Partner, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
Erik Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, Senators, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 120 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 70 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and he was a sole practitioner from 1997 to 2018. He joined the firm of Schaerr | Jaffe LLP in 2018.
Vice President and Deputy Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer B. Dickey is vice president and deputy chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dickey handles a variety of litigation matters for the Chamber.
Dickey joined the Chamber following her service as Acting Assistant Attorney General and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. She also previously served as Deputy Associate Attorney General, providing strategic oversight of the Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, and Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, as well as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. In the latter capacity, she provided legal advice on a wide array of executive actions and rulemakings, civil litigation, and judicial nominations.
Dickey also practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis LLP before her government service. She was a commercial and appellate litigator, representing businesses in federal and state courts.
Earlier in her career, Dickey served as a law clerk for the Honorable Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Dickey earned her law degree magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where she was an Executive Editor of the Duke Law Journal, and her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
Counsel, Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP
Shannon Grammel is a litigator with experience at all levels of federal and state courts.
Ms. Grammel has represented both private- and public-sector clients in a broad array of substantive legal areas, including constitutional law, administrative law, election law, and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Grammel has authored briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States, several federal courts of appeals, multiple state supreme courts, and federal and state trial courts. She has also argued in state appellate court and has participated in both federal- and state-court trials.
Before joining Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP, Ms. Grammel served as Deputy Solicitor General of Kansas. Before that, she was a member of the Supreme Court & Appellate group in Latham & Watkins LLP’s Washington D.C. office.
Ms. Grammel served as a law clerk for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Ms. Grammel earned her law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was President of the Stanford Law Review.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Free Speech
Brett Nolan is a Senior Attorney at the Institute for Free Speech, a public interest law firm that defends the First Amendment rights of those engaged in political speech and advocacy around the country.
Before joining the Institute, Brett served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of Kentucky, where he represented the Commonwealth in a wide variety of high-stakes litigation at every level of state and federal court. In that role, Brett led a successful challenge against the Department of Treasury over the constitutionality of a federal law limiting the ability of states to modify their tax codes, and he helped secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory that upheld a state’s constitutional right to defend its interests in federal court.
Prior to that, Brett served as the Deputy General Counsel to the former Governor of Kentucky, where he advised the governor and other executive branch officials on legal and policy issues and represented them in litigation. Brett clerked for Judge John Nalbandian of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Karen K. Caldwell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Between clerkships, he worked in private practice. Brett received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he graduated with High Honors and was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review.
Partner, Bailey Glasser LLP
Greg Porter has extensive trial and class action experience in complex pension, 401(k) plan, and employee stock ownership plan (ESOPs) lawsuits in federal court. Greg has led Bailey Glasser’s ERISA and trust practice to major trial and appellate victories, including seminal decisions in the Seventh and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal and a $30 million trial judgment that broke new ground for ESOPs. With co-counsel, the firm’s ERISA practice won a 9-0 decision in the Supreme Court, Intel Corp v. Sulyma, that established key statute of limitations rights for employees in ERISA cases.
Greg has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of employees who lost retirement savings in 401(k) plans and ESOPs. He understands complex financial transactions, investments, and instruments.
Greg has also developed techniques for successfully investigating and prosecuting complex lawsuits involving business valuation, securities lending, hedge funds, and private equity. He has argued appeals in the Second, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Senior Fellow, Stand Together Trust
Vikrant Reddy is a senior fellow at Stand Together Trust, specializing in the area of criminal justice reform. Reddy previously served as a senior policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), where he managed the launch of TPPF’s national Right on Crime initiative in 2010. He has worked as a research assistant at the Cato Institute, as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Gina M. Benavides in Texas, and as an attorney in private practice. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society. He is also an appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Texas State Advisory Committee.
Reddy’s research and scholarly opinions have appeared in a range of national media outlets, including USA Today, National Review, The Federalist, and others.
