Senior Counsel, Director of Center for Academic Freedom, Alliance Defending Freedom
Tyson Langhofer serves as senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom.
Langhofer represents students and faculty at public high schools and colleges in defending their First Amendment rights. For example, in Denton v. Hecht, he successfully defended a Florida State University student after he was removed as Student Senate President simply for sharing his Catholic views in a private group chat. In Cross v. Loudoun County Public Schools, he successfully defended an elementary school gym teacher after the school suspended him for peacefully sharing his views on a proposed policy at a public school board meeting.
Langhofer has extensive experience in civil litigation and constitutional law. Before joining ADF, Langhofer was a partner with Stinson LLP, where he worked as a commercial litigation attorney from 2000 until he joined ADF in 2015.
Langhofer is Peer Review Rated AV® Preeminent in Martindale-Hubbell. He is a sought-after speaker on legal and cultural issues. He regularly comments on free speech issues in television, radio, and print media. He has appeared as a guest and written pieces for numerous major media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, Townhall, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire.
Langhofer earned his Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law in 1999, graduating cum laude. Langhofer is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and numerous federal district and appellate courts.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Senior Counsel, Director of Center for Academic Freedom, Alliance Defending Freedom
Tyson Langhofer serves as senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom.
Langhofer represents students and faculty at public high schools and colleges in defending their First Amendment rights. For example, in Denton v. Hecht, he successfully defended a Florida State University student after he was removed as Student Senate President simply for sharing his Catholic views in a private group chat. In Cross v. Loudoun County Public Schools, he successfully defended an elementary school gym teacher after the school suspended him for peacefully sharing his views on a proposed policy at a public school board meeting.
Langhofer has extensive experience in civil litigation and constitutional law. Before joining ADF, Langhofer was a partner with Stinson LLP, where he worked as a commercial litigation attorney from 2000 until he joined ADF in 2015.
Langhofer is Peer Review Rated AV® Preeminent in Martindale-Hubbell. He is a sought-after speaker on legal and cultural issues. He regularly comments on free speech issues in television, radio, and print media. He has appeared as a guest and written pieces for numerous major media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, Townhall, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire.
Langhofer earned his Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law in 1999, graduating cum laude. Langhofer is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and numerous federal district and appellate courts.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Partner, Graves Garrett Greim LLC
Edward “Eddie” Greim focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, free speech and election law, and internal investigations and whistleblower claims. He has been recognized for his successful representation of businesses and individuals in commercial litigation while also being named a “go-to” lawyer on policy and constitutional issues.
Eddie was named a Constitutional and Election Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2020. His free speech and election law practice has included numerous constitutional challenges to election and campaign finance laws; representation of clients in state and federal ethics and campaign finance enforcement actions and investigations; initiative petition drafting and litigation; litigation and advice regarding First Amendment protections for petition circulation; representation of not-for-profit clients before state regulators; litigation of state and federal redistricting issues; and advice on campaign and election law compliance.
Eddie complements his trial work in complex, high-profile commercial and constitutional cases with oral advocacy and briefing in important appeals. Recognized as a Missouri Lawyers Media POWER 30 Appellate Attorney in 2021, he has argued before the Missouri and Kansas supreme courts multiple times, other state appellate courts across the country, and before the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth U.S. Courts of Appeals.
Eddie’s notable work for clients includes:
Recovering substantial compensation and injunctive relief for plaintiffs, in complex multiyear litigation, as lead counsel in the first and only nationwide class action certified against the Internal Revenue Service for violating taxpayer protection statutes when it targeted hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoints.
Successful First Amendment challenge to Missouri’s 2016 campaign finance restrictions.
Successful challenge to a vast, multiyear, secret criminal investigation into Wisconsin political groups and nonprofits, and follow-up challenge to expose role of state ethics board which secretly aided the investigation and was later dissolved by the legislature.
U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief for the National Republican Redistricting Trust in the 2019 Rucho litigation, and federal and state redistricting litigation and advice since 2011.
Challenges under the First Amendment in federal court, and in briefing to the Michigan Supreme Court on state constitutional grounds, to unprecedented emergency powers claimed by Michigan Governor in 2020.
Representation of numerous public officials and private citizens who are subject to “lawfare” attacks based on their political viewpoints or policy objectives.
Oversight of multiple internal investigations.
Eddie received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2002, where he taught on the Board of Student Advisers, received the Dean’s Award for Leadership, and served as President of the Harvard Catholic Law Students Association. He received two bachelor’s degrees, summa cum laude, in economics and political science from the University of Missouri.
A native of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, Eddie lives in Kansas City with his family. He enjoys Missouri and military history. On many weekends, he can be found with his wife and daughters exploring sites of local interest. He enjoys reading and debating and has given presentations or organized discussions at numerous gatherings, formal and informal, of professional and personal interest.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Free Speech
Brett Nolan is a Senior Attorney at the Institute for Free Speech, a public interest law firm that defends the First Amendment rights of those engaged in political speech and advocacy around the country.
