Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy, Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Michael P. Moreland was appointed University Professor of Law and Religion and Director of the Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy at Villanova University in 2017. Professor Moreland joined the Villanova faculty in 2006 and served as Vice Dean from 2012 to 2015. His research is primarily in the areas of torts, law and religion, constitutional law, and Catholic social thought, and he regularly teaches Torts, First Amendment, seminars in law and religion, and undergraduate courses in ethics.
Professor Moreland is the co-editor of Christianity and Private Law (Routledge, 2021), and his most recent publications include: “The Authority of Tradition: John Henry Newman and Legal Theory” in Christianity and the Making of Irish Law (Routledge, 2025); “Christianity and Torts” in The Oxford Handbook on Christianity and Law, (Oxford University Press, 2023); “Germaneness and Religious Liberty” in the Notre Dame Law Review (2023); “Contingency and Contestation in Christianity and Liberalism” in the Notre Dame Law Review (2023); “Friendship as the Primary Purpose of Law” in The American Journal of Jurisprudence 279 (2022); and “The Moral of Torts” (with Jeffrey Pojanowski) in Christianity and Private Law (Routledge, 2021).
Professor Moreland was a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame and the Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture from 2015 to 2017. He was the Forbes Visiting Fellow at Princeton University in the James Madison Program during academic year 2010-11. He has served as the project leader for grants from the John Templeton Foundation and the Charles Koch Foundation. He serves as the Chair of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group Executive Committee and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California.
Professor Moreland received his BA in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame, his MA and PhD in theological ethics from Boston College, and his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, Professor Moreland clerked for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where he represented clients in First Amendment, professional liability, and products liability matters. Before coming to Villanova, he served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy at the White House under President George W. Bush, where he worked on a range of legal policy issues, including criminal justice, immigration, civil rights, and liability reform.
Legal Associate, Cato Institute
Meggan DeWitt is a legal associate in the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. During law school, she clerked for the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Virginia, and for the Department of Forensic Sciences in Washington, D.C. and was a member of the Supreme Court Clinic, where she worked on research and drafting for Supreme Court amicus and merits briefs. Meggan holds a J.D. from George Mason University School of Law, where she served as a Research Editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal and acted as Chief Justice for the law school’s moot court program. She holds a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Director, The Conscience Project
Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is Director of the Conscience Project.
Andrea got her start as a trial and appellate attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to leading the Conscience Project, she served as the legal advisor for the Catholic Association, filing amicus briefs with federal courts of appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court in key religious freedom and free speech cases.
Andrea appears frequently in the media to discuss religious freedom controversies and legal victories, and in 2021 she received First Place for Best Coverage — Religious Liberty Issues from the Catholic Media Association. Andrea is a legal analyst for EWTN News and a regular columnist for the National Catholic Register. Her writing has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Fox News, Newsweek, CNN en Español and other well-regarded publications. She has also joined Fox News, Newsmax and a variety of other shows to share expert commentary.
Andrea lived in Colombia for more than a decade. She has ten children and lives in the Washington, DC area.
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Amanda Salz is counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Executive Committee.
Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Vice President of Speakers, Texas Student Chapter
Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Amanda Salz is counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Executive Committee.
Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Vice President of Speakers, Texas Student Chapter
Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus, UCLA School of Law
Eugene Volokh is the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford), as well as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA School of Law. He recently retired from teaching at UCLA, after 30 years there, and is now focusing on research.
Volokh is the author of the textbooks The First Amendment and Related Statutes (8th ed. 2023), and Academic Legal Writing (5th ed. 2016), as well as over 100 academic law journal articles, mostly on First Amendment law. He is a member of The American Law Institute; the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Free Speech Law; and the creator and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog founded in 2002 (hosted at the Washington Post from 2014 to 2017 and now at Reason Magazine).
CEO, Champion Women
Hogshead-Makar is a life-long advocate for access and equality in all areas of athletics and throughout society. She is one of the nation’s foremost experts on gender equity in sports participation, sexual harassment and abuse, pregnancy discrimination, legal enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and contemporary legal issues within the Olympic Movement. She has successfully represented athletes in precedent-setting litigation, written amicus briefs in the highest courts, integrated research into frequent Congressional testimony, pushed for new state legislation, published numerous legal and professional articles, made hundreds of presentations and keynote speeches, overseen the creation of new policies and position statements and appeared frequently as a guest on national news programs. She practiced law at Holland & Knight LLP, taught torts and sports law courses as a tenured professor of law and has enjoyed a 30 year relationship with the Women’s Sports Foundation, most recently as the organization’s Senior Director of Advocacy. “Looking around the country at the leaders in women’s sports, particularly athletes, many have a relationship with the Women’s Sports Foundation. Some of my dearest friends are from working with the WSF, and I’m grateful to have received 30 years of numerous powerful opportunities to serve,” stated Hogshead-Makar.
