Solicitor General, Alabama Office of the Attorney General
Barrett Bowdre serves as solicitor general in the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, where he oversees the state’s appellate docket and helps defend the state’s interests in courts throughout the country. He previously served as principal deputy solicitor general and, before that, deputy solicitor general. He is a former law clerk to Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, then-Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, and then-Chief Judge Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He holds a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Alabama School of Law and a B.A., cum laude, from Furman University. Before attending law school, he worked as a research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researched civic education initiatives and helped compile literary anthologies exploring the American character.
Founding Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
Charles J. Cooper is a founding member and the chairman of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, “one of the Nation’s leading litigation boutiques” (Above The Law 2017). The National Law Journal recently wrote that Mr. Cooper’s “brilliant legal career has so far spanned five decades and thrust Cooper into the spotlight in some of the most historic moments of the country’s modern history.” He has argued nine cases before the United States Supreme Court and scores of appeals before each of the 13 federal courts of appeals and several state supreme courts. He has been lead trial counsel in numerous complex, weeks-long trials in federal courts throughout the country. Named by the National Law Journal as one of the 10 best litigators in Washington D.C., Mr. Cooper’s work has been reported in numerous press accounts, and he has been called a “powerhouse attorney” (Fortune 2015), “a hard-nosed litigator” (Washington Post 2017), and “one of the country’s most in-demand civil litigators and a Washington legal institution unto himself” (The American Spectator 2014).
After graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1977, where he ranked first in his class and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Alabama Law Review, Mr. Cooper began his career as a law clerk to Judge Paul Roney on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and to Justice William H. Rehnquist in 1978–79. He then practiced law in Atlanta for two years before joining the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of, among other things, appellate matters. In 1985 President Reagan appointed him to the position of Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, which is the office responsible for providing legal opinions and advice to the White House, the Attorney General, and Executive Branch departments and agencies on issues covering the full spectrum of federal constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law.
In 1988 he returned to private practice as a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of McGuireWoods. From 1990 until the founding of Cooper & Kirk in 1996, he was a partner at Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), where he headed the firm’s Constitutional and Government Litigation Group.
Mr. Cooper has represented a wide range of public and private clients in highly complex constitutional, civil rights, antitrust, healthcare, banking, intellectual property, elections, campaign finance, administrative, commercial, and government contract cases. He has led trial teams in cases that have won judgments and settlements valued in the billions of dollars and that have established ground-breaking constitutional precedents.
Much of Mr. Cooper’s practice has involved representing high-profile clients in nationally prominent matters, including: the State of Florida in a First Amendment suit brought by the Disney Company concerning its autonomous regulatory authority over its Disney World property; the Commonwealth of Virginia in a suit seeking to enjoin the removal of noncitizens from its voter rolls; 38 members of the Duke Lacrosse team falsely accused of rape by officials of Duke University and the City of Durham; Harper Lee in a copyright dispute with the heirs of Gregory Peck; high-ranking former government officials such as former Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, and William Barr, and Ambassador John Bolton; several Governors and United States Senators; over 100 Members of Congress; and many state, territorial, and local government bodies and officials. He has also represented and advised government officials and public figures in connection with sensitive private issues that needed to be, and were, resolved discreetly without becoming matters of public record.
In 1998 Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Mr. Cooper to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, where he served for three terms. He also served as a Public Member, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, of the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Law Institute (since 1993) and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers (since 1996). He is also an active member of the Federalist Society and the Republican National Lawyers Association, which in 2010 named him Republican Lawyer of the Year and in 2016 honored him with its Edwin Meese III Award.
Mr. Cooper has published scores of articles and spoken extensively on constitutional and legal policy topics. He has appeared before congressional committees on 26 occasions, testifying as an expert on a wide variety of legal issues, including the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to administrative agencies, the diversity of citizenship jurisdiction of federal courts, statehood bills for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and the impeachment of President Clinton.
