer on telecommunications and information law.
Associate Professor, Northern Illinois University
Evan Bernick joined the NIU Law faculty in 2021. He teaches courses in constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, administrative law and legislation.
From 2020 to 2021, Professor Bernick was a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and the executive director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Before that, he served as a clerk to Judge Diane S. Sykes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. From April 2017 to April 2019, he was a visiting lecturer at Georgetown and a resident fellow of the Center for the Constitution.
His scholarship covers a range of topics, from constitutional law, to philosophy of law, to social movements, to law enforcement. He has published with the Georgetown Law Journal, the Notre Dame Law Review, the William and Mary Law Review and the George Mason Law Review, among other journals. His book, The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment: Its Letter and Spirit (2021), with Randy E. Barnett, was published by Harvard University Press under its Belknap imprint "for books of long-lasting importance, superior in scholarship and physical production, chosen whether or not they might be profitable."
Professor Bernick received his bachelor's degree in 2008 from the University of Chicago, where he studied philosophy and graduated with honors. He received his juris doctorate in 2011 from the University of Chicago Law School.
Net Neutrality and the Rule of Law
Brett Shumate, Richard E. Wiley
Engage Volume 16, Issue 2
This article is about the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules. As always, the Federalist...
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State Court Docket Watch News Clips: 8/25/2015
The city of Austin has filed suit challenging the constitutionality of Texas' property appraisal system....
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State Court Docket Watch News Clips: 8/19/2015
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that several red-light camera programs in the state were...
The Circuit Splits Are Out There—and the Court Should Resolve Them
Evan D. Bernick
Engage Volume 16, Issue 2
Note from the Editor: This article argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should resolve a...
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A Michigan Supreme Court ruling resulted in the state's 2012 "Right to Work" law applying to...
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State Court Docket Watch News Clips: 7/24/2015
The Texas Supreme Court ordered the Houston City Council to place its LGBT non-discrimination ordinance...
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State Court Docket Watch News Clips: 7/16/2015
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that portions of Wisconsin's campaign finance regime are "unconstitutionally...