Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Miles practices in the areas of appeals, business litigation, and First Amendment law. In addition to representing clients in complex civil and criminal litigation and appeals, Miles advises and represents public and private universities and serves as outside general counsel to several business and educational clients. He also represents and counsels private entities and government agencies and officials, including multiple current and former governors of South Carolina and members of Congress, on issues relating to the constitutional and statutory freedoms of speech, religion, and association. His First Amendment work has been cited by the United States Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Miles practices in the areas of appeals, business litigation, and First Amendment law. In addition to representing clients in complex civil and criminal litigation and appeals, Miles advises and represents public and private universities and serves as outside general counsel to several business and educational clients. He also represents and counsels private entities and government agencies and officials, including multiple current and former governors of South Carolina and members of Congress, on issues relating to the constitutional and statutory freedoms of speech, religion, and association. His First Amendment work has been cited by the United States Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Senior Counsel, Storzer and Associates; Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
Eric Treene is Senior Counsel at Storzer and Associates in Washington, D.C., and an Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America School of Canon Law. He served for 19 years in four administrations in the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination, where he provided leadership for the Department on a wide range of religious liberty issues, including developing and overseeing the Department’s enforcement program for the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), testifying before the U.S. Senate on religious hate crimes and developing training programs to protect places of worship from violence, and leading the Department’s efforts to protect religious liberty rights during the COVID-19 epidemic. Prior to serving at the Department of Justice, Mr. Treene was Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C, and was a law clerk to the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Senior Counsel, Storzer and Associates; Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
Eric Treene is Senior Counsel at Storzer and Associates in Washington, D.C., and an Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America School of Canon Law. He served for 19 years in four administrations in the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination, where he provided leadership for the Department on a wide range of religious liberty issues, including developing and overseeing the Department’s enforcement program for the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), testifying before the U.S. Senate on religious hate crimes and developing training programs to protect places of worship from violence, and leading the Department’s efforts to protect religious liberty rights during the COVID-19 epidemic. Prior to serving at the Department of Justice, Mr. Treene was Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C, and was a law clerk to the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School.
Senior Counsel & Director of the Center for Religious Schools, Alliance Defending Freedom
Gregory S. Baylor serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is the director of the Center for Religious Schools and senior counsel with the Center for Public Policy.
Since joining ADF in 2009, Baylor has focused on defending and advancing the religious freedom of faith-based educational institutions through advice, education, legislative and public advocacy, and representation in disputes. He has testified about religious liberty issues three times before congressional committees and numerous times before state legislative committees.
Greg serves on the board of directors of the International Alliance for Christian Education, the board of directors of the Association for Biblical Higher Education, the board of directors of the Association for Christian Schools International, the board of advisors of the Museum of the Bible, and advisory board of the Center for Academic Faithfulness and Flourishing.
Greg earned his Juris Doctor in 1990 from Duke University School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif, with high honors, and served on the editorial board of the Duke Law Journal. He received his bachelor’s degree in Honors English in 1987 from Dartmouth College. Following graduation from law school, he served as law clerk to the Hon. Jerry E. Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He practiced labor and employment law at two large international law firms for three years before joining the staff of Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom, where he served for 15 years prior to joining ADF. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife (a medical doctor) and two daughters.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Rachel N. Morrison is an attorney and Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project. Her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison lives with her husband and daughter in Virginia.
Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Chair, Lex Politica; Of Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as Chair of Lex Politica's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice overseeing the firm’s strategic appellate litigation and critical motions practice in the trial courts. Erin is an experienced litigator who represents clients in constitutional, regulatory, and appellate matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Erin has represented dozens of clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, served as lead counsel in high-profile cases raising novel constitutional and statutory issues, and authored numerous successful petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition. She has argued in state and federal appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin represents diverse clients in high-stakes litigation from state governments to faith-based nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies. She possesses expertise on a wide range of subject matters including administrative law, the First Amendment, religious liberty, federal jurisdiction, federal preemption, equitable jurisdiction, tax law, the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX.