Partner, Consovoy McCarthy PLLC
Ms. Meehan’s practice focuses on constitutional litigation, election law matters, and complex federal statutes. She has represented states, state legislatures, and individual clients in the U.S. Supreme Court, state supreme courts, federal courts of appeals, and federal district courts. She has served as trial and appellate counsel for disputes about legislative privilege for state legislators and has successfully appealed to federal appellate courts to halt subpoenas targeting high-ranking public officials. She has served as trial and appellate counsel in recent redistricting litigation in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. And she has had the privilege of defending other state laws in every stage of litigation, including in state supreme courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2022, Ms. Meehan served as counsel of record for the Wisconsin Legislature in Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 595 U.S. 398 (2022). The U.S. Supreme Court granted the legislature’s request to summarily reverse the state supreme court’s redistricting decision, which would have racially gerrymandered electoral districts on the eve of elections. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue Patel v. Garland, 596 U.S. 328 (2022), and the court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Years earlier, the en banc Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Ms. Meehan to brief and argue a federal habeas case as the court-appointed amicus curiae, and the en banc court adopted the position she was appointed to argue. Before joining Consovoy, Ms. Meehan was a partner at Bartlit Beck, where she served as a trial lawyer for high-stakes commercial disputes and constitutional litigation.
Ms. Meehan is a former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was selected for Order of the Coif and served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. Before law school, Ms. Meehan graduated first in her class from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her first writing job was bylining a human-interest column inspired by Studs Terkel for her Indiana hometown paper.
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama
Justice William G. Parker, Jr. (“Will”) was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court on November 10, 2025, by Governor Kay Ivey. His appointment continues a career of public service dedicated to upholding the Constitution and preserving the rule of law.
Before joining the Court, Justice Parker served as an attorney in the Office of the Governor, including for nearly six years as General Counsel to the Governor. In this capacity, Justice Parker advised Governor Ivey and her administration on a wide range of issues—from education, economic development, ethics, and elections to procurement, government accountability, regulation, and public safety. By virtue of his position, Justice Parker served on the Alabama Judicial Resources Allocation Commission and the Court Advisory Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Prior to joining Governor Ivey’s office, Justice Parker worked for nearly ten years as Assistant Attorney General in the Constitutional Defense Division of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. There, Justice Parker handled cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts defending state policies in areas including court administration, campaign finance, economic policy, education, environmental law, immigration, public employment, public finance, and taxation.
Justice Parker came to the AG’s Office after clerking for the Honorable Ed Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Earlier in his career, he taught U.S. History at a Montgomery public high school.
Justice Parker graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was Senior Articles Editor for the Alabama Law Review and a member of the National Moot Court Team. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science with a concentration in education from Davidson College, where he was Chair of the College Honor Council and President of the College Union Board.
Justice Parker and his wife Karen are the proud parents of two school-aged sons. A seventh-generation Alabamian, Justice Parker is a Trustee for the Eleventh Circuit Historical Society, a member of the Federalist Society, and a member of First Methodist Church. Growing up, Justice Parker was active in Scouting, earning his Eagle, working at Camp Tukabatchee and Philmont Scout Ranch, and serving in 1999 as National Chief of the Order of the Arrow.
Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
Professor Rosen received his LLM with honors from the University of London, London School of Economics, in 1997, his JD from Yale Law School in 1994, and his BS from Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, in 1991 as a Merill Presidential Scholar. He served as a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal and an Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. Upon graduation from Yale, he clerked for the Honorable Edward E. Carnes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Montgomery, Alabama. From 1995 to 1996, he was an associate with the Washington, D.C. firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. From 1998 to 2002, he worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Market Regulation, where he achieved the rank of Special Counsel. During his time at the Commission, he provided counsel on matters before the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, aided the restoration of financial markets following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, assisted with legislative drafting, and worked on matters including foreign market access, financial derivatives, market structure, and the regulation of exchanges and over-the-counter markets. While at the SEC, Professor Rosen received the Commission's Law and Policy Award and the Manuel F. Cohen Award from the Securities Law Committee of the Federal Bar Association. Before arriving at the University of Alabama, he served as the first Fellow for the Fordham University School of Law's Center for Corporate, Securities and Financial Law in New York City. He has spoken both in the United States and abroad at events sponsored by such organizations as the Association of American Law Schools, the American Society of International Law, the Law and Society Association, the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, Futures Industry Association, the Small Business Committee of the American Bar Association's Section on Business Law, the Washington Campus, National Regulatory Services, and the United Kingdom's City and Financial Conferences.
