Anne Fleming Research Professor and Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Faculty Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Stephanie Barclay is a Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School, and the Faculty Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Her research focuses on the role our different democratic institutions play in protecting minority rights, particularly at the intersection of free speech and religious exercise. Barclay‘s work is published or is forthcoming in leading journals such as the Harvard Law Review, the Chicago Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal Forum. One of her articles was also selected for the 2020 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. Her work has been featured in many media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg BNA, The Hill, and Law 360. And her work has also been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to joining Georgetown, Barclay was twice voted Professor of the Year. Barclay has also litigated constitutional cases at both the trial and appellate level, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Barclay served as a law clerk to Judge N. Randy Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Justice Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Barclay is a Faculty Affiliate at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School; and she is a Nootbaar Fellow at the Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics at Pepperdine University. She currently serves as the Chair for the AALS Law and Religion Section and as a Member of the Executive Committee for the AALS Constitutional Law Section. She graduated summa cum laude from BYU Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She is completing a Ph.D. in Law at Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar and a Tang Scholar.
John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Associate Dean for External Engagement, University of Notre Dame Law School
Nicole Stelle Garnett is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where she also serves as the Associate Dean for External Engagement and directs the Notre Dame Education Law Project. Her teaching and research focus on education law and policy, religious liberty, and topics related to property law (especially land use and urban development policies). In addition to dozens of articles on these subjects, she is the author of Lost Classroom, Lost Community: Catholic Schools' Importance in Urban America (University of Chicago Press, 2014) and Ordering the City: Land Use, Policing and the Restoration of Urban America (Yale University Press, 2009).
Garnett received her B.A. with distinction in Political Science from Stanford University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Morris S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining the law school faculty in 1999, she worked for two years as a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a non-profit public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., where she helped to defend the constitutionality of the nation's first private-school-choice programs.
At Notre Dame, Garnett is a faculty fellow in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, and deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She also is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Judge Menashi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 14, 2019. Previously, he served as special assistant and associate counsel to the President in the White House and as acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. He was assistant professor of law at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where he taught administrative law and civil procedure, and a research fellow at New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He was also a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, where he practiced appellate and commercial litigation, and served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, and from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
On April 10, 2026, President Trump nominated Matthew Schwartz to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was confirmed on July 14, 2026.
Prior to his appointment, Matthew Schwartz was a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group. He joined the Firm in 2007 after clerking for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was elected partner in 2011.
Mr. Schwartz’s wide-ranging practice comprises complex litigation, arbitration, and government investigations in the areas of securities law, M&A, derivative suits, antitrust, bank regulation, contracts, constitutional law, administrative law and general commercial litigation. He has represented some of the world’s leading corporations, financial institutions, and industry organizations. Mr. Schwartz provides regular advice on legislation and regulations in the AI, banking, FinTech, and payments fields.
Matt also regularly speaks and writes on legal ethics issues.
Attorney, Texas Public Policy Foundation
Eric Heigis is an attorney with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s litigation arm, the Center for the American Future. He litigates cases involving administrative law, individual rights, and structural limits on government power. Prior to joining the Foundation, he served in various roles on Capitol Hill, including as an intern for Senator Ted Cruz, Legislative Assistant for Representative Dave Brat, Legislative Director for Representative Mark Meadows, and General Counsel for Senator Ted Budd. In his eight years working for Congress he covered nearly every policy area and drafted dozens of legislative proposals—several of which became law.
Eric received his B.A. from American University and J.D., magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. He was selected as a Bradley Scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and served as Executive Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. He is licensed to practice law in California and Virginia. He is admitted to practice before all federal district courts in Texas and the Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits.
Eric is a pilot and certificated flight instructor, and in his free time he enjoys finding new fly-in destinations to visit with his wife. He also volunteers with the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program and is a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol.
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke LLP
Misha leads Troutman Peppers' national appellate and Supreme Court practice. Most recently, he successfully obtained orders from the Supreme Court blocking an unconstitutional restriction on places of worship, as well as overturning a lower court order that had blocked several state election laws. He has also argued and prevailed before the Supreme Court in Gill v. Whitford, one of the most significant redistricting cases in decades, as well as Murr v. Wisconsin, a high-stakes regulatory taking case.
Before joining Troutman, Misha served as Solicitor General of the State of Wisconsin. Misha previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court, Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit, and Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was President of the Federalist Society Chapter.
Erin Smith serves as Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute. Before joining First Liberty, Erin served as Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Unit.
Erin graduated summa cum laude from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma City University Law Review, president of the OKC Student Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and vice president of the OCU Christian Legal Society. She externed for the Solicitor General of Oklahoma, and published her note, Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes, Hand Grenades … and Hardison? The 45-year Reign Continues, in the Oklahoma City University Law Review. Erin spent her summers interning at First Liberty Institute and the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General.
Erin received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Oklahoma State University in 2019, graduating summa cum laude.
Erin is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Supervising Senior Attorney, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)
JT joined FIRE after six years of running his own law firm, where he focused on litigating First Amendment, anti-SLAPP, and digital media issues. During that time, JT testified before the Texas legislature on anti-SLAPP issues and advised organizations and officials on legislation and policy affecting freedom of speech and freedom of the press. He has also provided commentary on First Amendment and open government issues in several media outlets, including The Texas Tribune, Capital Tonight, and Vice.
Before opening his own firm, JT practiced at two nationally prominent firms in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.
JT graduated from Vanderbilt University with a double major in computer science and economics. He then earned his law degree from William and Mary Law School.
JT is a member of the Texas, Virginia, and District of Columbia bars. He is also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and several United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts.
In his free time, JT can usually be found fly fishing, growing hot peppers, and spending time with his family.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Robert Frommer serves as a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice. He joined the Institute in August 2008 and is currently litigating on behalf of SpeechNow.org, a group challenging the federal campaign finance laws regarding free speech.
Before joining IJ, Robert was an attorney with the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he litigated both complex litigation and public-interest matters. He is a former law clerk to Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Robert received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 2004, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as both a book review editor for the Michigan Law Review and president of the Federalist Society student chapter. Before going to law school, Robert earned a master's degree in economics from George Mason University.
Adam Griffin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. During law school, he served as a research assistant to Professor Stephen E. Sachs and UNC Law Dean Martin Brinkley. After law school, Adam spent two years litigating for liberty at the Institute for Justice as an inaugural Law and Liberty Fellow. He then served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Richard E. Myers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and previously worked at Pacific Legal Foundation and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute.
Shapiro is the author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites (2025) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, writes the Shapiro’s Gavel newsletter on Substack, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.
Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court. He lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, is a member of the board of fellows of the Jewish Policy Center, was an inaugural Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute, and has been an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University and University of Mississippi. He is also the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a barrister in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Earlier in his career, Shapiro was a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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Litigation Update: United States v. Moore-Bush
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