She is a graduate of Duke University and Georgetown University Law Center. At the 1984 Olympics she capped eight years as a world-class athlete, where she was the most decorated swimmer at the 1984 Olympics; three gold medals and one silver medal.
Sheila M. McDevitt Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Election Law Center, Florida State University College of Law
Professor Morley joined FSU Law in 2018, and teaches and writes in the areas of election law, constitutional law, remedies, and the federal courts. He is best known for his work on election emergencies and post-election litigation, nationwide and other defendant-oriented injunctions, the jurisdiction of the federal courts and their equitable powers more generally. He has testified before congressional committees, made presentations to election officials for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and participated in bipartisan blue-ribbon groups to develop election reforms. The governor of Florida also appointed Professor Morley to the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force, to propose potential revisions to the legislature.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cited several of his articles, and he was counsel of record for the successful Petitioner in a landmark campaign finance case. Professor Morley has appeared on C-SPAN, Court TV, Fox News and numerous local news programs, and has been quoted in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, Politico, U.S. News and World Report, and a wide range of other national publications. His work has been published in many of the nation’s top law reviews, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Boston University Law Review and Emory Law Journal.
Before joining FSU Law, Professor Morley was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. Prior to his experience in academia, he served in government as special assistant to the General Counsel of the Army at the Pentagon, as well as a law clerk for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During his tenure with the Army General Counsel’s office, he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Army Staff Lapel Pin. He also worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP and the Supreme Court & Appellate group of Winston & Strawn, LLP, both in Washington, D.C.
Professor Morley earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2003, where he was a senior editor on the Yale Law Journal; served on the moot court board; and received the Thurman Arnold Prize for Best Oralist in the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals.
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
Justice Carlos G. Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 22, 2019, becoming the 89th Justice since statehood was granted in 1845. Previously, he served as general counsel for the United States Department of Education, where he led the Office of the General Counsel and provided legal and policy advice to the United States Secretary of Education and to other senior department officials.
Justice Muñiz has wide-ranging legal and policy experience from his years as an attorney and consultant in private practice. He served for three years as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. In that capacity he was responsible for managing a 400-lawyer staff and overseeing duties that included enforcement and litigation, legislative affairs, and communications.
During this time, Justice Muñiz worked with state attorneys general throughout the country and developed substantial experience in multistate enforcement actions, consumer protection issues, government investigations, and disputes between the states and the federal government.
In addition to his service in the Attorney General’s Office, Justice Muñiz held positions of responsibility throughout Florida state government. He served as deputy general counsel in the Office of Governor Jeb Bush, as a deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and as general counsel of the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Justice Muñiz is a graduate of the University of Virginia and of Yale Law School. Upon receipt of his law degree, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Jesse, the former third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, helps clients with their most difficult litigation and regulatory issues─whether that means defending against an enforcement action, pursuing high-stakes litigation and appeals, navigating regulatory thickets at federal and state agencies, or crafting a comprehensive strategy to manage a crisis. He approaches these problems with the knowledge gained both from his broad private-practice experience and from having served at the highest levels of federal and state government.
Jesse has experience across a range of substantive and regulatory areas. He has sued the federal government and has also been one of its top law-enforcement officials; he has represented states and has also navigated their regulatory agencies on behalf of clients; and he has represented companies in business disputes, both as defendants and plaintiffs.
Before joining the firm, Jesse was the Acting Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice. In that role, he oversaw the civil and criminal work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. During Jesse’s tenure, the Associate’s office closely managed the Department’s most significant litigation, including matters involving large financial institutions, healthcare companies, automakers, energy companies, and state and local governments. In addition, Jesse served as Chair of DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and Vice Chair of DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. Jesse regularly provided legal and strategic advice to the highest-level decision makers in the federal government, including the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, general counsels across the spectrum of federal agencies, and White House officials.
Jesse served for three years as the secretary of Florida’s labor, economic-development, and land-use agency, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Before that, he served as Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott’s general counsel.
Jesse maintains offices in both Washington D.C. and Florida. From Washington, he focuses on federal litigation and crisis management. In Florida, in addition to federal litigation, Jesse employs his knowledge of state government and regulation to help clients in courts across the state, from trial through the Florida Supreme Court.
