Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice
Harmeet K. Dhillon is the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. She was nominated by President Donald Trump in December 2024. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 7, 2025.
Prior to joining the Division, Ms. Dhillon founded both the Dhillon Law Group, Inc., a successful legal practice with offices in California, Florida, Virginia, and New Jersey; and the Center for American Liberty, a nonprofit organization dedicated to pursuing civil liberties legal claims. Her law practice focused on First Amendment / free speech, civil rights, and campaign and election law issues. Among her many notable cases, Ms. Dhillon brought legal challenges against the University of California, Berkeley over its free speech policy, against an Antifa organization for an assault on a conservative journalist, against several states for their restrictive responses to Covid-19, and against various large tech companies for a host of civil rights issues.
Assistant Attorney General Dhillon was born in Chandigarh, India, and lived in London before moving to The Bronx, New York. Her family ultimately settled in rural Smithfield, North Carolina. After graduating high school at age 16, Ms. Dhillon attended Dartmouth College where she became editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review. After earning her bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies, she attended the University of Virginia School of Law and served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. She later clerked for the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Sandra Segal Ikuta was confirmed as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on June 19, 2006. She filled a judgeship vacant since September 1, 2000, when Chief Judge Emeritus James R. Browning took senior status.
Before becoming a U.S. Circuit Judge, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to be deputy secretary and general counsel of the California Resources Agency in January 2004.
Prior to her political appointment, Judge Ikuta was a partner at the Los Angeles office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. She joined the law firm in 1990 as an associate and became a partner in 1997. She specialized in environmental and natural resources law and co-chaired the firm's environmental practice group. She previously served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 1989-90, and Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1988-89.
Prior to her legal career, Judge Ikuta took an unorthodox career path, which included serving as the first female editor-in-chief of a national martial arts magazine.
She received her J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and a Master of Science from Columbia University School of Journalism. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976.
In addition to her duties as an active U.S. Circuit Judge, Judge Ikuta was an appointed member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules.
Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Constitutional Law Center, Stanford Law School
Michael W. McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2002 to 2009, he served as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and confirmed by a Democratic Senate by unanimous consent. McConnell has previously held chaired professorships at the University of Chicago and the University of Utah, and visiting professorships at Harvard and NYU. He teaches courses on constitutional law, constitutional history, First Amendment, and interpretive theory. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, especially church and state, equal protection, and separation of powers. His book, “The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power Under the Constitution,” was published by Princeton University Press in 2020, based on the Tanner Lectures in Human Values, which he delivered at Princeton in 2019. His latest book, co-authored with Nathan Chapman, “Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience,” was published by Oxford University Press in mid-2023. McConnell has argued sixteen cases in the United States Supreme Court, most recently Carney v. Adams (2020). defending a provision of the Delaware Constitution requiring political balance on that state’s courts. More recently, he was co-counsel in Gonzalez v. Google. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago, and has received honorary degrees from Notre Dame University and Michigan State. He served as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and D.C. Circuit Chief Judge J. Skelly Wright. He has been Assistant General Counsel of the Office of Management & Budget, Assistant to the Solicitor General of the Department of Justice, and a member of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. He is Senior of Counsel to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, and is co-chair of Meta’s Oversight Review Board.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law & Director, Religious Freedom Clinic, Harvard Law School
Josh is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic, a pro bono program that gives students a hands-on, supervised experience representing a diverse group of clients in First Amendment and religious freedom cases.
Before entering clinical teaching, Josh clerked for the Honorable Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to serving as a staff attorney in the clinic’s inaugural semester in 2020, he was previously a trial litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and an appellate litigator at Horvitz & Levy, where he specialized in representing individual and organizational clients in both commercial and civil rights cases, with particular expertise in First Amendment and religious freedom issues.
While in private practice, Josh received a Daily Journal 2022 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award, was twice named a “One to Watch” in appellate law by Best Lawyers, and argued in numerous appellate courts and courts of last resort, including twice before the California Supreme Court. His amicus brief for Jewish schools in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court was quoted by Justice Kavanaugh at oral argument.
