Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Jeffrey Bossert Clark was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 17, 1967. He is a graduate of Harvard University (A.B. in economics and history, 1989), the University of Delaware (M.A. in urban affairs and public policy, 1993), and the Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1995).
Mr. Clark began his career working for the State of Delaware’s Department of Finance, Division of Revenue as an economics analyst in the field of tax policy. During his tenure from 1989 to 1992, he authored several white papers analyzing Delaware revenue sources. Delaware also selected Mr. Clark to submit an economic report and affidavit to the United States Supreme Court in the original jurisdiction case of Delaware v. New York, 507 U.S. 490 (1993).
He entered Georgetown’s law school in 1992 where he earned honors as an articles editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, an Olin Law & Economics Fellow, and a member of the Order of the Coif. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Clark clerked for Judge Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit. Mr. Clark then joined the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis as an associate from 1996-2001. He worked as an appellate litigator on numerous Supreme Court and other appellate cases and developed expertise in administrative law, statutory interpretation, as well as antitrust, labor, environmental, and telecommunications law.
Mr. Clark went on to serve in ENRD from 2001-2005 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General selected by Attorney General Ashcroft and Assistant Attorney General Tom Sansonetti. In that capacity, he supervised ENRD’s Appellate and Indian Resources Sections. He reviewed, edited, and contributed to virtually every brief that ENRD filed in the Courts of Appeals, including several cases of exceptional significance that he personally briefed and argued. During his service in the early 2000s, Mr. Clark argued and won numerous cases in multiple U.S. Courts of Appeals and worked on all Supreme Court cases arising out of ENRD’s work.
In 2005, Mr. Clark returned to Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a partner, where he litigated until his return to ENRD in 2018. There he worked on numerous multi-billion-dollar matters and continued to argue many appellate cases. His practice operated at all levels — appellate litigation, trial court litigation, agency proceedings, and regulatory and litigation counseling. He has been named a Super Lawyer for multiple years running, highlighted in the Legal 500, named to the “Legal Who’s Who for Environmental Law” in Corporate Responsibility Magazine, rated A.V. preeminent by Martindale Hubbell, and named a member of the National Association of Distinguished Counsel’s Nation’s One Percent. He also was named one of America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
President Trump nominated Mr. Clark to be the Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) on June 7, 2017. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 11, 2018 and sworn into office on November 1, 2018, followed by an investiture ceremony on November 15, 2018.
Director, Climate & Clean Air Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
David Doniger has been at the forefront of the battle against air pollution and global climate change since he joined NRDC in 1978. He helped formulate the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to stop the depletion of the earth's ozone layer, as well as several essential amendments to the Clean Air Act. In 1993, he left NRDC to serve on the White House Council on Environmental Quality, followed by key posts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He rejoined NRDC in 2001 and has since been working to defend the Clean Air Act from assaults in Congress. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
ROGER MARTELLA co-leads the Environmental practice group at Sidley Austin LLP. He rejoined Sidley Austin LLP after serving as the General Counsel of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, concluding 10 years of litigating and handling complex environmental and natural resource matters at the Department of Justice and EPA. In 2015, Roger was recognized by Who’s Who Legal as the environmental lawyer of the year globally.
Roger’s practice focuses on three primary areas. First, Roger advises companies on developing strategic approaches to achieve their goals in light of rapidly developing demands to addressclimate change, promote sustainability and utilize clean energy. Second, Roger handles a broad range of environmental and natural resource litigation and mediation. Third, Roger advises multinational companies on compliance with environmental laws in the United States, China, the European Union and other nations.
Roger counsels approximately 50 of the world’s leading conventional and renewable energy, industrial, transportation, agricultural, forestry, and technology companies on bet-the-company environmental issues, regulatory matters, and litigation including transitioning to an era of legal controls addressing greenhouse gas emissions, increasingly stringent pollutant controls, alternative and clean energy, hydraulic fracturing, and sustainability both in the United States and abroad.
