Executive Director, James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding
Garrett Snedeker is the James Wilson Institute's Executive Director. In addition to close collaboration with JWI's Co-Directors on the intellectual focuses of the Institute, he is the main point of contact for all partnership opportunities and media inquiries as well as the producer of Natural Law Moment and the host of the Anchoring Truths Podcast. He is a graduate of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he served on the George Mason Law Review as Articles Editor. He graduated from Amherst College, as a one-time student of Prof. Hadley Arkes, and formerly worked as editor of the congressional research website LegiStorm. His writing has been featured in Newsweek, The Federalist, The American Mind, The American Conservative, Starting Points Journal, and the Online Library of Law & Liberty. He has been quoted in Politico, Roll Call, and the Boston Herald and collaborated on stories for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Journal. He has also, since 2023, been a staff attorney at New Civil Liberties Alliance.
State’s Attorney, DuPage County, Illinois
A career prosecutor with over 31 years of experience and counting, Bob Berlin was sworn in as DuPage County State’s Attorney on December 14, 2010, after being appointed to complete the unexpired term of Joseph Birkett. In 2012, 2016, and 2020, Bob was elected to full four-year terms as DuPage County State’s Attorney. He serves as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for the 2nd largest county in Illinois and leads an office of 87 Assistant State’s Attorneys and 90 support staff and investigators.
Berlin began his career in 1987 as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County. During his tenure in Cook County, Bob’s assignments included the criminal appeals, misdemeanor, felony review, homicide-sexual assault preliminary hearing, child exploitation, and felony trial divisions. In 2001, Bob left the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office opting to continue his career as First Assistant State’s Attorney for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office. As First Assistant State’s Attorney, Bob managed and supervised the entire Office staff of more than 140 lawyers and support staff.
While in Kane County, Bob developed and implemented new policies including the Community Prosecutions and a Felony Review Unit. Bob also served as Chief of the Priority Prosecutions Unit. In 2004, Bob began working for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office as Deputy Chief of the Office’s Juvenile Division. During the next several years, Bob was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Division and in April 2010, Chief of the Criminal Bureau, where he supervised all Assistant State’s Attorneys charged with the criminal prosecutions function of the Office.
In his 31-year career as a prosecutor, Bob has tried more than 85 felony jury trials, 55 of which involved first-degree murder. Bob has also tried hundreds of felony bench trials, including more than 50 homicide cases.
Appellate Court Justice, Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District
Justice Eugene Doherty graduated summa cum laude from the Northern Illinois University School of Law in 1989. After serving as a law clerk to Honorable Philip G. Reinhard at the Illinois Appellate Court, Justice Doherty engaged in a civil litigation practice in Rockford, Illinois. The Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in 2007, a position to which he was elected in 2008 and retained in 2012 and 2020. He served as chief judge of the 17th Circuit from 2018 through 2021. Justice Doherty is the author of a variety of articles in several legal publications including the Illinois Bar Journal, and he has been an instructor at the Illinois Education Conference multiple times. He serves on several Supreme Court Committees, including serving as chair of the e-Business Policy Advisory Board and vice-chair of the COVID-19 Task Force. In 2022, the Illinois Supreme Court assigned him to the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District.
Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology & Co-Director, Center for Criminal Justice, Loyola University Chicago
David Olson is a Professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at Loyola University Chicago, where he is the Co-Director (with Don Stemen) of Loyola’s interdisciplinary Center for Criminal Justice Research. Previously Dr. Olson served as the Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the Director of the Department’s Graduate Program, and as Director of Loyola’s interdisciplinary Forensic Science Program. Dr. Olson currently serves as the Chairperson for the advisory boards of the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, and as a member of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s Board through separate gubernatorial appointments. Dr. Olson also currently serves on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices Implementation Task Force, the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Firearm Violence Research Group, and the Illinois Pretrial Practices Data Oversight Board.
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Olson worked at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, where he was the director of Illinois’ Statewide Drug and Violent Crime Control Strategy Impact Evaluation Program and was responsible for overseeing the evaluation and monitoring of federally funded drug control efforts in the State of Illinois. For six years, Dr. Olson served as a Special Assistant to the Cook County Sheriff through a cooperative agreement between Loyola and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
David has served as staff to the Illinois Governor’s Task Force on Crime and Corrections (1992-1993), the Illinois Legislative Committee on Juvenile Justice (1994-1996), the Illinois Truth-in-Sentencing Commission (1996-1998), the Illinois Governor’s Community Safety and Prisoner Re-Entry Management Workgroup/Commission (2004-2006), and the Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee (2007-2010). In 2015 Dr. Olson was appointed as a Commissioner to the Illinois Governor’s Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform. Dr. Olson has worked with a variety of federal, state and local agencies to develop and evaluate programs and policies, particularly in the area of community and institutional corrections, during his 35 years in the field of criminal justice.