Josh earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University and graduated first in his class from UCLA School of Law.
President, Constitutional Accountability Center
Elizabeth is Constitutional Accountability Center’s President. From 2008-2016, she served as CAC's Chief Counsel, representing the Center as well as clients including preeminent constitutional scholars and historians, state and local government organizations, and groups such as the League of Women Voters and the AARP. She frequently participates in Supreme Court litigation and her legal brief writing has been recognized as “exemplary” by the Green Bag Almanac & Reader. Elizabeth has also argued several important cases in the federal courts of appeals on a range of issues, including immigration law, habeas corpus, and sovereign immunity. She joined CAC from private practice at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in San Francisco, where she was an attorney working with former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan in the firm’s Supreme Court/appellate practice. Previously, Elizabeth was a supervising attorney and teaching fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center appellate litigation clinic, a law clerk for Judge James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a law firm in Washington. She has appeared as a legal expert for NBC, ABC, PBS, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, Current TV, and NPR, among other outlets. Elizabeth has been quoted extensively in the print media and is a regular contributor to the ABA’s Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Reuters, USA Today, Politico, CNN.com, Slate, and on numerous political and legal blogs, such as Huffington Post, SCOTUSblog, and ACSblog. She has also published in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Syracuse Law Review, The Cato Institute’s Supreme Court Review, and the Yale Journal of International Law. Elizabeth is a graduate of Yale Law School.
Director of Litigation, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
A native of the Philadelphia area, Marieke graduated summa cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2004. Marieke continued her studies at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2008.
After law school, Marieke clerked for the Honorable A. Richard Caputo in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania before joining the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania as a legal fellow in 2009. She later joined the Philadelphia firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis as a commercial litigation associate, where she continued to work on civil rights cases on a pro bono basis, focusing primarily on the First Amendment. Right before joining FIRE, she served as a Project Coordinator for the nonprofit Resources for Human Development, where she implemented projects addressing disability discrimination and health care reform. Outside the office, she loves to be around horses and volunteers for a therapeutic riding program.
Founding Partner, Benbrook Law Group
Brad has litigated business and public policy matters throughout the United States for over 25 years. He represents businesses of all sizes in civil litigation and disputes with administrative agencies. Brad also regularly represents individuals and groups in constitutional and public policy litigation in the trial and appellate courts. He regularly submits amicus briefs on behalf of clients at the Supreme Court of the United States on significant cases. Brad is often hired as special litigation counsel in complex family law, bankruptcy, and trust and estate litigation.
After graduating from law school, Brad worked as a judicial clerk for Judge J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. Brad received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley after graduating from Stanford University, where he was a four-year letterman on the golf team.
Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, First Liberty Institute
Lisa Budzynski Ezell is the former Vice President and Director of the Federalist Society’s Lawyers Chapters. In this role, she managed a growing network of over 90 lawyers chapters nationwide, including oversight of leadership recruitment, chapter programming, state conferences, civics education outreach, and young lawyers activities. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary’s College in Political Science and History and a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University.
Partner, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
Erik Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, Senators, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 120 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 70 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and he was a sole practitioner from 1997 to 2018. He joined the firm of Schaerr | Jaffe LLP in 2018.
Executive Vice President, Goldwater Institute
Christina Sandefur is the Executive Vice President at the Goldwater Institute. She develops policies and litigates cases advancing healthcare freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, free speech, and taxpayer rights.
Christina is a co-drafter of the Right to Try initiative, now federal law, which protects terminally ill patients' right to try safe investigational treatments that have been prescribed by their physician but are not yet FDA-approved. She has won important victories for property rights in Arizona and works nationally to promote the Institute's Private Property Rights Protection Act, a state-level reform that requires government to pay owners when regulations destroy property rights and reduce property values.
Christina is the co-author of the book Cornerstone of Liberty: Private Property Rights in 21st Century America (2016). She is a frequent guest on national television and radio programs, has provided expert legal testimony to various legislative committees, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She is the recipient of the 2018 Buckley Award in recognition of her leadership in the freedom movement, and she is an Advisory Board Member of the Network of enlightened Women. Christina serves on the board of the Phoenix Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and is a member of the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project: FDA & Health.
