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.
President and Chief Counsel, Institute for Justice
Scott Bullock joined the Institute for Justice at its founding in 1991 and now serves as a senior attorney. Although he has litigated in all of the Institute's areas, his current work focuses on property rights and economic liberty cases in federal and state courts.
In property rights, Bullock has been involved in many cases challenging the use of eminent domain for private development. He argued the landmark case, Kelo v. City of New London, one of the most controversial and widely discussed U.S. Supreme Court decisions in decades. Along with co-counsel Dana Berliner, Bullock secured the first state supreme court victory after Kelo, where the Supreme Court of Ohio unanimously struck down the use of eminent domain for private development. Some of his other successes in this area include spearheading the litigation that saved a beachfront neighborhood in Long Branch, New Jersey, a small record label in Nashville, Tennessee, and the homes of the Archie family in Canton, Mississippi.
In addition to litigation, Bullock works extensively on grassroots campaigns with homeowners, small business owners, and activists throughout the country to oppose condemnations for private use. Following the Kelodecision, he drafted legislation and testified before numerous committees when legislatures began reforming abusive eminent domain laws.
Bullock directs the Institute’s campaign against civil forfeiture, a nationwide effort to challenge the ability of governments to take property from owners without a criminal conviction. He is co-author of Policing for Profit, a comprehensive report published in 2010 documenting forfeiture abuse at all levels of government.
Among his work on other constitutional issues, Bullock currently represents the monks of St. Joseph Abbey in their challenge to a Louisiana law that prevents them from selling hand-made wooden caskets. He also served as lead counsel in the Institute's First Amendment challenge to a federal regulatory agency’s campaign against investment newsletters, computer software and websites, establishing one of the first federal precedents extending free speech guarantees to Internet and software publishers. He has led successful lawsuits against rental inspection laws on behalf of tenants and defending efforts to open up taxi markets to more competition.
Bullock’s articles and views on constitutional litigation have appeared in a wide variety of media. He has published articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and he has appeared on 60 Minutes, ABC Nightly News, and National Public Radio, among many other publications and broadcasts.
His volunteer activities include serving on the boards of HR-57, a Washington, D.C.-based music and cultural center dedicated to the promotion of jazz and a national forfeiture reform organization.
Bullock was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his B.A. in economics and philosophy from Grove City College.
Vice President for Litigation, Institute for Free Speech
Alan joined the Institute for Free Speech as Vice President for Litigation in February 2021. In this role, Alan directs the Institute’s litigation and legal advocacy, leads our in-house legal team, and manages and works to expand our network of volunteer attorneys.
Prior to joining the Institute, Alan litigated complex federal matters for twenty years, in his own practice and as a partner in various Washington-area firms. He argued and won landmark constitutional cases in the United States Supreme Court and has appeared before numerous appellate and district courts throughout the country. Alan often speaks at law schools and continuing legal education seminars. He also teaches strategic/public interest litigation as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Alan began his career clerking for the Hon. Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He has also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, a litigation associate at the Washington office of Sidley Austin, and as counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Alan earned his J.D. at Georgetown (1995) and his B.A. at Cornell University (1992). He is an active member in good standing of the Virginia, District of Columbia, and California bars, the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, and various federal appellate and district court bars.
Vice President, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
John G. Malcolm oversees Advancing American Freedom’s work to increase understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law as Vice President of the organization’s Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law. Malcolm brings to the challenge a wealth of legal expertise and experience in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Advancing American Freedom in 2025, Malcolm was the Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2012, Malcolm was general counsel at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as well as a distinguished practitioner in residence at Pepperdine Law School. From 2004 to 2009, Malcolm was executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association.
Malcolm served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division from 2001 to 2004, where he oversaw sections on computer crime and intellectual property, domestic security, child exploitation and obscenity, and special investigations. Immediately prior to that, he was a founding partner in the Atlanta law firm of Malcolm & Schroeder, LLP.
From 1990 to 1997, Malcolm was an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, assigned to the fraud and public corruption section, and also an associate independent counsel, investigating fraud and abuse in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was honored with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance for his work in connection with the successful prosecution of Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who assassinated an 11th Circuit judge and the head of the Savannah chapter of the NAACP.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia College, Malcolm began his career as a law clerk to a federal district court judge and a federal appellate court judge, and as an associate at the Atlanta-based law firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan (new Eversheds Sutherland).