Professor Rosen has taught multiple courses at the law school including business organizations, securities regulation, international business transactions, economy in crisis (public policy-making role-playing simulation course), integrated financial regulation (banking, commodities, securities, and insurance law), and conflict of laws. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics, Finance, and Legal Studies at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and has been appointed to The University of Alabama Graduate School faculty in connection with his work on PhD dissertation committees. His focus on inter-disciplinary matters also has led to his membership in organizations such as the American Economic Association, American Finance Association, and American Law and Economics Association. He has advised The Journal of the Legal Profession and was awarded the Edward M. Friend Jr. Award in the year he coached the law school's team to its first appearance in the national final rounds as a super-regional champion in the American Bar Association's National Appellate Advocacy Competition. He has served as Director of the law school's successful judicial clerkship program, and the law school's students selected him for the 2007-2008 Outstanding Faculty Member Award.
Since joining the legal academy, Professor Rosen continues his public policy work and has advised federal and state government officials. His expertise is sought in various contexts. For example, he has testified before the Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives. Professor Rosen also currently serves as a Uniform Law Commissioner. He was appointed to represent Alabama on the Uniform Law Commission by the Governor for a term of service that runs to April 4, 2023.
Professor Rosen also continues to be involved in legal matters around the globe. He has advised on business law curricula in Ethiopia and has been selected to teach courses at Australia National University in Canberra, Pusan National University in Korea, and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He has served as Director of the law school's exchange program with the University of Fribourg. In addition, he has served as a Corresponding Editor for the American Society of International Law's International Legal Materials and as Co-Chair of ASIL’s Teaching International Law Interest Group. His work for the American Bar Association has included service to the Section of International Law and Practice. His interest in development issues also has led to his participation in the World Bank's Law, Justice, and Development Week program and the International Finance Corporation's Doing Business Project. Moreover, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Comparative Law and has been selected to be the United States Reporter on Company Law and the Law of Succession for the Congress of the Academy of International Comparative Law in Vienna, Austria.
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the leading civil rights legal organization fighting against anti-Semitism. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.” He been described, in that paper, as “the single most effective and respected force” to combat anti-Semitism.
During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In academia, he serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College, served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, and was a Board of Visitors member George Mason University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at that university’s law school. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
Marcus is also author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also serves as Chairman emeritus of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.
Associate Professor of Government; Pre-Law Advisor, Patrick Henry College
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the leading civil rights legal organization fighting against anti-Semitism. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.” He been described, in that paper, as “the single most effective and respected force” to combat anti-Semitism.
During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In academia, he serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College, served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, and was a Board of Visitors member George Mason University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at that university’s law school. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
Marcus is also author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also serves as Chairman emeritus of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.
Associate Professor of Government; Pre-Law Advisor, Patrick Henry College
Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston
Josh Blackman is a national thought leader on constitutional law and the United States Supreme Court. Josh’s work was quoted during two presidential impeachment trials. He has testified before Congress and advises federal and state lawmakers. Josh regularly appears on TV, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and the BBC. Josh is also a frequent guest on NPR and other syndicated radio programs. He has published commentaries in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and leading national publications.
Since 2012, Josh has served as a professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. He holds the Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law. Josh is an Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Josh has written more than seven dozen law review articles that have been cited more than a thousand times. Josh was selected as the Jurist of the Year by the Texas Journal of Law & Public Policy, received the inaugural Meese III Originalism Award, and was awarded the Inaugural Joseph Story Award. Josh was selected by Forbes Magazine for the “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy. Josh is the President of the Harlan Institute, and founded FantasySCOTUS, the Internet’s Premier Supreme Court Fantasy League. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracyand posts@JoshMBlackman.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the leading civil rights legal organization fighting against anti-Semitism. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.” He been described, in that paper, as “the single most effective and respected force” to combat anti-Semitism.
During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In academia, he serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College, served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, and was a Board of Visitors member George Mason University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at that university’s law school. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
Marcus is also author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also serves as Chairman emeritus of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.
Associate Professor of Government; Pre-Law Advisor, Patrick Henry College
Panel III: Lessons from the Declaration of Independence and the Founders for Today
Huntsville, ALNo Enemies to the Right? Antisemitism and the Big Tent
Josh Blackman, Kenneth L. Marcus, Jesse Merriam
Following the October 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel, reports of antisemitism have risen across America....
No Enemies to the Right? Antisemitism and the Big Tent
Josh Blackman, Kenneth L. Marcus, Jesse Merriam
Following the October 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel, reports of antisemitism have risen across America....
No Enemies to the Right? Antisemitism and the Big Tent
American Conservatism and Free Speech
Montgomery Lawyers Chapter
Montgomery, AL