Christina is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and Hillsdale College.
Founding Partner, Benbrook Law Group
Brad has litigated business and public policy matters throughout the United States for over 25 years. He represents businesses of all sizes in civil litigation and disputes with administrative agencies. Brad also regularly represents individuals and groups in constitutional and public policy litigation in the trial and appellate courts. He regularly submits amicus briefs on behalf of clients at the Supreme Court of the United States on significant cases. Brad is often hired as special litigation counsel in complex family law, bankruptcy, and trust and estate litigation.
After graduating from law school, Brad worked as a judicial clerk for Judge J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. Brad received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley after graduating from Stanford University, where he was a four-year letterman on the golf team.
Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, First Liberty Institute
Lisa Budzynski Ezell is the former Vice President and Director of the Federalist Society’s Lawyers Chapters. In this role, she managed a growing network of over 90 lawyers chapters nationwide, including oversight of leadership recruitment, chapter programming, state conferences, civics education outreach, and young lawyers activities. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Mary’s College in Political Science and History and a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University.
Partner, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
Erik Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, Senators, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 120 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 70 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and he was a sole practitioner from 1997 to 2018. He joined the firm of Schaerr | Jaffe LLP in 2018.
Executive Vice President, Goldwater Institute
Christina Sandefur is the Executive Vice President at the Goldwater Institute. She develops policies and litigates cases advancing healthcare freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, free speech, and taxpayer rights.
Christina is a co-drafter of the Right to Try initiative, now federal law, which protects terminally ill patients' right to try safe investigational treatments that have been prescribed by their physician but are not yet FDA-approved. She has won important victories for property rights in Arizona and works nationally to promote the Institute's Private Property Rights Protection Act, a state-level reform that requires government to pay owners when regulations destroy property rights and reduce property values.
Christina is the co-author of the book Cornerstone of Liberty: Private Property Rights in 21st Century America (2016). She is a frequent guest on national television and radio programs, has provided expert legal testimony to various legislative committees, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She is the recipient of the 2018 Buckley Award in recognition of her leadership in the freedom movement, and she is an Advisory Board Member of the Network of enlightened Women. Christina serves on the board of the Phoenix Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and is a member of the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project: FDA & Health.
Christina is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and Hillsdale College.
Professor of Law & Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, Stanford Law School
Jud Campbell joined the faculty of Stanford Law School in 2023. He previously served as a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law and as a visiting professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and at Harvard Law School. His academic focus is constitutional history and First Amendment law. His publications include articles in the Stanford Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Texas Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, and Law and History Review. After completing his J.D. at Stanford Law School, he clerked for Judge Diane S. Sykes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and for Judge José A. Cabranes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then served as the Executive Director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Former Solicitor General of Texas
Jonathan F. Mitchell is Principal at Mitchell Law PLLC. He received his law degree with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an articles editor of The University of Chicago Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Mitchell clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. He then served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice from 2003 through 2006. After leaving the Department of Justice, Mr. Mitchell served as a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University Law Center, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 2006 through 2008, and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University from 2008 through 2010.
In 2010, Mr. Mitchell was appointed Solicitor General of Texas, a position he held until January 2015. After leaving the Texas Solicitor General’s office, Mr. Mitchell served as the Searle Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law before joining the Hoover Institution as a Visiting Fellow from 2015 to 2016. Mr. Mitchell also served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School before opening his own law firm in 2018.
Mr. Mitchell has published numerous works of scholarship in top-10 law journals, and he has written articles on textualism, national-security law, criminal law and procedure, judicial review and judicial federalism, and the legality of stare decisis in constitutional adjudication.
Mr. Mitchell has argued eight times before the Supreme Court of the United States, and more than 20 times in the federal courts of appeals. He has also argued before Supreme Court of Texas and in numerous trial courts. Mr. Mitchell has authored the principal merits brief in 11 Supreme Court cases, and has written and submitted more than 20 amicus curiae briefs in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Mitchell devised the novel enforcement mechanism in the Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as Senate Bill 8, which avoids pre-enforcement judicial review by prohibiting government officials from enforcing the statute and empowering private citizens to bring lawsuits against those who violate it. This produced an end-run around Roe v. Wade and allowed Texas and other states to impose pre-viability abortion bans despite the continued existence of Roe.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Lochlan F. Shelfer is a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law and Administrative Law practice groups.