Malcolm, who resides in Washington, D.C., serves on the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera and is a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
Judge J. Philip Calabrese was confirmed to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in December 2020. Previously, he served on the State trial court in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Before taking the bench, he had a complex litigation practice for nearly two decades and was a partner at what is now Squire Patton Boggs and at Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, LLP, where he co-chaired the firm’s class action practice. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Judge Calabrese began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he teaches an advanced course on expert evidence and at the University of Akron School of Law where he teaches the First Amendment’s Speech Clause.
Justice, Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Patrick F. Fischer began his six-year term on the Supreme Court of Ohio on Jan. 1, 2017, following his election in November 2016. Previously, he was elected to serve as a judge on the Ohio First District Court of Appeals in 2010, and was re-elected in 2012.
Justice Fischer has dedicated himself to the practice of law for more than 30 years. An honors graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, as a practicing lawyer he tried cases throughout the country, and was named to Best Lawyers in America, one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Cincinnati, and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Ohio. He was routinely named to Ohio Super Lawyers.
A respected member of the legal community, from 2012 to 2013 then-Judge Fischer served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association. He previously had served on the Ohio State Bar Association’s Board of Governors, chaired its budget and headquarters committee, and served on numerous other Ohio State Bar Association committees and task forces, and in its House of Delegates. Justice Fischer recently completed his second tenure on the board of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program. He also was elected by his peers to serve as president of the Cincinnati Bar Association for 2006 through 2007.
Justice Fischer has an abiding interest in ethics and professionalism. As an attorney he served two terms on the Ohio Supreme Court's Commission on Professionalism, including serving as vice chair. He also chaired the Cincinnati Bar Association's ethics and professional responsibility, as well as its professionalism, committees.
Having represented plaintiffs and defendants while an attorney, Justice Fischer knows the importance of being able to see and listen to both sides of an issue. Knowing and understanding the law as he does, Justice Fischer is keenly aware of how important it is that the law be applied properly to the facts in each case. The late chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Thomas J. Moyer, named him to co-chair a task force to make the Ohio judicial system more efficient and just. Justice Fischer served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, and was vice chair of its committee on the judicial branch.
Justice Fischer began his legal career with a clerkship for U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman, and in 1987, he began working for the law firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp. Just four years later, he became a partner in the trial department. Although on inactive status, he also is a licensed attorney in Texas.
In his free time, Justice Fischer is a dedicated public servant. He served on numerous local boards such as the Hamilton County Mental Health & Recovery Services Board, Visions Community Services Board, St. Ursula Villa, and the Pleasant Ridge Community Council. He was a founding member of the Cincinnati Children’s Museum and served on its board.
Justice Fischer, his wife Jane, and their dog live in Cincinnati. He has one married daughter who is a practicing attorney in Ohio, and two grandsons. A graduate of St. Xavier High School, Justice Fischer also is an active, long-time member of St. Xavier Catholic Church in downtown Cincinnati, serving as both a lector and Eucharistic minister.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Eric Murphy has been a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since March 2019. He previously served as the ninth State Solicitor of Ohio. In that role, Eric briefed and argued appellate cases on behalf of Ohio and its state agencies and officers in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Before his appointment as State Solicitor, Eric practiced appellate litigation at Jones Day. After graduation from law school, he served as a law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He received his law degree from the University of Chicago and his undergraduate degree from Miami University.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Justice, Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals
Katy Boatman was elected to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, Place 6, in November 2024. She is board certified in civil appellate law and a member of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists.
Prior to becoming a judge, Katy practiced appellate law at a large law firm, handling a wide variety of state and federal appeals. She clerked for the Supreme Court of Texas Justice Dale Wainwright and for the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod. She received her bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and her law degree from Baylor University School of Law, where she served as a senior executive editor of the Baylor Law Review and was a member of the National Order of the Barristers. Katy has been recognized as a Rising Star in appellate law, was honored as a 40 Under 40 recipient by the Houston Business Journal, and was the sole recipient of the American Bar Association's National Outstanding Young Lawyers Award, Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston Award, and the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas.
Katy has been married to her husband since 2005. They have three children and are involved in several non-profit organizations.
Justice, Texas First Court of Appeals
Jennifer Caughey is your Justice on the First Court of Appeals, Place 2. She was elected to a six year term on the Court, commencing on January 1, 2025. Before serving, Justice Caughey was most recently the Chair of Jackson Walker LLP’s Appellate Section, and she previously served as a Justice on Texas’s First Court of Appeals.
Justice Caughey spent six years as the Chair of Jackson Walker LLP’s Appellate Section, where she handled high-stakes commercial appeals. She appeared regularly at the Texas Supreme Court and in Texas Courts of Appeals, as well as in various federal appellate courts. Before that, she served as a Justice on this Court, where she issued 125 opinions and contributed to 450 appeals.