Roger employs a strategic, forward-looking approach to solving emerging law and policy issues across the world that have the potential to create both opportunities and risks for domestic and multinational energy and manufacturing companies and industries. Roger’s approach is to build a collaborative and coalition-building framework that seeks the strongest possible results through up front coordination with government, industry, and NGO stakeholders, leveraging strong honest broker relations with government officials and understanding of government approach to realize resolutions that have led to extraordinary favorable resolutions offering significant regulatory relief to industries and pennies-on-the-dollar enforcement settlements for companies.
Roger was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate as EPA General Counsel. In that role, Roger served as EPA’s chief legal advisor supervising an office of 350 lawyers and staff in Washington and 10 regional offices. In particular, Roger led the team responsible for developing for the first time under the Clean Air Act the federal government’s climate change legal framework and options in response to the landmark Supreme Court decision Massachusetts v. EPA, which held greenhouse gases to be air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
University of Maryland School of Law and President, Center for Progressive Reform
Rena Steinzor is a Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and teaches an environmental survey course, as well as offerings in risk assessment, critical issues in law and science, legal methods, contracts, and an introduction to the administrative system. During the course of her academic career, Professor Steinzor has written extensively on efforts to reinvent environmental regulation in the United States, the use and misuse of science in environmental policy making, and the devolution of legal and administrative authority to the states.
Professor Steinzor edited the book A New Progressive Agenda for Public Health and the Environment (Carolina Academic Press 2005) with Professor Christopher Schroeder of the Duke Law School. The book proposes an alternative set of values and principles that should guide efforts to reform environmental law. She worked with Professor Wendy Wagner of the University of Texas School of Law, to edit a book of essays by prominent academics entitled Rescuing Science from Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2005) writing an introduction and conclusion summarizing the issues and recommendations suggested by the book. Professor Steinzor's book entitled Mother Earth and Uncle Sam: How Pollution and Hollow Government Hurt Our Kids was published by the University of Texas Press in the fall of 2007.
Professor Steinzor is the president of the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) (http://www.progressivereform.org/), a think tank comprised of some 52 member scholars from universities across the United States. CPR is committed to developing and sharing knowledge and information, with the ultimate aim of preserving the fundamental value of the life and health of human beings and the natural environment. One component of CPR's mission is to circulate academic papers, studies, and other analyses that promote public policy based on the multiple social values that motivated the enactment of our nation's health, safety and environmental laws. CPR seeks to inform the public about scholarship that envisions government as an arena where members of society choose and preserve their collective values. CPR rejects the idea that government's only function is to increase the economic efficiency of private markets.
Before joining the law school faculty, Professor Steinzor was the partner in charge of the environmental practice at Spiegel & McDiarmid, a Washington D.C. Law firm specializing in the representation of state and local government entities in the energy and environmental areas. Prior to joining the firm, Professor Steinzor was counsel to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation & Tourism of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which was then chaired by James J. Florio (D-N.J.). She advised the Subcommittee during its consideration of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 and the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986. She also served as an attorney advisor to Commissioner Patricia P. Bailey of the Federal Trade Commission and worked as a consumer protection attorney at the FTC in various staff positions.
Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
Hill Wellford advises clients in antitrust matters, especially those relating to government enforcement or the intersection between technology, intellectual property and competition.
Prior to joining Bingham, Hill was chief of staff at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw the full range of criminal, merger, civil conduct and international work by the Antitrust Division's 400+ lawyers and economists. Before becoming chief of staff, he served as a counsel to the assistant attorney general and as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division's Legal Policy Section. He also worked extensively with other components and task forces of the broader Department of Justice - including the department's Intellectual Property Task Force, from 2004 to 2009 - and the Federal Trade Commission and other U.S. and foreign government agencies.
Hill's experience includes matters at the Antitrust Division, where he worked directly on merger and non-merger conduct challenges, and private practice, where he has handled mergers and acquisitions; criminal investigations; civil conduct challenges; and jury, bench and administrative trials. He also litigated patent and other intellectual property cases earlier in his career, and he is a recognized authority on the interplay between the antitrust and IP laws.
Hill's counseling practice covers all aspects of antitrust law and many issues of related consumer protection law. He has taught and lectured widely on antitrust and technology issues, both in the U.S. and abroad, and has taught antitrust seminars to businesses, lawyers at the Department of Justice, U.S. agencies, foreign officials and a formal course at Vanderbilt University Law School. He serves in a leadership position in the American Bar Association's Section of Antitrust and currently edits the newsletter of the ABA's Federal Civil Enforcement Committee.