Mr. Shelfer has litigated a wide range of appellate and trial matters in federal and state court. Mr. Shelfer’s appellate practice includes representing corporate clients in high-stakes commercial disputes, litigating cutting-edge legal issues before the Supreme Court of the United States, bringing merits and collection actions against foreign sovereigns, and representing pro bono clients before the courts of appeals. He has argued an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, addressing matters of federal jurisdiction. In addition, Mr. Shelfer regularly represents clients in litigation under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Mr. Shelfer received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as an Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal and was awarded the Judge William E. Miller Prize for best paper on the Bill of Rights for his work "How the Constitution Shall Not Be Construed," BYU Law Review (2017), and the Joseph Parker Prize for best paper on legal history for his work "Special Juries in the Supreme Court," Yale Law Journal (October, 2013). Prior to attending law school, Mr. Shelfer graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.A. in Classics and from Johns Hopkins University with a Ph.D. in Classics, specializing in the history of law. From 2013–2014, Mr. Shelfer served as a law clerk to the Honorable Carlos T. Bea of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Shelfer is a member of the bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Megan Stevenson is an economist and legal scholar who became an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University, in 2017. Her research uses advanced econometric techniques to evaluate criminal law and policy in areas such as bail, pretrial detention, juvenile justice, and risk assessment. Her studies are published or forthcoming in top journals in both economics and law, such as the Stanford Law Review and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Her research on bail was cited extensively in a landmark federal civil rights decision, O’Donnell v. Harris, and has received widespread media coverage. In addition to legal scholarship, Professor Stevenson has written a number of op-eds for news outlets such as the Houston Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Prior to joining the law faculty at George Mason, Professor Stevenson was a fellow at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2015-2017). She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (2009, with highest distinction) and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics (2016), both from the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches Law & Economics and Criminal Law.
Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Professor Teitelbaum joined the Georgetown faculty in 2009. Before coming to Georgetown, he clerked for Judge Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, practiced corporate and securities law at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York, and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Cornell Law School.
Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Lael Weinberger is an assistant professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Previously, Lael clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch on the United States Supreme Court, Judge Frank Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice Daniel Eismann on the Idaho Supreme Court. Lael also practiced law at the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson Dunn and held fellowships at Stanford and Harvard law schools. Lael earned a law degree and a Ph.D. in history, both from the University of Chicago. Lael's academic work has appeared in journals such as the University of Chicago Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Constitutional Commentary, among others. He has also written widely for broader public audiences, with his writings and reviews appearing in publications including Newsweek, National Review, Claremont Review, First Things, Christianity Today, LA Review of Books, World, and the New Rambler Review.
Professor of Law & Helen L. Crocker Faculty Scholar, Stanford Law School
Jud Campbell joined the faculty of Stanford Law School in 2023. He previously served as a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law and as a visiting professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and at Harvard Law School. His academic focus is constitutional history and First Amendment law. His publications include articles in the Stanford Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Texas Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, and Law and History Review. After completing his J.D. at Stanford Law School, he clerked for Judge Diane S. Sykes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and for Judge José A. Cabranes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then served as the Executive Director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar.
Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law; Director, Classical Liberal Institute, Civitas Institute University of Texas at Austin
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, at New York University, a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas Austin, and a senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago. He received an LL.D., h.c . from the University of Ghent, 2003 , and an LLD h.c . from the University of Siegen in 2018 and the Bradley Prize in 2011. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985. He has edited both the Journal of Legal Studies (1981-1991) and the Journal of Law and Economics (1991-2001). He is also a founder and director of the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU Law School. His most recent book is The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government (2014). His other books include Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain ( 1985); Bargaining with the State (1993); Simple Rules for a Complex World (1995); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty and the Common Good (1998); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Theory of Classical Liberalism (2003); Design for Liberty: Private Property, Public Administration and the Rule of Law (2011), and most recently, The Myth of Birthright citizenship—and Beyond (2026). He has taught courses in , administrative law, antitrust, constitutional, contracts, environmental law, land use planning; real property, torts and water law. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics, and is writes a regular column for Defining Ideas.