Beyond judicial service and private practice, Justice Caughey has served Texans in several ways. She serves on the Texas Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the State judiciary. She also served on the State’s Board of Disciplinary Appeals, which hears attorney disciplinary appeals. She serves on the Nominating Committee for the Texas Bar Foundation, and for several years, she chaired the Law School Liaison Committee for the Texas Appellate Bar Association.
Justice Caughey earned her degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and Justice Robert J. Cordy of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. She then spent years developing a sophisticated appellate and trial practice.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Senior Fellow and Chair, Violent Crime Work Group, at the Council on Criminal Justice
Director, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention
Paul is the director of Giffords Law Center’s Community Violence Initiative. Paul was raised in Southeast Los Angeles in an environment with gangs, drugs, and gun violence. He began his career as a volunteer for a hospital-based violence intervention organization and in 2005 co-founded Southern California Crossroads, a nonprofit organization that provides violence prevention and intervention services throughout the greater Los Angeles region.
In 2012, Paul co-founded the national Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention Conference, which brings over 800 practitioners in the field of community violence together to share best practice approaches to violence. In addition, Paul has also worked as a consultant on community violence in a number of places around the world, including Guatemala, London, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Tunisia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and El Salvador.
Partner, Faegre Drinker
Erica MacDonald is a former U.S. Attorney and district court judge who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court and presided over thousands of cases in state court for more than two decades. She serves clients in white collar defense, internal investigations, trial strategies and quasi-judicial matters such as monitorships. Erica knows how to run investigations, how to try and win cases, how to work collaboratively with clients and counsel, and how to work with the media in any crisis situation.
Associate Pastor, Azusa Christian Community, Azusa Christian Community and Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies
Reverend Mark V. Scott is the Associate Pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Boston. The Azusa Christian Community seeks to follow Jesus’ inaugural declaration to under the anointing of the Holy Spirit preach good news to the poor. Reverend Scott is a Fellow with the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies. He currently works at the Boston Public Health Commission as the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention. He is the Board chair for the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.
He is a board member of the Ella J. Baker House where he helped create the Violence Reduction Task Force. He directed the Community Health Worker program for the Codman Square Health Center. He was involved with Amachi effort to mobilize people of faith to mentor children who had a mother or father in prison. He served in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and in the U.S. Air Force.
Reverend Scott is married with four children and two grandchildren.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Senior Fellow and Chair, Violent Crime Work Group, at the Council on Criminal Justice
Director, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention
Paul is the director of Giffords Law Center’s Community Violence Initiative. Paul was raised in Southeast Los Angeles in an environment with gangs, drugs, and gun violence. He began his career as a volunteer for a hospital-based violence intervention organization and in 2005 co-founded Southern California Crossroads, a nonprofit organization that provides violence prevention and intervention services throughout the greater Los Angeles region.
In 2012, Paul co-founded the national Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention Conference, which brings over 800 practitioners in the field of community violence together to share best practice approaches to violence. In addition, Paul has also worked as a consultant on community violence in a number of places around the world, including Guatemala, London, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Tunisia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and El Salvador.
Partner, Faegre Drinker
Erica MacDonald is a former U.S. Attorney and district court judge who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court and presided over thousands of cases in state court for more than two decades. She serves clients in white collar defense, internal investigations, trial strategies and quasi-judicial matters such as monitorships. Erica knows how to run investigations, how to try and win cases, how to work collaboratively with clients and counsel, and how to work with the media in any crisis situation.
Associate Pastor, Azusa Christian Community, Azusa Christian Community and Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies
Reverend Mark V. Scott is the Associate Pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Boston. The Azusa Christian Community seeks to follow Jesus’ inaugural declaration to under the anointing of the Holy Spirit preach good news to the poor. Reverend Scott is a Fellow with the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies. He currently works at the Boston Public Health Commission as the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention. He is the Board chair for the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.
He is a board member of the Ella J. Baker House where he helped create the Violence Reduction Task Force. He directed the Community Health Worker program for the Codman Square Health Center. He was involved with Amachi effort to mobilize people of faith to mentor children who had a mother or father in prison. He served in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and in the U.S. Air Force.
Reverend Scott is married with four children and two grandchildren.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Senior Fellow and Chair, Violent Crime Work Group, at the Council on Criminal Justice
Director, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention
Paul is the director of Giffords Law Center’s Community Violence Initiative. Paul was raised in Southeast Los Angeles in an environment with gangs, drugs, and gun violence. He began his career as a volunteer for a hospital-based violence intervention organization and in 2005 co-founded Southern California Crossroads, a nonprofit organization that provides violence prevention and intervention services throughout the greater Los Angeles region.