George Butler Research Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Professor Duncan joined the University of Houston Law Center faculty in 1998. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University and earned her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1993. Upon graduation from the Law Center, she clerked for the Honorable Edith H. Jones, Judge for the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. She was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. prior to returning to clerk permanently for Judge Jones.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Edith Jones graduated from Alamo Heights High School, where she was a National Merit Scholar. In 1971, she received her B.A. in Economics from Cornell University, graduating with honors. In 1974, she was awarded her J.D. at the University of Texas Law School, where she was a law review editor and received the Order of the Coif.
Judge Jones was the first female partner at Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Jones (now Hunton Andrews Kurth) where she practiced various types of litigation and bankruptcy cases. Judge Jones went on the federal bench on June 1, 1985.
Judge Jones served as a former member of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, and as a member of the Judicial Conference Commission on Bankruptcy Rules. Judge Jones served on the White House Fellows Commission. Judge Jones served on the board of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She has been a member of the Garland Walker Inn of Court in Houston for more than 20 years and its President for at least ten years. Judge Jones is also on the Board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.
George Butler Research Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Professor Duncan joined the University of Houston Law Center faculty in 1998. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University and earned her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 1993. Upon graduation from the Law Center, she clerked for the Honorable Edith H. Jones, Judge for the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. She was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. prior to returning to clerk permanently for Judge Jones.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Edith Jones graduated from Alamo Heights High School, where she was a National Merit Scholar. In 1971, she received her B.A. in Economics from Cornell University, graduating with honors. In 1974, she was awarded her J.D. at the University of Texas Law School, where she was a law review editor and received the Order of the Coif.
Judge Jones was the first female partner at Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Jones (now Hunton Andrews Kurth) where she practiced various types of litigation and bankruptcy cases. Judge Jones went on the federal bench on June 1, 1985.
Judge Jones served as a former member of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, and as a member of the Judicial Conference Commission on Bankruptcy Rules. Judge Jones served on the White House Fellows Commission. Judge Jones served on the board of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She has been a member of the Garland Walker Inn of Court in Houston for more than 20 years and its President for at least ten years. Judge Jones is also on the Board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
Partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Walter Dellinger is an influential authority on appellate and Supreme Court decisions, lending his experience as a former Solicitor General and decades of legal knowledge to amicus briefs, a multitude of pro bono clients, and public and private companies involved in bet-the-company litigation. A frequent commentator for the Wall Street Journal, Slate, and major television networks, Walter holds the designation of the Douglas B. Maggs Emeritus Professor of Law at Duke University. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Lawyer.
Walter, who formerly served as O’Melveny’s Diversity and Inclusion Partner, helped convince the US Supreme Court that proponents of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, did not have standing to appeal a court order invalidating it. That ruling, Hollingsworth v. Perry, cleared the way for marriage equality in California and eventually nationwide.
Walter served as Assistant Attorney General and head of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) from 1993 to 1996. He was acting Solicitor General for the 1996-97 Term of the US Supreme Court. During that time, Walter argued nine cases before the Court, the most by any Solicitor General in more than 20 years. His arguments included cases dealing with physician-assisted suicide, the line item veto, the cable television act, the Brady Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the constitutionality of remedial services for parochial school children.
Walter has served as Special Counsel to the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange in connection with the NYSE’s transformation into a publicly held company and its acquisition of an electronic trading company.
After serving in early 1993 in the White House as an advisor to the President on constitutional issues, Walter was nominated by the President to be Assistant Attorney General. He was confirmed by the Senate in October 1993 and served for three years. As head of the OLC, Walter issued opinions on a wide variety of issues, including: the President's authority to deploy United States forces in Haiti and Bosnia; whether the trade agreements required treaty ratification; and a major review of separation of powers questions. He provided extensive legal advice on questions arising out of the shutdown of the federal government, on national debt ceiling issues, and on loan guarantees for Mexico.