Former Solicitor General of Texas
Jonathan F. Mitchell is Principal at Mitchell Law PLLC. He received his law degree with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an articles editor of The University of Chicago Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.
After graduating from law school, Mr. Mitchell clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. He then served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice from 2003 through 2006. After leaving the Department of Justice, Mr. Mitchell served as a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University Law Center, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 2006 through 2008, and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University from 2008 through 2010.
In 2010, Mr. Mitchell was appointed Solicitor General of Texas, a position he held until January 2015. After leaving the Texas Solicitor General’s office, Mr. Mitchell served as the Searle Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law before joining the Hoover Institution as a Visiting Fellow from 2015 to 2016. Mr. Mitchell also served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School before opening his own law firm in 2018.
Mr. Mitchell has published numerous works of scholarship in top-10 law journals, and he has written articles on textualism, national-security law, criminal law and procedure, judicial review and judicial federalism, and the legality of stare decisis in constitutional adjudication.
Mr. Mitchell has argued eight times before the Supreme Court of the United States, and more than 20 times in the federal courts of appeals. He has also argued before Supreme Court of Texas and in numerous trial courts. Mr. Mitchell has authored the principal merits brief in 11 Supreme Court cases, and has written and submitted more than 20 amicus curiae briefs in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Mitchell devised the novel enforcement mechanism in the Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as Senate Bill 8, which avoids pre-enforcement judicial review by prohibiting government officials from enforcing the statute and empowering private citizens to bring lawsuits against those who violate it. This produced an end-run around Roe v. Wade and allowed Texas and other states to impose pre-viability abortion bans despite the continued existence of Roe.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Lochlan F. Shelfer is a litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law and Administrative Law practice groups.
Mr. Shelfer has litigated a wide range of appellate and trial matters in federal and state court. Mr. Shelfer’s appellate practice includes representing corporate clients in high-stakes commercial disputes, litigating cutting-edge legal issues before the Supreme Court of the United States, bringing merits and collection actions against foreign sovereigns, and representing pro bono clients before the courts of appeals. He has argued an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, addressing matters of federal jurisdiction. In addition, Mr. Shelfer regularly represents clients in litigation under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Mr. Shelfer received his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as an Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal and was awarded the Judge William E. Miller Prize for best paper on the Bill of Rights for his work "How the Constitution Shall Not Be Construed," BYU Law Review (2017), and the Joseph Parker Prize for best paper on legal history for his work "Special Juries in the Supreme Court," Yale Law Journal (October, 2013). Prior to attending law school, Mr. Shelfer graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a B.A. in Classics and from Johns Hopkins University with a Ph.D. in Classics, specializing in the history of law. From 2013–2014, Mr. Shelfer served as a law clerk to the Honorable Carlos T. Bea of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Shelfer is a member of the bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School
Megan Stevenson is an economist and legal scholar who became an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University, in 2017. Her research uses advanced econometric techniques to evaluate criminal law and policy in areas such as bail, pretrial detention, juvenile justice, and risk assessment. Her studies are published or forthcoming in top journals in both economics and law, such as the Stanford Law Review and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Her research on bail was cited extensively in a landmark federal civil rights decision, O’Donnell v. Harris, and has received widespread media coverage. In addition to legal scholarship, Professor Stevenson has written a number of op-eds for news outlets such as the Houston Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Prior to joining the law faculty at George Mason, Professor Stevenson was a fellow at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2015-2017). She holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies (2009, with highest distinction) and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics (2016), both from the University of California, Berkeley. She teaches Law & Economics and Criminal Law.
Professor of Law, Georgetown Law
Professor Teitelbaum joined the Georgetown faculty in 2009. Before coming to Georgetown, he clerked for Judge Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, practiced corporate and securities law at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP in New York, and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Cornell Law School.
Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Lael Weinberger is an assistant professor of law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Previously, Lael clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch on the United States Supreme Court, Judge Frank Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Chief Justice Daniel Eismann on the Idaho Supreme Court. Lael also practiced law at the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson Dunn and held fellowships at Stanford and Harvard law schools. Lael earned a law degree and a Ph.D. in history, both from the University of Chicago. Lael's academic work has appeared in journals such as the University of Chicago Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Constitutional Commentary, among others. He has also written widely for broader public audiences, with his writings and reviews appearing in publications including Newsweek, National Review, Claremont Review, First Things, Christianity Today, LA Review of Books, World, and the New Rambler Review.
L. Q. C. Lamar Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Thomas C. Arthur holds degrees from Yale Law School and Duke University, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before coming to Emory, he practiced law for eleven years with the Washington, DC office of Kirkland & Ellis. In 1982, he left his law firm partnership to join the Emory Law faculty.
Arthur teaches antitrust, civil procedure, and administrative law, and he has been active on the executive committee of the Antitrust Section of the Association of American Law Schools. His articles in the California and Tulane law reviews have been credited with the founding of a new, "statutory" school of antitrust analysis. His 1991 Emory Law Journal article (co-authored with Professor Richard D. Freer) provoked a nationally noted debate over an important new statute governing the jurisdiction of federal courts. A major antitrust article, "The Costly Quest for Perfect Competition: Kodak and Nonstructural Market Power," was published in the New York University Law Review (vol. 69, April 1994).
Professor of Law and Co-Director, High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law
Eric Goldman is a Professor of Law, and Co-Director of the High Tech Law Institute, at Santa Clara University School of Law. Before he became a full-time academic in 2002, he practiced Internet law for 8 years in the Silicon Valley. His research and teaching focuses on Internet, IP and advertising law topics, and he blogs on these topics at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog [http://blog.ericgoldman.org]. Managing IP magazine has twice named him to a shortlist of North American “IP Thought Leaders,” and he has been named an “IP Vanguard” by the California State Bar’s IP Section.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Vice President and Legal Counsel, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
Michael Martin is ECFA’s vice president of church relations. He enjoys helping churches and ministries maintain high standards of financial integrity through ECFA membership. Michael also uses his training as an attorney and CPA to contribute to ECFA’s many practical educational resources, including books, webinars, videos, podcasts, and more.
Beginning with the 2013 edition, Mr. Martin co-authored the Zondervan Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide and the Zondervan Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide.
Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
John Van Drunen is the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)'s executive vice president and general counsel with a bachelor of arts in accounting, magna cum laude, from Anderson University and a juris doctor from Regent University School of Law. His responsibilities at ECFA primarily relate to managing the compliance program and writing and speaking on technical nonprofit issues.
Mr. Van Drunen has received many awards, including Virginia Bar Association recognition for pro bono work during his tenure as a law student. This work included working with nonprofit organizations and assisting low-income individuals with preparing taxes.
Beginning with the 2010 edition, Mr. Van Drunen co-authored the Zondervan Minister’s Tax & Financial Guide and the Zondervan Church and Nonprofit Tax & Financial Guide with ECFA President, Dan Busby, and Michael Martin, ECFA Vice President and legal counsel.
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Independence Institute
Professor Robert G. Natelson is a constitutional scholar and author.
Rob’s constitutional scholarship has been cited repeatedly by justices and parties at the U.S. Supreme Court—as well as by federal appeals courts, and at least 18 state supreme courts.
Rob’s research into the Constitution’s original meaning has carried him to libraries throughout the United States and in Britain, including four months at Oxford University. His books and articles span many different parts of the Constitution, including groundbreaking studies of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Indian Commerce Clause, federalism, Founding-Era interpretation, regulation of elections, and the amendment process of Article V. He created the first-ever online bibliography for 18th century materials used in constitutional research. He is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (on Magna Carta). He contributed eight essays to the third edition of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution: five on the amendment procedure and one each on the Guarantee Clause, the Postal Clause, and the Recess Appointments Clause.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied explicitly on Rob’s research in 41 citations in 13 separate cases.