Dr. Olson has published more than 100 articles, research bulletins and research reports, and has made more than 100 presentations at professional conferences and training symposia. Some of David’s most recent research has been published in The Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, the Journal of Crime and Justice, and by the Duke University School of Law’s Center for Firearms Law.
Dr. Olson received his B.S. in Criminal Justice from Loyola University Chicago, his M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his Ph.D. in Political Science/Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was the recipient of the Assistant United States Attorney General’s Graduate Research Fellowship. In 2015 Dr. Olson received the John Howard Association Outstanding Research Contributions Award, and in 2011 he received the Hans W. Mattick Award for outstanding accomplishments in the field of criminology and criminal justice research from the Illinois Academy of Criminology.
Chief Judge, Florida Eleventh Judicial Circuit
Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan was appointed to the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in April 2012 and was sworn in as the Court's Chief Judge in July 2025. She has also served as a judge in the Criminal Division. Prior to her appointment, Judge Fajardo Orshan was a partner in her law firm where she specialized in the area of Family and Matrimonial Law. Judge Fajardo Orshan began her legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami-Dade County and also worked in the area of civil litigation with the firm of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP.
Throughout her legal and judicial career, Judge Fajardo Orshan has been involved with numerous civic and professional organizations, and in many, she assumed leadership positions. She continues to remain involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Cuban American Bar Association, the Dade County Bar Association, the Federalist Society and Kidside. As a member of the judiciary, Judge Fajardo Orshan is also involved with the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Professionalism Committee, the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges, the Florida Bar Family Law Rules Committee, and the Florida Supreme Court Steering Committee on Families and Children.
Judge Fajardo Orshan also enjoys grooming future lawyers as adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law where she teaches Family Law.
Judge Fajardo Orshan has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1996 and is a member of the Federal Bar for the Southern District of Florida. Judge Fajardo Orshan graduated from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center and received a Bachelor's in Science degree from Florida International University.
Senior Legal Fellow, Courts and the Constitution, Legal Policy Center, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Senior Legal Fellow of Courts and the Constitution at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Chief Assistant State Attorney, Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office
Stephen K. Talpins is a Chief Assistant State Attorney at the Miami-Dade County (Florida) State Attorney’s Office. He reports directly to the State Attorney and participates on the executive and other key teams. He is responsible for supervising the Felony Divisions in Unit IV, Gang Prosecutions Unit, Treatment Courts Unit, Community Outreach Division, and Media Team. He also serves as the office lead on Smart Justice programming.
Mr. Talpins is a nationally recognized author, advocate, and speaker on Smart Justice and other criminal justice related issues. He has worked collaboratively and diplomatically with public, private, and non-profit stakeholders, published dozens of articles, given well over 150 presentations, served on multiple expert panels, and participated on the Boards of three non-profit associations. His efforts have been recognized by numerous organizations and agencies, including Citizens Against Drunk Impaired Drivers, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the National Commission Against Drunk Driving. During the past decade, The Century Council identified Mr. Talpins as “One of the 20 People to Watch,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave him a Public Safety Award, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (the office of the United States Drug Czar) named him an Advocate for Action, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police recognized him as an Ambassador of the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Program. Most recently, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) selected him as a member of the 2021 Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) program cohort.
Legal Director, ACLU Florida
Daniel Tilley is legal director of the ACLU of Florida since April 2019. He joined the organization in 2012 as a staff attorney whose work primarily focused on the LGBT community. Among his other work, he served as lead counsel in the ACLU’s federal-court litigation that, as part of a pair of consolidated cases and a team of lawyers, brought marriage equality to Florida in January 2015. Daniel studied classical piano and German language and literature at New York University before returning to his home state for law school at the University of Georgia.
During law school, Daniel received the Spurgeon Public Interest Fellowship, was a member of the Georgia Law Review and the Order of the Coif, and interned in Arusha, Tanzania at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Before joining the ACLU, Daniel clerked in Atlanta at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. While in D.C., he served on the D.C. Lawyer Chapter board of the American Constitution Society.