Erin represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is paramount. She is a sought-after speaker and writer, has testified multiple times before Congress, and is a frequent presenter on constitutional and administrative law issues, including at the Oxford Union, the National Federalist Society Convention, and university campuses across the country. She is a frequent commentator to media outlets, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, WORLD, USA Today, the Federalist, and the Hill.
Erin previously oversaw Alliance Defending Freedom’s--where she still serves as Of Counsel--litigation strategies to empower women and protect the dignity of life, defend pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights from government overreach, and safeguard Americans’ freedoms from the ever-encroaching administrative state.
Chair, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Solicitor General, United States of America
On April 4, 2025, D. John Sauer became the 49th Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023.. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor for five years and spent time in civil practice at boutique law firms, including the firm he founded, the James Otis Law Group. Mr. Sauer has first-chaired many jury and bench trials, and served as lead counsel in many appeals. He has presented oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Missouri, and many other state and federal appellate courts. Mr. Sauer served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law, Duke Law School
Doriane Coleman is the Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where she specializes in interdisciplinary scholarship focused on women, children, medicine, sports, and law. Her work, single- and co-authored, has been published in numerous U.S. and international journals. She also writes op-eds and is regularly cited in the press.
Her most recent scholarship has centered on sex, its evolving definition, and the implications of this evolution for law and society. The first two articles in this series – Sex in Sport and Re-affirming the Value of the Sports Exception to Title IX's General Non-Discrimination Rule – have been widely read and used in the development of eligibility criteria for the female category. A third article – Sex Neutrality – traces the history of sex in law and addresses the merits of a final move from sex skepticism to sex-blindness. Her book On Sex and Gender – A Commonsense Approach (2024) expands on these themes for a broader audience.
At Duke, Coleman is a Faculty Fellow and Member of the Advisory Council of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and a Faculty Associate of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at the School of Medicine, and the University’s Initiative for Science & Society. She is also a member of the University’s Athletic Council and co-director of the Law School’s Center for Sports Law and Policy.
She received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She was a litigation associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering before beginning her academic career at Howard University School of Law.
Before law school, Coleman ran the 800 meters in collegiate and international competition. She was a multiple All American, All East, and All Ivy athlete, the U.S. National Collegiate Indoor Champion in the 800 meters in 1982, the U.S. National Indoor Champion in the 4 x 400 meters relay in 1982, and the Swiss National Champion in the 800 meters in 1982 and 1983. Over the course of her athletic career she competed for Villanova and Cornell, the Swiss and U.S. National Teams, Athletics West, the Santa Monica and Atoms Track Clubs, and Lausanne Sports.
Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law, Duke Law School
Doriane Coleman is the Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where she specializes in interdisciplinary scholarship focused on women, children, medicine, sports, and law. Her work, single- and co-authored, has been published in numerous U.S. and international journals. She also writes op-eds and is regularly cited in the press.
Her most recent scholarship has centered on sex, its evolving definition, and the implications of this evolution for law and society. The first two articles in this series – Sex in Sport and Re-affirming the Value of the Sports Exception to Title IX's General Non-Discrimination Rule – have been widely read and used in the development of eligibility criteria for the female category. A third article – Sex Neutrality – traces the history of sex in law and addresses the merits of a final move from sex skepticism to sex-blindness. Her book On Sex and Gender – A Commonsense Approach (2024) expands on these themes for a broader audience.
At Duke, Coleman is a Faculty Fellow and Member of the Advisory Council of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and a Faculty Associate of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at the School of Medicine, and the University’s Initiative for Science & Society. She is also a member of the University’s Athletic Council and co-director of the Law School’s Center for Sports Law and Policy.
She received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She was a litigation associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering before beginning her academic career at Howard University School of Law.
Before law school, Coleman ran the 800 meters in collegiate and international competition. She was a multiple All American, All East, and All Ivy athlete, the U.S. National Collegiate Indoor Champion in the 800 meters in 1982, the U.S. National Indoor Champion in the 4 x 400 meters relay in 1982, and the Swiss National Champion in the 800 meters in 1982 and 1983. Over the course of her athletic career she competed for Villanova and Cornell, the Swiss and U.S. National Teams, Athletics West, the Santa Monica and Atoms Track Clubs, and Lausanne Sports.
Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Chair, Lex Politica; Of Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as Chair of Lex Politica's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice overseeing the firm’s strategic appellate litigation and critical motions practice in the trial courts. Erin is an experienced litigator who represents clients in constitutional, regulatory, and appellate matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Erin has represented dozens of clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, served as lead counsel in high-profile cases raising novel constitutional and statutory issues, and authored numerous successful petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition. She has argued in state and federal appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin represents diverse clients in high-stakes litigation from state governments to faith-based nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies. She possesses expertise on a wide range of subject matters including administrative law, the First Amendment, religious liberty, federal jurisdiction, federal preemption, equitable jurisdiction, tax law, the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX.
Erin represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is paramount. She is a sought-after speaker and writer, has testified multiple times before Congress, and is a frequent presenter on constitutional and administrative law issues, including at the Oxford Union, the National Federalist Society Convention, and university campuses across the country. She is a frequent commentator to media outlets, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, WORLD, USA Today, the Federalist, and the Hill.
Erin previously oversaw Alliance Defending Freedom’s--where she still serves as Of Counsel--litigation strategies to empower women and protect the dignity of life, defend pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights from government overreach, and safeguard Americans’ freedoms from the ever-encroaching administrative state.
Chair, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Solicitor General, United States of America
On April 4, 2025, D. John Sauer became the 49th Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023.. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor for five years and spent time in civil practice at boutique law firms, including the firm he founded, the James Otis Law Group. Mr. Sauer has first-chaired many jury and bench trials, and served as lead counsel in many appeals. He has presented oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Missouri, and many other state and federal appellate courts. Mr. Sauer served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Miles practices in the areas of appeals, business litigation, and First Amendment law. In addition to representing clients in complex civil and criminal litigation and appeals, Miles advises and represents public and private universities and serves as outside general counsel to several business and educational clients. He also represents and counsels private entities and government agencies and officials, including multiple current and former governors of South Carolina and members of Congress, on issues relating to the constitutional and statutory freedoms of speech, religion, and association. His First Amendment work has been cited by the United States Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation, Alliance Defending Freedom
David A. Cortman, Esq., serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He joined ADF in 2005 and currently supervises a team of nearly 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family.
Cortman has successfully litigated over 200 constitutional law cases in both federal and state court at all levels. He has also litigated several U.S. Supreme Court cases, including arguing before the Court in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which resulted in a 9-0 victory, with the Court holding that the government could not discriminate against religious speech while favoring political speech. He served as lead counsel in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley, which was decided in the Church's favor. He has also served as lead or co-counsel in victories at the high court in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services abortion pill mandate that forces employers to provide healthcare coverage that includes abortion-inducing drugs in violation of their religious convictions; Town of Greece v. Galloway, successfully defending the freedom of Americans to pray at public meetings.
Cortman earned his J.D. from Regent University School of Law in 1996, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the state bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also teaches legal courses on the First Amendment and civil rights litigation.
Senior Counsel, Storzer and Associates; Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
Eric Treene is Senior Counsel at Storzer and Associates in Washington, D.C., and an Adjunct Professor at the Catholic University of America School of Canon Law. He served for 19 years in four administrations in the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Counsel for Religious Discrimination, where he provided leadership for the Department on a wide range of religious liberty issues, including developing and overseeing the Department’s enforcement program for the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), testifying before the U.S. Senate on religious hate crimes and developing training programs to protect places of worship from violence, and leading the Department’s efforts to protect religious liberty rights during the COVID-19 epidemic. Prior to serving at the Department of Justice, Mr. Treene was Litigation Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C, and was a law clerk to the Hon. John M. Walker, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School.
Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law, Duke Law School
Doriane Coleman is the Thomas L. Perkins Distinguished Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where she specializes in interdisciplinary scholarship focused on women, children, medicine, sports, and law. Her work, single- and co-authored, has been published in numerous U.S. and international journals. She also writes op-eds and is regularly cited in the press.