Founder, Americans in Support of Law Enforcement
Scott G. Erickson is a conservative writer, policy analyst, and law enforcement professional with over 18 years of experience in police work. He holds a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Studies from the University of Cincinnati.
In 2015, Scott founded Americans in Support of Law Enforcement, a pro-law enforcement nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the issues most relevant to the broader law enforcement community. He currently serves as the organization's President and Executive Director.
In addition to his law enforcement duties, Scott has collaborated extensively with the nation’s foremost conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Frequently contributing to Heritage’s blog, The Daily Signal, Scott has focused on myriad issues of national security including foreign terrorist organizations, law enforcement, and missile defense.
He has co-authored several reports at Heritage: A Comprehensive Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) System Requires Action; Changing Today’s Law Enforcement Culture to Face 21st-Century Threats; and Lessons from Benghazi: Investigation Leaves Important Questions Unanswered.
Additionally, Scott’s writing has been featured in The Washington Times, FoxNews.com, The Orange County Register, and other publications. He has also been quoted in major media outlets, including theNew York Times, on national security and law enforcement issues.
A frequent guest on various television and radio programs, Scott has appeared on Fox News, One America News Network, the Dana Loesch Show, and others.
In 2013, Scott was named as one of the Republican National Committee'sRising Stars and his profile was recently featured in USA Today.
Scott continues to work toward advancing conservative solutions to the issues facing our nation while maintaining fidelity to America’s founding documents.
The First Amendment and Campus Speech
Harmeet K. Dhillon, Sandra Segal Ikuta, Michael W. McConnell, Joshua C. McDaniel, Elizabeth B. Wydra, Marieke Beck-Coon
2018 Annual Western Chapters Conference
Free speech on college campuses has been under attack in recent years, increasingly from students...
The First Amendment and Commercial/Economic Speech
Bradley A. Benbrook, Lisa Ezell, Erik S. Jaffe, Christina Sandefur
2018 Annual Western Chapters Conference
Although the First Amendment makes no distinction between types of speech, courts have consistently offered...
The First Amendment and Commercial/Economic Speech
Bradley A. Benbrook, Lisa Ezell, Erik S. Jaffe, Christina Sandefur
2018 Annual Western Chapters Conference
Although the First Amendment makes no distinction between types of speech, courts have consistently offered...
Topics
Docket Watch: Coloradans for a Better Future v. Campaign Integrity Watchdog
In 2012, Colorado’s Republican voters faced a choice in the campaign for Colorado University’s Board...
Young Legal Scholars Paper Presentations
Jud Campbell, Richard A. Epstein, Jonathan Mitchell, Lochlan Shelfer, Megan Stevenson, Joshua C. Teitelbaum, Lael Weinberger
20th Annual Federalist Society Faculty Conference
The winners of our Young Legal Scholars Paper Competition will present their papers, and various...
Young Legal Scholars Paper Presentations
Jud Campbell, Richard A. Epstein, Jonathan Mitchell, Lochlan Shelfer, Megan Stevenson, Joshua C. Teitelbaum, Lael Weinberger
20th Annual Federalist Society Faculty Conference
The winners of our Young Legal Scholars Paper Competition will present their papers, and various...
Social Media Content Control
Thomas Carlton Arthur, Eric Goldman
Telecommunications & Electronic Media and Free Speech Practice Groups Teleforum
In two recently filed lawsuits conservative organizations have complained that Google has restricted their access...
Is the "Parsonage Allowance" Allowed?
Thomas C. Berg, Michael Martin, John Van Drunen
Religious Liberties Practice Group Teleforum
Last month, in a challenge brought by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin federal...
Why Nineteenth Century Bans on “Sectarian” Aid Are Facially Unconstitutional: New Evidence on Plain Meaning
Robert G. Natelson
Federalist Society Review, Volume 19
Note from the Editor: This article presents original research on the nineteenth century meaning of...
Do Citizens Have a Right to Film Police Officers? [POLICYbrief]
Scott Erickson
Short video featuring Scott Erickson
Can you be arrested for taking videos of the police? Scott Erickson, president and executive...