Reddy earned his law degree from the Southern Methodist University School of Law. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC
Mr. Weir is an experienced litigator who focuses on constitutional and regulatory matters. He has particular expertise in cases involving the First and Fourteenth Amendments, civil rights statutes, and challenges to federal agency actions. He has briefed and presented oral argument in state and federal courts across the country, including in the Supreme Court of the United States. He was trial counsel and part of the team that prevailed before the Supreme Court in the landmark case Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina.
Since 2015, Mr. Weir has been an adjunct professor for the Administrative Law and Supreme court clinics at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He is a former law clerk to Judge Carlos T. Bea of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He earned his A.B. cum laude from Georgetown University and his J.D. summa cum laude from George Mason University School of Law.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
James Harvie Wilkinson III is an Article III federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He joined the Court in 1984 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan.
Born in New York City, New York, Wilkinson graduated from Yale University with his Bachelor's degree in 1967. Wilkinson served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1969 and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972.
On the recommendation of Virginia U.S. Senator John Warner, Wilkinson was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan on January 30, 1984 to a seat vacated by John Butzner, Jr.,. Wilkinson was confirmed by the Senate on August 9, 1984 on a Senate vote and received commission on August 13, 1984. Wilkinson served as the Chief Judge of the Court from 1996 to 2003.
Director, Project for International Religious Liberty, Hudson Institute
Michael J. Horowitz is director of Hudson Institute's Project for Civil Justice Reform and Project for International Religious Liberty. He served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Reagan Administration, and has taught law at the University of Mississippi and Georgetown. He has also practiced private law as a partner at national law firms. Horowitz joined Hudson Institute as a Senior Fellow where he has put together left-right coalitions on a wide variety of foreign and domestic issues. He has written frequently and is regularly called to testify and consult with Congress.
Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP
Troy A. Eid focuses his litigation, mediation and transactional practice on government enforcement, investigations and compliance, environmental law, energy and natural resource development, and Federal Indian law and Native American and Alaska Native tribal law. Troy is a trusted advocate and mediator in the Rocky Mountain West and in federal, state and tribal trial and appellate courtrooms across the country.
Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Francis J. Menton, Jr. is a partner in the Litigation Department and Co-Chair of the Business Litigation Practice Group of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in New York. Mr. Menton specializes in complex and technical commercial litigation, principally contract and securities claims. He has a nationwide trial practice, and has tried cases in state and federal courts including Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Puerto Rico, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
Mr. Menton is the author of "New Opportunities for Defendants in Securities Class Actions," Engage (Fall 2007), "Can You Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft?" New York Law Journal (April 29, 2002), and "Top Ten Federal Government Efforts to Suppress Free Speech," Federalist Society Free Speech and Election Law News (Summer 2000, 1999, 1998). He also authored "Evaluating Claims Under The Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995," New York Law Journal (January 6, 1996).
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton
Erik S. Jaffe
Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton concerns Texas Law H.B. 1181, and what precedent should...
A Seat at the Sitting - January 2025
Jennifer B. Dickey, Michael R. Dimino, Shannon Grammel Denmark, Brett Nolan, Gregory Y. Porter, Vikrant P. Reddy, Bryan Weir
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
Topics
Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton: Regulating Access to Adult Content Doesn’t Justify Flouting the First Amendment and Long-Established Precedent
This term, the Supreme Court will review the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Free Speech Coalition...
Did the Law Cause Columbine?
George Nicholson, Ann Beeson, William F. Kilpatrick, J. Harvie Wilkinson, Michael J. Horowitz, James Rapp, Troy A. Eid
APPEARANCES:JUDGE GEORGE NICHOLSON (Court of Appeals, State of California)PANELISTS:MR. TROY EID (Discussion Leader) (Chief Counsel...
Top Ten Federal Government Efforts to Suppress Free Speech 1998-99
Francis J. Menton
It's been another year of tireless struggle by the Government to suppress the free speech...