Jesse currently serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, the body that provides the governor with nominees for appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Jesse is also a fellow at the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he writes and speaks about administrative law.
Agriculture Commissioner of Florida
Adam Putnam was elected to serve a second term as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture on November 4, 2014, and was sworn into office on January 6, 2015. In this capacity, he oversees the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and serves as a member of Florida’s Cabinet.
Commissioner Putnam’s priorities include fostering the growth and diversification of Florida agriculture; expanding access to Florida’s abundance of fresh produce, seafood and other products; securing a stable, reliable and diverse supply of energy; protecting the quantity and quality of the state’s water supply; and safeguarding consumers from deceptive business practices.
Commissioner Putnam is also focused on creating opportunities for our nation’s wounded veterans to hunt, fish and participate in other outdoor activities on Florida’s public lands. More than 3,000 veterans have enjoyed recreational opportunities on Florida state forests through Operation Outdoor Freedom, a program of the Florida Forest Service he established in 2011.
Previously, Commissioner Putnam served five terms as Congressman for Florida’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was recognized as a leader on a variety of issues, including water, energy and government transparency and efficiency. Commissioner Putnam was acknowledged for his efforts to bring comprehensive restoration to the Everglades, reform food safety laws, modernize programs to ensure Florida agriculture remains a leader throughout the nation, and increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to counter childhood obesity.
While in Congress, Commissioner Putnam was elected by his peers to serve as the Republican Policy Chairman during the 109th Congress and Chairman of the House Republican Conference for the 110th Congress, the highest elected leadership position any Floridian of either party has held in Washington. Commissioner Putnam also served as a member of the House Committees on Government Reform, Agriculture, Rules and Financial Services.
Before he was elected to Congress, Commissioner Putnam served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1996 to 2000. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in food and resource economics.
Commissioner Putnam is a fifth-generation Floridian who grew up in the citrus and cattle industry. He and his wife, Melissa, have four children.
Partner, Akerman LLP
Ayman Rizkalla focuses his practice on white collar defense and government investigations related to healthcare fraud and financial crimes. Clients turn to him for strategic counsel on regulatory and compliance matters involving anti-corruption, False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), export control, and privacy. His clients include hospitals and corporate entities under investigation for Medicare fraud stemming from qui tam cases, and complex commercial disputes involving securities fraud and government investigations.
Prior to joining Akerman, Ayman worked for the Department of Homeland Security as well as an international law firm, where he focused on international financial investigations throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. He also brings substantial in-house experience, having previously worked for the University of Miami, where he advised on domestic and international asset sales and acquisitions, healthcare investigations, and regulatory compliance. He is fluent in Arabic and French.
CEO, Champion Women
Hogshead-Makar is a life-long advocate for access and equality in all areas of athletics and throughout society. She is one of the nation’s foremost experts on gender equity in sports participation, sexual harassment and abuse, pregnancy discrimination, legal enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and contemporary legal issues within the Olympic Movement. She has successfully represented athletes in precedent-setting litigation, written amicus briefs in the highest courts, integrated research into frequent Congressional testimony, pushed for new state legislation, published numerous legal and professional articles, made hundreds of presentations and keynote speeches, overseen the creation of new policies and position statements and appeared frequently as a guest on national news programs. She practiced law at Holland & Knight LLP, taught torts and sports law courses as a tenured professor of law and has enjoyed a 30 year relationship with the Women’s Sports Foundation, most recently as the organization’s Senior Director of Advocacy. “Looking around the country at the leaders in women’s sports, particularly athletes, many have a relationship with the Women’s Sports Foundation. Some of my dearest friends are from working with the WSF, and I’m grateful to have received 30 years of numerous powerful opportunities to serve,” stated Hogshead-Makar.
She is a graduate of Duke University and Georgetown University Law Center. At the 1984 Olympics she capped eight years as a world-class athlete, where she was the most decorated swimmer at the 1984 Olympics; three gold medals and one silver medal.
Sheila M. McDevitt Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Election Law Center, Florida State University College of Law
Professor Morley joined FSU Law in 2018, and teaches and writes in the areas of election law, constitutional law, remedies, and the federal courts. He is best known for his work on election emergencies and post-election litigation, nationwide and other defendant-oriented injunctions, the jurisdiction of the federal courts and their equitable powers more generally. He has testified before congressional committees, made presentations to election officials for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and participated in bipartisan blue-ribbon groups to develop election reforms. The governor of Florida also appointed Professor Morley to the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force, to propose potential revisions to the legislature.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cited several of his articles, and he was counsel of record for the successful Petitioner in a landmark campaign finance case. Professor Morley has appeared on C-SPAN, Court TV, Fox News and numerous local news programs, and has been quoted in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, Politico, U.S. News and World Report, and a wide range of other national publications. His work has been published in many of the nation’s top law reviews, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Boston University Law Review and Emory Law Journal.