Walter has published articles on constitutional issues for scholarly journals including the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the Duke Law Journal, and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, the New Republic, and the London Times. He has been a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Belgium and has given lectures to university faculties in Florence, Siena, Nuremberg, Copenhagen, Leiden, Utrecht, Tilburg, Mexico, and Rio de Janeiro, and has delivered major lectures at Stanford, Yale, Harvard, Michigan, Berkeley, Penn, Duke, Chicago, and other US law schools. He has testified more than 25 times before committees of Congress.
In private practice, Walter’s arguments before the United States Supreme Court have included Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. v. Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County, Alabama v. North Carolina, Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, Heller v. District of Columbia, Jackson v. Birmingham School District, Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington, US Airways v. Barnett, Utah v. Evans, Hunt v. Cromartie, and Hunt v. Easley. His most notable Court of Appeals and state supreme court arguments include Martha Stewart v. United States, Whiteside v. United States, and Exxon v. Alabama, LCI v. Phillips.
Dr. John Eastman is the former Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former Dean at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters and has argued before the Supreme Court. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in more than one hundred cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Kelo v. New London, Ct. (eminent domain), and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case). He has also appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, NewsHour, and The O'Reilly Factor.
Executive Vice President, The Federalist Society
Dean Reuter is Executive Vice President at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is the principal author of the non-fiction book, The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America's Deal with the Devil, and editor of Liberty’s Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State and Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security. He was appointed by the President and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and recently served as an appointee on the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law.
Professor, Gonzaga University School of Law
Law clerk for Justice Stephen Bistline, Idaho Supreme Court, 1979-80; in private practice with Lukins & Annis, P.S., Spokane, (1980-84); assistant professor, Oklahoma City University (1984-87); Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute, Seattle, Washington.
University of Washington School of Law
Professor Jay has taught at the UW law school since 1980. Prior to coming to Washington he taught at the University of North Carolina for two years. Before entering teaching, Professor Jay clerked for two years, first with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger. His teaching and research interests include constitutional law and constitutional history. Professor Jay is the author of Most Humble Servants: The Advisory Role of Early Judges (Yale 1997). He has worked extensively to assure the reproductive rights of women, particularly access to safe and legal abortions. During 1984-85 he was a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Washington State Supreme Court
Richard B. Sanders was elected to the Washington Supreme Court in 1995. During his 26 years of legal practice prior to becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders litigated more than 100 appeals (no fewer than 60 of which resulted in published opinions). Since coming to the Supreme Court he has become one of its most prolific authors and is recognized nationally for his published opinions and other writings. See www.JusticeSanders.com.
As a private practitioner he championed the civil rights of his clients and as a Justice he regards protecting our constitutionally guaranteed liberties as the first duty of our highest court. Justice Sanders believes the court must protect all the legal rights of all the citizens who come before it all the time. "We have no second class citizens," he adds. His special interest is the Washington State Constitution, and he often quotes his favorite passage: "[G]overnments . . . are established to protect and maintain individual rights." Const. art. I, § 1.
Justice Sanders is a native of Tacoma and spent the best years of his childhood there. He moved to Seattle where he graduated from Highline High School. While at Highline High he was elected president of the school's debate club, and he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Justice Sanders received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington after participating in the political science honors program and playing[1] in the Rose Bowl. He thereafter earned his J.D. in 1969 from the University of Washington School of Law. During his years at the University, Justice Sanders wrote "The Devil's Advocate," a weekly column of opinion in The Daily, the student newspaper.
Since taking his seat on the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders has served as an adjunct professor teaching appellate advocacy at the UW School of Law; has written articles for professional journals and texts; and has presented lectures to local, state, and national organizations on diverse topics including civil liberties, land use, the Washington State Constitution, legal ethics, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.
Justice Sanders enjoys inviting students and community groups to tour the Temple of Justice to visit with him. He is the father of Laura Sanders, a 2009 summa cum laude graduate of the University of San Francisco. Laura is enthusiastic in all her endeavors and is the light of her daddy's life.
Professor, Gonzaga University School of Law
Law clerk for Justice Stephen Bistline, Idaho Supreme Court, 1979-80; in private practice with Lukins & Annis, P.S., Spokane, (1980-84); assistant professor, Oklahoma City University (1984-87); Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute, Seattle, Washington.