Executive Director, Ohio Dental Association
David J. Owsiany is the executive director of the Ohio Dental Association and a past president of the Columbus Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
He has served as CEO of a statewide health care association, president of the Buckeye Institute, chief of policy for the Ohio Department of Insurance, judicial law clerk for the Illinois Appellate Court, and staffer on the United State Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Owsiany has written dozens of articles on legal and public policy issues for various publications, including the University of Toledo Law Review, the Federalist Society's State Court Docket Watch, Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Crain’s Cleveland Business, and Akron Beacon Journal.
Owsiany received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Senior Fellow, National Review
Bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy is a contributing editor at National Review, a senior fellow at National Review Institute, and a Fox News contributor. He is a former Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and led the terrorism prosecution against the “Blind Sheikh” (Omar Abdel Rahman) and eleven other jihadists for conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. During is 20-year career as a prosecutor, he received numerous honors, including the Justice Department’s highest awards. Andy speaks and writes widely on law and national security, radical Islam, politics, and culture. He has testified before Congress as an expert on issues of constitutional law, counterterrorism, and law-enforcement. He is a columnist for The Hill, and his essays and book reviews appear frequently at The New Criterion. His most recent New York Times bestselling book is Ball of Collusion (Encounter Books, 2019), about the Russiagate controversy (an updated version was published in 2020). His other books include Willful Blindness (2008), The Grand Jihad (2010), Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy (2012), and Faithless Execution (2014). He has also written several pamphlets in the Broadside series published by Encounter Books, most recently Islam and Free Speech (2015).
Co-Founder, American Society of Evidence-Based Policing
Renée J. Mitchell served in the Sacramento Police Department for twenty-two years and is currently a Senior Police Researcher with RTI International. She holds a B.S. in Psychology, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology, an M.B.A., a J.D., and a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Cambridge. She was a 2009/2010 Fulbright Police Research Fellow where completed research in the area of juvenile gang violence at the London Metropolitan Police Service. You can view her TEDx talks, “Research not protests” and “Policing in America Needs to Change: Trust me I’m a Cop”, where she advocates for evidence-based policing.
She is a co-founder of the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, a National Police Foundation Fellow, a BetaGov Fellow, a member of the George Mason Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame, and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. Her research areas include policing, evidence-based crime prevention, evaluation research and methods, place-based criminology, police/citizen communication, and procedural justice.
She has published her work in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and the Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing. She has an edited book with Dr. Laura Huey, Evidence Based Policing: An introduction, and coming out next March Implementing Evidence-Based Research: A How to Guide for Police Organizations.
Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Craig Trainor is Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. President Trump nominated Mr. Trainor for this position on February 11, 2025, and the United States Senate confirmed him on October 7, 2025.
A “Day One” Trump-Vance Administration official, he previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education, where he spearheaded the Department’s efforts to reorient America’s civil rights regime from an unjust spoils system to one that protects the rights of all Americans. Mr. Trainor’s February 14, 2025, “Dear Colleague” letter is widely considered the Trump Administration’s blueprint for enforcing civil rights laws and restoring the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.
Prior to serving in the Trump-Vance Administration, he was Senior Special Counsel with the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Senior Litigation Counsel with the America First Policy Institute under the Honorable Pam Bondi.
For over ten years, Mr. Trainor was a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in New York City, litigating cases in New York state court and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Prior to founding his law practice, he served as a New York City prosecutor, an associate attorney at a white collar criminal defense firm, and a law clerk to Chief Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Director, Center for Legal Policy, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
James R. Copland is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and director of Legal Policy. In those roles, he develops and communicates novel, sound ideas on how to improve America’s civil- and criminal-justice systems. His forthcoming book, The Unelected: How an Unaccountable Elite is Governing America (Encounter Books) will be released on September 8, 2020. He has testified before Congress as well as state and municipal legislatures; and has authored many policy briefs, book chapters, articles and opinion pieces in a variety of publications, including the Harvard Business Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation, the Wall Street Journal, National Law Journal, and USA Today. Copland speaks regularly on civil- and criminal-justice issues; has made hundreds of media appearances in such outlets as PBS, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, C-Span, and NPR; and is frequently cited in news articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, and Forbes. In 2011 and 2012, he was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors “Directorship 100” list, which designates the individuals most influential over U.S. corporate governance.
Prior to joining MI, Copland was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in New York. Earlier, he was a law clerk for Ralph K. Winter on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Copland has been a director of two privately held manufacturing companies since 1997 and has served on many public and nonprofit boards. He holds a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Yale, where he was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics; an M.Sc. in the politics of the world economy from the London School of Economics; and a B.A. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Director of Strategy and New Initiatives, Vera Institute of Justice
Insha is the director of strategy & new initiatives. As a member of Vera's leadership team, she helps to incubate new work in the areas of prosecutorial reform, bail, and decarceration, with a focus on developing advocacy-related strategies and accountability. Having practiced as a public defender before coming to Vera, she is a nationally-recognized expert on bail and has developed bail legislation and policies, including recently passed reforms in New York State, and provided technical assistance and training to advocates, judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors on bail reform, pretrial justice, and reducing jail incarceration.