Before joining the Institute, Brett served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky, where he represented the Commonwealth in a wide variety of high-stakes litigation at every level of state and federal court. In that role, Brett led a successful challenge against the Department of Treasury over the constitutionality of a federal law limiting the ability of states to modify their tax codes, and he helped secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory that upheld a state’s constitutional right to defend its interests in federal court.
Prior to that, Brett served as the Deputy General Counsel to the former Governor of Kentucky, where he advised the governor and other executive branch officials on legal and policy issues and represented them in litigation. Brett clerked for Judge John Nalbandian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Between clerkships, he worked in private practice. Brett received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review.
Partner, Graves Garrett Greim LLC
Edward “Eddie” Greim focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, free speech and election law, and internal investigations and whistleblower claims. He has been recognized for his successful representation of businesses and individuals in commercial litigation while also being named a “go-to” lawyer on policy and constitutional issues.
Eddie was named a Constitutional and Election Law Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2020. His free speech and election law practice has included numerous constitutional challenges to election and campaign finance laws; representation of clients in state and federal ethics and campaign finance enforcement actions and investigations; initiative petition drafting and litigation; litigation and advice regarding First Amendment protections for petition circulation; representation of not-for-profit clients before state regulators; litigation of state and federal redistricting issues; and advice on campaign and election law compliance.
Eddie complements his trial work in complex, high-profile commercial and constitutional cases with oral advocacy and briefing in important appeals. Recognized as a Missouri Lawyers Media POWER 30 Appellate Attorney in 2021, he has argued before the Missouri and Kansas supreme courts multiple times, other state appellate courts across the country, and before the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth U.S. Courts of Appeals.
Eddie’s notable work for clients includes:
Recovering substantial compensation and injunctive relief for plaintiffs, in complex multiyear litigation, as lead counsel in the first and only nationwide class action certified against the Internal Revenue Service for violating taxpayer protection statutes when it targeted hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoints.
Successful First Amendment challenge to Missouri’s 2016 campaign finance restrictions.
Successful challenge to a vast, multiyear, secret criminal investigation into Wisconsin political groups and nonprofits, and follow-up challenge to expose role of state ethics board which secretly aided the investigation and was later dissolved by the legislature.
U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief for the National Republican Redistricting Trust in the 2019 Rucho litigation, and federal and state redistricting litigation and advice since 2011.
Challenges under the First Amendment in federal court, and in briefing to the Michigan Supreme Court on state constitutional grounds, to unprecedented emergency powers claimed by Michigan Governor in 2020.
Representation of numerous public officials and private citizens who are subject to “lawfare” attacks based on their political viewpoints or policy objectives.
Oversight of multiple internal investigations.
Eddie received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2002, where he taught on the Board of Student Advisers, received the Dean’s Award for Leadership, and served as President of the Harvard Catholic Law Students Association. He received two bachelor’s degrees, summa cum laude, in economics and political science from the University of Missouri.
A native of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, Eddie lives in Kansas City with his family. He enjoys Missouri and military history. On many weekends, he can be found with his wife and daughters exploring sites of local interest. He enjoys reading and debating and has given presentations or organized discussions at numerous gatherings, formal and informal, of professional and personal interest.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Free Speech
Brett Nolan is a Senior Attorney at the Institute for Free Speech, a public interest law firm that defends the First Amendment rights of those engaged in political speech and advocacy around the country.
Before joining the Institute, Brett served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky, where he represented the Commonwealth in a wide variety of high-stakes litigation at every level of state and federal court. In that role, Brett led a successful challenge against the Department of Treasury over the constitutionality of a federal law limiting the ability of states to modify their tax codes, and he helped secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory that upheld a state’s constitutional right to defend its interests in federal court.
Prior to that, Brett served as the Deputy General Counsel to the former Governor of Kentucky, where he advised the governor and other executive branch officials on legal and policy issues and represented them in litigation. Brett clerked for Judge John Nalbandian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Between clerkships, he worked in private practice. Brett received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review.
Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy, Georgetown Law
David Cole is the Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy and former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He writes about and teaches constitutional law, freedom of speech, and constitutional criminal procedure. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and is the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation.
David has published widely in law journals and the popular press, including The Yale Law Journal, California Law Review, Stanford Law Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New Republic. He is the author or editor of ten books, several of which have won awards. Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror, published in 2007, and co-authored with Jules Lobel, won the Palmer Civil Liberties Prize for best book on national security and civil liberties. Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism received the American Book Award in 2004. No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System was named Best Non-Fiction Book of 1999 by the Boston Book Review and best book on an issue of national policy in1999 by the American Political Science Association.
David received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from Yale University. He worked as a staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights from 1985 to 1990. He has continued to litigate as a professor and, from 2017 to 2024, as National Legal Director of the ACLU. He has litigated many significant constitutional cases at the Supreme Court, including Texas v. Johnson (1989), which extended First Amendment protection to flag burning; Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are prohibited forms of sex discrimination under Title VII; Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L. (2021), which protected student online speech from school discipline; and National Rifle Association v. Vullo (2024), which held that government officials violate the First Amendment when they use their regulatory authority to coerce private parties to blacklist a disfavored political group.