University of Washington School of Law
Professor Jay has taught at the UW law school since 1980. Prior to coming to Washington he taught at the University of North Carolina for two years. Before entering teaching, Professor Jay clerked for two years, first with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger. His teaching and research interests include constitutional law and constitutional history. Professor Jay is the author of Most Humble Servants: The Advisory Role of Early Judges (Yale 1997). He has worked extensively to assure the reproductive rights of women, particularly access to safe and legal abortions. During 1984-85 he was a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Washington State Supreme Court
Richard B. Sanders was elected to the Washington Supreme Court in 1995. During his 26 years of legal practice prior to becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders litigated more than 100 appeals (no fewer than 60 of which resulted in published opinions). Since coming to the Supreme Court he has become one of its most prolific authors and is recognized nationally for his published opinions and other writings. See www.JusticeSanders.com.
As a private practitioner he championed the civil rights of his clients and as a Justice he regards protecting our constitutionally guaranteed liberties as the first duty of our highest court. Justice Sanders believes the court must protect all the legal rights of all the citizens who come before it all the time. "We have no second class citizens," he adds. His special interest is the Washington State Constitution, and he often quotes his favorite passage: "[G]overnments . . . are established to protect and maintain individual rights." Const. art. I, § 1.
Justice Sanders is a native of Tacoma and spent the best years of his childhood there. He moved to Seattle where he graduated from Highline High School. While at Highline High he was elected president of the school's debate club, and he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Justice Sanders received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington after participating in the political science honors program and playing[1] in the Rose Bowl. He thereafter earned his J.D. in 1969 from the University of Washington School of Law. During his years at the University, Justice Sanders wrote "The Devil's Advocate," a weekly column of opinion in The Daily, the student newspaper.
Since taking his seat on the Supreme Court, Justice Sanders has served as an adjunct professor teaching appellate advocacy at the UW School of Law; has written articles for professional journals and texts; and has presented lectures to local, state, and national organizations on diverse topics including civil liberties, land use, the Washington State Constitution, legal ethics, and Abraham Lincoln, among others.
Justice Sanders enjoys inviting students and community groups to tour the Temple of Justice to visit with him. He is the father of Laura Sanders, a 2009 summa cum laude graduate of the University of San Francisco. Laura is enthusiastic in all her endeavors and is the light of her daddy's life.
Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Randy Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center. He has argued before the United States Supreme Court, tried murder cases to juries as a prosecutor in Chicago, and appeared as a prosecutor in the feature film Inalienable. He is the author of numerous books, including Restoring the Lost Constitution, The Structure of Liberty, Our Republican Constitution, and The Original Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. He has published two memoirs, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist, and Felony Review: Tales of True Crime and Corruption in Chicago. He is currently working on a new book, Freedom and Flourishing: Libertarianism for the Real World.
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin Chemerinsky became the 13th Dean of Berkeley Law on July 1, 2017, when he joined the faculty as the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law.
Prior to assuming this position, from 2008-2017, he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at University of California, Irvine School of Law, with a joint appointment in Political Science. Before that he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University from 2004-2008, and from 1983-2004 was a professor at the University of Southern California Law School, including as the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science. He also has taught at DePaul College of Law and UCLA Law School.
He is the author of eleven books, including leading casebooks and treatises about constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. His most recent books are, We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century (Picador Macmillan) published in November 2018, and two books published by Yale University Press in 2017, Closing the Courthouse Doors: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable and Free Speech on Campus (with Howard Gillman).
He also is the author of more than 200 law review articles. He writes a regular column for the Sacramento Bee, monthly columns for the ABA Journal and the Daily Journal, and frequent op-eds in newspapers across the country. He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the United States Supreme Court.
In 2016, he was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, National Jurist magazine again named Dean Chemerinsky as the most influential person in legal education in the United States.
Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School
A productive scholar and an award-winning teacher, Pamela S. Karlan is co-director of the school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where students litigate live cases before the Court. One of the nation’s leading experts on voting and the political process, she has served as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission, an assistant counsel and cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (where she received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service – the department’s highest award for employee performance – as part of the team responsible for implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor). Professor Karlan is the co-author of leading casebooks on constitutional law, constitutional litigation, and the law of democracy, as well as numerous scholarly articles.
Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1998, she was a professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law and served as a law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Abraham D. Sofaer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Karlan is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the American Law Institute.
Distinguished Senior Fellow and Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Edward Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having held that position from March 2004 through January 2021.
Mr. Whelan directs EPPC’s program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture. His areas of expertise include constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process. As a contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog, he has been a leading commentator on nominations to the Supreme Court and the lower courts and on issues of constitutional law. He has written essays and op-eds for leading newspapers—including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post—opinion journals, and academic symposia and law reviews. The National Law Journal has named Mr. Whelan among its “Champions and Visionaries” in the practice of law in D.C.
Mr. Whelan is co-editor of three volumes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s work: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived (Crown Forum, 2017), a New York Times bestselling collection of speeches by Justice Scalia; On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer (Crown Forum, 2019), a collection of Justice Scalia’s writings on faith and religion; and The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law (Crown Forum, 2020), a collection of Justice Scalia’s views on legal issues.
Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and a former law clerk to Justice Scalia, has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government. From just before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, until joining EPPC in 2004, Mr. Whelan was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he advised the White House Counsel’s Office, the Attorney General and other senior DOJ officials, and departments and agencies throughout the executive branch on difficult and sensitive legal questions. Mr. Whelan previously served on Capitol Hill as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In addition to clerking for Justice Scalia, he was a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In 1981 Mr. Whelan graduated with honors from Harvard College and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1985 from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review.
For more on Mr. Whelan’s background, see this interview.
Dr. John Eastman is the former Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former Dean at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters and has argued before the Supreme Court. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in more than one hundred cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Kelo v. New London, Ct. (eminent domain), and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case). He has also appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, NewsHour, and The O'Reilly Factor.
Partner, Goldstein & Russell PC
Thomas C. Goldstein has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court, including matters involving federal patent law, class action practice, labor and employment, and disability law. In addition to practicing law, Tom teaches Supreme Court Litigation at Harvard Law School and taught at Stanford Law School as well from 2004-2012.
In the Supreme Court and elsewhere, Mr. Goldstein litigates and advises clients in a broad range of issues. For example, he regularly litigates and lectures on questions of federal patent law. Mr. Goldstein frequently advises clients, litigates, and consults on legislative matters relating to the First Amendment. And he regularly represents parties in questions relating to the game of poker, including its lawfulness as a matter of federal and state law. Tom's clients include plaintiffs, criminal defendants, and major corporations such as BG Group, Home Depot, Humana, IMS Health, Nike, PokerStars, POM Wonderful, and Pemex.
In addition to practicing law, Tom founded, and is the publisher of, SCOTUSblog, which in 2013 became the only weblog ever to receive the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media. It also won the 2013 Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi) prize for deadline reporting for its coverage of the Supreme Court’s healthcare ruling. In 2010, it became the first blog to receive the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for fostering the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system.
Tom has been repeatedly recognized as a leading member of the bar. In 2010, The National Law Journal named him one of the 40 most influential lawyers of the decade; Tom notably was ten years younger than any other law firm partner listed. Legal Times named him one of the “90 Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years” and praised him for “transforming the practice” of law before the Supreme Court. He is also included in both of the National Law Journal’s most recent lists of the nation’s 100 most influential lawyers (2006 and 2013). He has been repeatedly recognized as one of the nation’s top appellate advocates. GQ Magazine named him one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington, D.C.
Tom is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and a member of the American Law Institute. He is involved with a number of professional organizations. He serves as the vice chair of the Amicus Committee of the ABA’s Intellectual Property Section and previously served for two years on the ABA’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs. In those capacities, he has authored several Supreme Court amicus briefs for the ABA. In addition, Tom serves on the boards of advisors of the Washington Legal Foundation and the Georgetown University Supreme Court Institute.
Before founding Goldstein & Howe in 1999, Tom practiced law at Boies & Schiller, LLP and at Jones Day Reavis & Pogue. Tom left the firm he founded in 2006 to create the Supreme Court Practice at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where he also was a partner and principal co-chair of the firmwide litigation practice. He returned to what is now Goldstein & Russell in 2011.