Before joining FSU Law, Professor Morley was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. Prior to his experience in academia, he served in government as special assistant to the General Counsel of the Army at the Pentagon, as well as a law clerk for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During his tenure with the Army General Counsel’s office, he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Army Staff Lapel Pin. He also worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP and the Supreme Court & Appellate group of Winston & Strawn, LLP, both in Washington, D.C.
Professor Morley earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2003, where he was a senior editor on the Yale Law Journal; served on the moot court board; and received the Thurman Arnold Prize for Best Oralist in the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals.
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
Justice Carlos G. Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 22, 2019, becoming the 89th Justice since statehood was granted in 1845. Previously, he served as general counsel for the United States Department of Education, where he led the Office of the General Counsel and provided legal and policy advice to the United States Secretary of Education and to other senior department officials.
Justice Muñiz has wide-ranging legal and policy experience from his years as an attorney and consultant in private practice. He served for three years as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. In that capacity he was responsible for managing a 400-lawyer staff and overseeing duties that included enforcement and litigation, legislative affairs, and communications.
During this time, Justice Muñiz worked with state attorneys general throughout the country and developed substantial experience in multistate enforcement actions, consumer protection issues, government investigations, and disputes between the states and the federal government.
In addition to his service in the Attorney General’s Office, Justice Muñiz held positions of responsibility throughout Florida state government. He served as deputy general counsel in the Office of Governor Jeb Bush, as a deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and as general counsel of the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Justice Muñiz is a graduate of the University of Virginia and of Yale Law School. Upon receipt of his law degree, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Jesse, the former third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, helps clients with their most difficult litigation and regulatory issues─whether that means defending against an enforcement action, pursuing high-stakes litigation and appeals, navigating regulatory thickets at federal and state agencies, or crafting a comprehensive strategy to manage a crisis. He approaches these problems with the knowledge gained both from his broad private-practice experience and from having served at the highest levels of federal and state government.
Jesse has experience across a range of substantive and regulatory areas. He has sued the federal government and has also been one of its top law-enforcement officials; he has represented states and has also navigated their regulatory agencies on behalf of clients; and he has represented companies in business disputes, both as defendants and plaintiffs.
Before joining the firm, Jesse was the Acting Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice. In that role, he oversaw the civil and criminal work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. During Jesse’s tenure, the Associate’s office closely managed the Department’s most significant litigation, including matters involving large financial institutions, healthcare companies, automakers, energy companies, and state and local governments. In addition, Jesse served as Chair of DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and Vice Chair of DOJ’s Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. Jesse regularly provided legal and strategic advice to the highest-level decision makers in the federal government, including the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, general counsels across the spectrum of federal agencies, and White House officials.
Jesse served for three years as the secretary of Florida’s labor, economic-development, and land-use agency, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Before that, he served as Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott’s general counsel.
Jesse maintains offices in both Washington D.C. and Florida. From Washington, he focuses on federal litigation and crisis management. In Florida, in addition to federal litigation, Jesse employs his knowledge of state government and regulation to help clients in courts across the state, from trial through the Florida Supreme Court.
Jesse currently serves on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, the body that provides the governor with nominees for appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Jesse is also a fellow at the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he writes and speaks about administrative law.
Agriculture Commissioner of Florida
Adam Putnam was elected to serve a second term as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture on November 4, 2014, and was sworn into office on January 6, 2015. In this capacity, he oversees the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and serves as a member of Florida’s Cabinet.
Commissioner Putnam’s priorities include fostering the growth and diversification of Florida agriculture; expanding access to Florida’s abundance of fresh produce, seafood and other products; securing a stable, reliable and diverse supply of energy; protecting the quantity and quality of the state’s water supply; and safeguarding consumers from deceptive business practices.
Commissioner Putnam is also focused on creating opportunities for our nation’s wounded veterans to hunt, fish and participate in other outdoor activities on Florida’s public lands. More than 3,000 veterans have enjoyed recreational opportunities on Florida state forests through Operation Outdoor Freedom, a program of the Florida Forest Service he established in 2011.