David has received two honorary degrees and numerous awards for his work, including the inaugural Norman Dorsen Presidential Prize from the ACLU for lifetime commitment to civil liberties. The late New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis called David “one of the country’s great legal voices for civil liberties today.” Nat Hentoff called him “a one-man Committee of Correspondence in the tradition of patriot Sam Adams.”
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Judge Hardiman was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on January 9, 2007 and was confirmed by the Senate (95-0) on March 15, 2007. Prior to becoming an appellate judge, Judge Hardiman served as a trial judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania as of November 1, 2003. In 2008, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Information Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Judge Hardiman was appointed Chairman of the IT Committee in 2013 and served in that capacity until September 2021. In 2021 he was appointed by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to serve as Chair of the Judiciary IT Security Task Force, which completed its work in fall 2023. Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Hardiman to the Board of the Federal Judicial Center to serve from March 2020 until March 2024. As part of his work with the Center, Judge Hardiman now serves as Editor in Chief for the Manual for Complex Civil Litigation, Fifth.
Before entering judicial service, Judge Hardiman handled a wide variety of litigation matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts as a partner at Reed Smith LLP (1999-2003), a partner at Titus & McConomy LLP (1996-1999), and as an associate with its predecessor firm, Cindrich & Titus (1992-1996). Judge Hardiman began his legal career as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (1990-1992).
A 1987 honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Judge Hardiman received his law degree in 1990 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor on the Georgetown Law Journal. In 2012, Judge Hardiman was elected as a member of the American Law Institute and was elected to its Council in 2019 and its Executive Committee in 2025. Judge Hardiman regularly teaches a seminar on Advanced Constitutional Law at Duquesne University School of Law and a one-week course entitled “Constitutional Law: the First and Second Amendments” at Georgetown University Law Center.
A native of Waltham, Massachusetts, Judge Hardiman has chambers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Lori married in 1992 and have three children.
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.
Supervising Senior Attorney, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)
Conor Fitzpatrick comes to FIRE by way of Detroit, Michigan, where he was a principal at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone. Conor has extensive litigation experience at the state and federal level. He has first-chaired multiple jury trials and briefed and argued several eight-figure cases on appeal.
Conor also comes to FIRE with a track record of supporting civil liberties and the First Amendment. Before joining FIRE, he taught First Amendment law as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He has extensive experience litigating First Amendment cases pro bono on behalf of the incarcerated: His First Amendment work for inmates includes trying a First Amendment free exercise case to a federal jury, which resulted in a six-figure, mid-trial settlement following his cross examination of the key defendant. In another case, Conor secured a published decision from the Sixth Circuit denying qualified immunity to five prison employees, cementing his client’s First Amendment right to peacefully criticize government employees. Conor’s work on these and other cases earned him the 2018 Richard J. Seryak Award for Pro Bono Service.
When not thinking about the First Amendment, Conor enjoys reading, running, and eating sushi. He also avidly supports Detroit’s sports teams, but he rarely enjoys it.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
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.
Topics
States Work to Prevent Noncitizens from Voting
In recent weeks, much attention has been given to the passage in the U.S. House...
Topics
Crowe v. Oregon State Bar: New Cert Petition Urges SCOTUS to Reconsider Keller’s Approval of Mandatory Bar Membership
Imagine being forced to join a political group whose public statements offend your beliefs, simply...
Litigation Update: Associated Press v. Budowich
Tyson Langhofer, Casey Mattox
In January, President Trump renamed the "Gulf of Mexico" the "Gulf of America." The Associated...
Litigation Update: Associated Press v. Budowich
Tyson Langhofer, Casey Mattox
In January, President Trump renamed the "Gulf of Mexico" the "Gulf of America." The Associated...
Topics
NC Supreme Court Election Fight: “Bloodless Coup” or Election Administration Snafu?
More than five months after the November 2024 election, the race for Seat 6 of...
Topics
Secret Recording and the Right to Privacy: Project Veritas at the Supreme Court
On April 7, Project Veritas filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme...
Litigation Update: Henderson and Parents Defending Education
Edward D. Greim, Brett Nolan
Discussing Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District and Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education
How much control can public schools exercise over the speech of their students and staff...
Litigation Update: Henderson and Parents Defending Education
Edward D. Greim, Brett Nolan
Discussing Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District and Parents Defending Education v. Olentangy Local School District Board of Education
How much control can public schools exercise over the speech of their students and staff...
Daniel Webster Debate Series: Is the Trump Administration Taking the Right Approach to Civil Rights and Free Speech on Campus?
David D. Cole, Thomas M. Hardiman, Ilya Shapiro
The Federalist Society's Georgetown Law Chapter'sDaniel Webster Debate Series presents Daniel Webster Debate Series:Do...
The Case of Mahmoud Khalil: Free Speech or National Security?
Conor Fitzpatrick, Casey Mattox, Ilya Shapiro
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder, was detained by ICE on March 8 and...