Tom clerked for the Honorable Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
William K. Kelley teaches constitutional law and administrative law, and focuses on public law issues in his scholarship. He serves as Associate Dean with responsibility for coordinating special projects. During Spring 2008 semester, he will act as Associate Dean for Faculty Research. From 2005-2007, he served in the White House as Deputy Counsel to the President. In that capacity, he was responsible for advising the President of the United States on all legal matters affecting the Executive Branch. He joined the faculty in 1995 after practicing with two major law firms, and serving from 1991-1994 as assistant to the solicitor general at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Professor Kelley began his legal career by serving as law clerk to the Honorable Kenneth W. Starr on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1987-88), as well as for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia (1988-89). He earned his B.A. from Marquette University in 1984, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1987, where he served as Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
David Stras became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on January 31, 2018. Before serving on the Eighth Circuit, Judge Stras was an Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he occupied from July 1, 2010 until his appointment to the Eighth Circuit.
Prior to becoming a judge, Stras was a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004 through 2010. He taught and wrote in the areas of federal courts and jurisdiction, constitutional law, criminal law, and law and politics.
Judge Stras received his Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest distinction, in 1995 and his Master of Business Administration in 1999, both from the University of Kansas. He also received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1999, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Procedure Edition of the Kansas Law Review.
Following law school, Stras clerked for The Honorable Melvin Brunetti of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and then for The Honorable J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
From 2001 to 2002, he practiced white-collar criminal and appellate litigation with the Washington, D.C., office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Following his year in practice, he clerked for The Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Partner, Covington & Burling LLP
Sarah L. Wilson is a litigation partner at Covington & Burling and a former federal judge whose practice focuses on litigation and investigations. She has handled a broad range of civil and criminal disputes, including False Claims Act litigation, environmental and natural resources litigation, insurance litigation, pharmaceutical and consumer product company investigations, and arbitration.
Ms. Wilson co-chairs Covington & Burling's Advertising and Consumer Law Practice Group. She has represented the world’s largest automotive and consumer product companies in recall and post-recall investigations and disputes.
Ms. Wilson previously served as a Trial Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice, as an Associate and Senior Counsel in the White House Counsel's Office, and as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Columbia Law School, 1990
Yale University, M.Phil., 1985
Yale University, M.A., 1984
Williams College, B.A., 1981
Executive Vice President of Global Governance, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Walmart Inc.
Rachel Brand is Walmart’s executive vice president of global governance, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary. She oversees the company’s global legal, compliance, ethics, corporate governance, digital citizenship, aviation, investigative, and corporate security functions, including Walmart’s Emergency Operations Center.
Immediately before joining Walmart, Rachel served as the United States Associate Attorney General and holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve in this role. She had previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy during President George W. Bush’s administration. Her other government service includes an appointment by President Obama to serve as a Member of the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, service as an Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, and judicial clerkships with Justice Charles Fried of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and Justice Anthony Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States. In the private sector, Rachel was a lawyer in private practice at two law firms in Washington, D.C. and served as the Vice President and Chief Counsel for Regulatory Litigation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center.
Rachel serves on the board of directors for the Walmart Foundation and is the executive sponsor for Walmart’s Tribal Voices Associate Resource Group. Outside of Walmart, she serves on the board of directors for the International Justice Mission and is a member of The American Law Institute.
Rachel earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Stephanos Bibas is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Bibas was previously a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As director of the Penn Law Supreme Court Clinic, he argued six cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and filed briefs in dozens of others. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1989 with a B.A. in political theory and from Oxford University in 1991 with a B.A. in jurisprudence. He then earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1994.
After graduating from Yale Law, Judge Bibas clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Bibas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully prosecuted the world’s leading expert in Tiffany stained glass for hiring a grave robber to steal priceless Tiffany windows from cemeteries. Before his tenure at Penn Law, Judge Bibas taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law and was a research fellow at Yale Law School. He has published two books and seventy scholarly articles.