From 2016-2017, Insha served as staff to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice & Incarceration Reform, a blue-ribbon commission chaired by former Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman of the New York State Court of Appeals that developed a blueprint to close Rikers Island. She has been quoted as an expert on bail in The Nation, City and State, New York Times, NPR, and PBS, among other outlets. Prior to Vera, Insha was a public defender at The Bronx Defenders. She earned her J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law and her B.A. in Africana Studies from Vassar College. She currently serves on the boards of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, and the New York State Appellate Division's Indigent Defense Organization Oversight Committee.
Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Craig Trainor is Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. President Trump nominated Mr. Trainor for this position on February 11, 2025, and the United States Senate confirmed him on October 7, 2025.
A “Day One” Trump-Vance Administration official, he previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education, where he spearheaded the Department’s efforts to reorient America’s civil rights regime from an unjust spoils system to one that protects the rights of all Americans. Mr. Trainor’s February 14, 2025, “Dear Colleague” letter is widely considered the Trump Administration’s blueprint for enforcing civil rights laws and restoring the Constitution’s promise of equal protection.
Prior to serving in the Trump-Vance Administration, he was Senior Special Counsel with the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Senior Litigation Counsel with the America First Policy Institute under the Honorable Pam Bondi.
For over ten years, Mr. Trainor was a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in New York City, litigating cases in New York state court and the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Prior to founding his law practice, he served as a New York City prosecutor, an associate attorney at a white collar criminal defense firm, and a law clerk to Chief Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Independence Institute
Professor Robert G. Natelson is a constitutional scholar and author.
Rob’s constitutional scholarship has been cited repeatedly by justices and parties at the U.S. Supreme Court—as well as by federal appeals courts, and at least 18 state supreme courts.
Rob’s research into the Constitution’s original meaning has carried him to libraries throughout the United States and in Britain, including four months at Oxford University. His books and articles span many different parts of the Constitution, including groundbreaking studies of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Indian Commerce Clause, federalism, Founding-Era interpretation, regulation of elections, and the amendment process of Article V. He created the first-ever online bibliography for 18th century materials used in constitutional research. He is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (on Magna Carta). He contributed eight essays to the third edition of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution: five on the amendment procedure and one each on the Guarantee Clause, the Postal Clause, and the Recess Appointments Clause.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied explicitly on Rob’s research in 41 citations in 13 separate cases.
Illinois Supreme Court Rules Monetary Bail Not Required By Bail Clause in State Constitution
Garrett Snedeker
In July 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling in Rowe v. Raoul,...
Bail Reform: Illinois’ Experience After 9 months
Robert Berlin, Eugene Doherty, Marc Levin, David Olson
Balancing safety and justice is especially challenging in the pretrial context where difficult decisions must...
Rogue or Righteous? Debating the Role of Prosecutors in Today's Legal Landscape
Ariana Fajardo Orshan, Zack Smith, Stephen Talpins, Daniel Boaz Tilley
Please join the Miami Lawyers Chapter for a panel event discussing the role of prosecutors...
DuBose v. McGuffey
David J. Owsiany
In recent years, a debate has emerged related to the appropriate role of bail in...
The Biden Administration on Policing: What's the Verdict?
Marc Levin, Andrew McCarthy, Renee Mitchell
Rising homicide rates, challenges in fully staffing police departments, and a shortfall in trust between...
In the Rush to Reform, Prudence Is Among the Highest Duties: How to Responsibly Reform Cash Bail
Craig Trainor
Over the last two decades, the politics of American criminal law has made strange bedfellows....
Race and Policing
James R. Copland
In this teleforum, James R. Copland will discuss competing legislative proposals in Congress, in the...
Criminal Law Update: A Survey of State Law Changes in 2019
Robert Alt
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
The Pros and Cons of New York’s Bail Reform
Insha Rahman, Craig Trainor
Almost exactly a year ago—on April 1, 2019—New York State enacted groundbreaking bail reform that...
Did the Constitution Grant the Federal Government Eminent Domain Power?: Using Eighteenth Century Law to Answer Constitutional Questions
Robert G. Natelson
Note from the Editor: This article asks whether the Constitution granted eminent domain power to...