In 2012, Paul co-founded the national Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention Conference, which brings over 800 practitioners in the field of community violence together to share best practice approaches to violence. In addition, Paul has also worked as a consultant on community violence in a number of places around the world, including Guatemala, London, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, Tunisia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and El Salvador.
Partner, Faegre Drinker
Erica MacDonald is a former U.S. Attorney and district court judge who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court and presided over thousands of cases in state court for more than two decades. She serves clients in white collar defense, internal investigations, trial strategies and quasi-judicial matters such as monitorships. Erica knows how to run investigations, how to try and win cases, how to work collaboratively with clients and counsel, and how to work with the media in any crisis situation.
Associate Pastor, Azusa Christian Community, Azusa Christian Community and Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies
Reverend Mark V. Scott is the Associate Pastor of the Azusa Christian Community in Boston. The Azusa Christian Community seeks to follow Jesus’ inaugural declaration to under the anointing of the Holy Spirit preach good news to the poor. Reverend Scott is a Fellow with the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies. He currently works at the Boston Public Health Commission as the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention. He is the Board chair for the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.
He is a board member of the Ella J. Baker House where he helped create the Violence Reduction Task Force. He directed the Community Health Worker program for the Codman Square Health Center. He was involved with Amachi effort to mobilize people of faith to mentor children who had a mother or father in prison. He served in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and in the U.S. Air Force.
Reverend Scott is married with four children and two grandchildren.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Andrew Oldham is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before ascending to the bench, Judge Oldham served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, where he advised the Governor on a range of issues under federal and state law and managed litigation in which the Governor was an interested party. Before that he served as Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Texas, where he represented Texas in federal courts across the country, including twice before the United States Supreme Court. Before moving to Texas, Judge Oldham was an attorney at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C. His practice focused on appellate litigation in federal courts of appeals throughout the country. Before entering private practice, Judge Oldham served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He also worked as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2006 to 2008. Judge Oldham earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia with highest honors, a Truman Scholarship for graduate school, an M. Phil., first class (with distinction), from Cambridge University, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Amul R. Thapar serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His judicial career began in 2007 when President George W. Bush nominated him to serve on the Eastern District of Kentucky, making him the first South Asian Article III judge in American history. In 2017, he became President Donald J. Trump’s first appellate court nominee.
Before joining the bench, Judge Thapar served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. While United States Attorney, Judge Thapar worked on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (“AGAC”) and chaired the AGAC’s Controlled Substances and Asset Forfeiture subcommittee. He also served on the Terrorism and National Security subcommittee, the Violent Crime subcommittee, and the Child Exploitation working group.
Judge Thapar has worked in private practice, at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Southern District of Ohio and the District of Columbia.
Judge Thapar received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, Judge Thapar worked as a law clerk to the Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Judge Thapar has also published in the Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, and Catholic University Law Review. He teaches courses on originalism, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and legal writing at Notre Dame Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and Vanderbilt Law School.
The People’s Justice: Clarence Thomas and the Constitutional Stories that Define Him
Co-hosted by The Heritage Foundation
Washington, DCPanel 1: What is Judicial Courage?
Columbus, OHA Discussion on Courage, Careers, and Originalism
Houston Lawyers Chapter
Houston, TXWhat Can Be Done About Violent Crime?
Thomas Abt, Paul Carillo, Erica H. MacDonald, Mark V. Scott, Amul R. Thapar
America’s national conversation about firearms is primarily about mass shootings and gun control. Some experts...
What Can Be Done About Violent Crime?
Thomas Abt, Paul Carillo, Erica H. MacDonald, Mark V. Scott, Amul R. Thapar
America’s national conversation about firearms is primarily about mass shootings and gun control. Some experts...
What Can Be Done About Violent Crime?
National Lawyers Convention 2022
Washington, DCBanquet, Founders & Foes (An Exchange)
Andrew Oldham, Amul R. Thapar
Many originalists are well-versed in The Federalist Papers. They rely on these documents to better...
Banquet, Founders & Foes (An Exchange)
Andrew Oldham, Amul R. Thapar
Many originalists are well-versed in The Federalist Papers. They rely on these documents to better...
Banquet, Founders & Foes (An Exchange)
2022 National Student Symposium
Charlottesville, VAThe Federalist Paper, Winter 2022
The Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention was held in November and, as always, it was...