John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Christopher S. Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law and a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and in the Computer & Information Science Department of School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also the Founding Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly works and has taught at over a dozen universities around the world. Professor Yoo received his A.B. from Harvard, his M.B.A. from UCLA, and his J.D. from Northwestern University. Before entering the academy, Professor Yoo clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and practiced law with the predecessor firm to Hogan Lovells under the supervision of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania, he taught for eight years at the Vanderbilt Law School. He is frequently called to testify before the U.S. Congress, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Communications Commission, foreign governments, and international organizations.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
Stephanos Bibas is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Bibas was previously a professor of law and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. As director of the Penn Law Supreme Court Clinic, he argued six cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and filed briefs in dozens of others. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1989 with a B.A. in political theory and from Oxford University in 1991 with a B.A. in jurisprudence. He then earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1994.
After graduating from Yale Law, Judge Bibas clerked for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court and was a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, Judge Bibas served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he successfully prosecuted the world’s leading expert in Tiffany stained glass for hiring a grave robber to steal priceless Tiffany windows from cemeteries. Before his tenure at Penn Law, Judge Bibas taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Iowa College of Law and was a research fellow at Yale Law School. He has published two books and seventy scholarly articles.
John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Christopher S. Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law and a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and in the Computer & Information Science Department of School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also the Founding Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly works and has taught at over a dozen universities around the world. Professor Yoo received his A.B. from Harvard, his M.B.A. from UCLA, and his J.D. from Northwestern University. Before entering the academy, Professor Yoo clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and practiced law with the predecessor firm to Hogan Lovells under the supervision of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania, he taught for eight years at the Vanderbilt Law School. He is frequently called to testify before the U.S. Congress, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Communications Commission, foreign governments, and international organizations.
Environmental Law: EPA: An Agency Gone Wild or Just Doing Its Job?
Jeffrey Bossert Clark, David D. Doniger, Roger Martella, Rena I. Steinzor, Hill Wellford
2010 National Lawyers Convention
Mr. Jeffrey B. Clark, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP Mr. David D. Doniger, Natural Resources...
The Supreme Court and the Nature of Man
Meredith J. Duncan, Edith H. Jones
Houston Student Chapter
On November 11, 2010, the Houston Student Chapter of the Federalist Society hosted this event featuring...
The Supreme Court and the Nature of Man
Meredith J. Duncan, Edith H. Jones
Houston Student Chapter
On November 11, 2010, the Houston Student Chapter of the Federalist Society hosted this event featuring...
The Government’s Duty to Defend the Law in Court
John S. Baker, Walter E. Dellinger, John C. Eastman, Dean Reuter
Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group Podcast
Several cases have brought to the fore the duty of the executive branch of government,...
Washington Supreme Court Position 6: A Debate
Peter Callaghan, David K. DeWolf, Stewart Jay, Richard B. Sanders, Charlie Wiggins
Puget Sound Lawyers Chapter
Candidates for the Washington State Supreme Court answered questions from a panel of experts and the...
Washington Supreme Court Position 6: A Debate
Peter Callaghan, David K. DeWolf, Stewart Jay, Richard B. Sanders, Charlie Wiggins
Puget Sound Lawyers Chapter
Candidates for the Washington State Supreme Court answered questions from a panel of experts and the...
Judicial Activism
Randy E. Barnett, Erwin Chemerinsky, Pamela S. Karlan, Edward Whelan, John C. Eastman
Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group
With the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, there is a great...
United States Supreme Court: Nomination and Confirmation Process
Thomas C. Goldstein, William K. Kelley, David R. Stras, Sarah L. Wilson, Rachel L. Brand
Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group
Justice Stevens has announced his resignation from the U.S. Supreme Court, and much of the...
Debate - Originalism in Criminal Procedure: Ancient Checks or Newfangled Rights?
Stephanos Bibas, Jeffrey Fisher, Christopher S. Yoo
2010 National Student Symposium
In recent years, the Supreme Court has relied on originalist arguments in ruling for defendants...
Debate - Originalism in Criminal Procedure: Ancient Checks or Newfangled Rights?
Stephanos Bibas, Jeffrey Fisher, Christopher S. Yoo
2010 National Student Symposium
In recent years, the Supreme Court has relied on originalist arguments in ruling for defendants...