Previously, Commissioner Putnam served five terms as Congressman for Florida’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was recognized as a leader on a variety of issues, including water, energy and government transparency and efficiency. Commissioner Putnam was acknowledged for his efforts to bring comprehensive restoration to the Everglades, reform food safety laws, modernize programs to ensure Florida agriculture remains a leader throughout the nation, and increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to counter childhood obesity.
While in Congress, Commissioner Putnam was elected by his peers to serve as the Republican Policy Chairman during the 109th Congress and Chairman of the House Republican Conference for the 110th Congress, the highest elected leadership position any Floridian of either party has held in Washington. Commissioner Putnam also served as a member of the House Committees on Government Reform, Agriculture, Rules and Financial Services.
Before he was elected to Congress, Commissioner Putnam served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1996 to 2000. He graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in food and resource economics.
Commissioner Putnam is a fifth-generation Floridian who grew up in the citrus and cattle industry. He and his wife, Melissa, have four children.
Partner, Akerman LLP
Ayman Rizkalla focuses his practice on white collar defense and government investigations related to healthcare fraud and financial crimes. Clients turn to him for strategic counsel on regulatory and compliance matters involving anti-corruption, False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), export control, and privacy. His clients include hospitals and corporate entities under investigation for Medicare fraud stemming from qui tam cases, and complex commercial disputes involving securities fraud and government investigations.
Prior to joining Akerman, Ayman worked for the Department of Homeland Security as well as an international law firm, where he focused on international financial investigations throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. He also brings substantial in-house experience, having previously worked for the University of Miami, where he advised on domestic and international asset sales and acquisitions, healthcare investigations, and regulatory compliance. He is fluent in Arabic and French.
Vice President and Legal Director, National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc.
William Messenger is Foundation Vice President and Legal Director. He was a staff attorney for over twenty years and, during that time, represented individuals in numerous cases that sought to expand worker freedom of choice. This includes acting as lead counsel in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. In 2018, Messenger argued Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, where the Supreme Court held it violates the First Amendment for governments and unions to compel individuals to financially support unions and their speech. Originally from Youngstown Ohio, Messenger attended Ohio University as an undergraduate and then the George Washington University School of Law.
Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute.
Shapiro is the author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites (2025) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, writes the Shapiro’s Gavel newsletter on Substack, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.
Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court. He lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, is a member of the board of fellows of the Jewish Policy Center, was an inaugural Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute, and has been an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University and University of Mississippi. He is also the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a barrister in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Earlier in his career, Shapiro was a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
The Importance of Free Speech on Campus
Josh Blackman
CUNY Student Chapter
On Thursday, March 29, Professor Josh Blackman was invited to speak at CUNY Law about...
Courthouse Steps: National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra
Michael P. Moreland
Religious Liberties and Free Speech & Election Law Practice Groups Teleforum
On March 20, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in National Institute of Family and...
NIFLA v. Becerra: Can a State Regulate Professional Speech? [SCOTUSbrief]
Meggan DeWitt, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer
Short video featuring Andrea Picciotti-Bayer and Megan Dewitt
Can a government compel commercial or professional speech when the speaker disagrees with the message?...
The Free Speech Vernacular
Tara A. Smith, Amanda Salz, Ashley H. Terrazas
Conceptual Confusions in the Way We Speak about Speech
Is there something wrong with the way we speak about speech? Tara Smith, Professor of...
The Free Speech Vernacular
Tara A. Smith, Amanda Salz, Ashley H. Terrazas
Conceptual Confusions in the Way We Speak about Speech
Is there something wrong with the way we speak about speech? Tara Smith, Professor of...
The Future of Libel Law
Eugene Volokh
Short video featuring Eugene Volokh
Since 1990, the Supreme Court has not dealt with any libel cases. Has anything happened...
Topics
Live Stream: The Free Speech Vernacular
Tara Smith, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, will discuss several...
The First Amendment/Title IX and Due Process at the Universities
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Michael T. Morley, Carlos G. Muñiz, Jesse Panuccio, Adam Putnam, Ayman Rizkalla
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference Opening Remarks Hon. Adam Putnam - Agriculture Commissioner, Florida Session...
The First Amendment/Title IX and Due Process at the Universities
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Michael T. Morley, Carlos G. Muñiz, Jesse Panuccio, Adam Putnam, Ayman Rizkalla
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference
2018 Annual Florida Chapters Conference Opening Remarks Hon. Adam Putnam - Agriculture Commissioner, Florida Session...
Preview: Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
William L. Messenger, Ilya Shapiro
Labor & Employment Law Practice Group Teleforum
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is scheduled for oral argument...