Her most recent scholarship has centered on sex, its evolving definition, and the implications of this evolution for law and society. The first two articles in this series – Sex in Sport and Re-affirming the Value of the Sports Exception to Title IX's General Non-Discrimination Rule – have been widely read and used in the development of eligibility criteria for the female category. A third article – Sex Neutrality – traces the history of sex in law and addresses the merits of a final move from sex skepticism to sex-blindness. Her book On Sex and Gender – A Commonsense Approach (2024) expands on these themes for a broader audience.
At Duke, Coleman is a Faculty Fellow and Member of the Advisory Council of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and a Faculty Associate of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine at the School of Medicine, and the University’s Initiative for Science & Society. She is also a member of the University’s Athletic Council and co-director of the Law School’s Center for Sports Law and Policy.
She received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. She was a litigation associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering before beginning her academic career at Howard University School of Law.
Before law school, Coleman ran the 800 meters in collegiate and international competition. She was a multiple All American, All East, and All Ivy athlete, the U.S. National Collegiate Indoor Champion in the 800 meters in 1982, the U.S. National Indoor Champion in the 4 x 400 meters relay in 1982, and the Swiss National Champion in the 800 meters in 1982 and 1983. Over the course of her athletic career she competed for Villanova and Cornell, the Swiss and U.S. National Teams, Athletics West, the Santa Monica and Atoms Track Clubs, and Lausanne Sports.
Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Chair, Lex Politica; Of Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as Chair of Lex Politica's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice overseeing the firm’s strategic appellate litigation and critical motions practice in the trial courts. Erin is an experienced litigator who represents clients in constitutional, regulatory, and appellate matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Erin has represented dozens of clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, served as lead counsel in high-profile cases raising novel constitutional and statutory issues, and authored numerous successful petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition. She has argued in state and federal appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin represents diverse clients in high-stakes litigation from state governments to faith-based nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies. She possesses expertise on a wide range of subject matters including administrative law, the First Amendment, religious liberty, federal jurisdiction, federal preemption, equitable jurisdiction, tax law, the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX.
Erin represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is paramount. She is a sought-after speaker and writer, has testified multiple times before Congress, and is a frequent presenter on constitutional and administrative law issues, including at the Oxford Union, the National Federalist Society Convention, and university campuses across the country. She is a frequent commentator to media outlets, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, WORLD, USA Today, the Federalist, and the Hill.
Erin previously oversaw Alliance Defending Freedom’s--where she still serves as Of Counsel--litigation strategies to empower women and protect the dignity of life, defend pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights from government overreach, and safeguard Americans’ freedoms from the ever-encroaching administrative state.
Chair, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Solicitor General, United States of America
On April 4, 2025, D. John Sauer became the 49th Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023.. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor for five years and spent time in civil practice at boutique law firms, including the firm he founded, the James Otis Law Group. Mr. Sauer has first-chaired many jury and bench trials, and served as lead counsel in many appeals. He has presented oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Missouri, and many other state and federal appellate courts. Mr. Sauer served as a law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Litigation Update: Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation
Miles Coleman, David A. Cortman
Where should the line be drawn in the debate between the rights of persons to...
Litigation Update: Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation
Miles Coleman, David A. Cortman
Where should the line be drawn in the debate between the rights of persons to...
Litigation Update: Kluge v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation
Litigation Update: Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders
David A. Cortman, Eric W. Treene
From the Olympics to San Jose State, each month we hear of new controversies where...
Litigation Update: Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders
David A. Cortman, Eric W. Treene
From the Olympics to San Jose State, each month we hear of new controversies where...
Litigation Update: Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders
Explainer Episode 82 - Is Gender Dysphoria a Protected Disability?
Gregory Baylor, Rachel N. Morrison
In this episode, Rachel Morrison from the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Gregory Baylor...
Showcase Panel III: Sex, Gender, and the Law
Jennifer C. Braceras, Erin M. Hawley, Andrea R. Lucas, D. John Sauer, Doriane Lambelet Coleman
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlaws...
Showcase Panel III: Sex, Gender, and the Law
Jennifer C. Braceras, Doriane Lambelet Coleman, Erin M. Hawley, Andrea R. Lucas, D. John Sauer
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. The 1964 Civil Rights Act outlaws...
Showcase Panel III: Sex, Gender, and the Law
2024 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DC