Senior Vice President, Strand Consult
Roslyn Layton, PhD is a leading international expert on technology policy. She is Senior Vice President of Strand Consult, an independent consultancy serving the global mobile telecom industry. She is also a Visiting Researcher at Aalborg University Copenhagen where she earned a doctoral thesis on network neutrality by measuring the outcome of the policy across 53 countries over 5 years. She served on the Presidential Transition Team for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and her work was critical to the FCC’s defense for the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. She has testified to the United States Senate and House on multiple topics including spectrum, broadband, mobile mergers, competition, and privacy. She founded the think tank China Tech Threat to study the problems of technology produced by the People’s Republic of China. She serves as the Program Chair for the Telecom Policy Research Conference, the leading interdisciplinary academic gathering. Her recent paper on rural broadband describes the empirical case for policy reform to recover network infrastructure costs from streaming video entertainment providers. She is a Senior Contributor to Forbes.
Senior Vice President, Strand Consult
Roslyn Layton, PhD is a leading international expert on technology policy. She is Senior Vice President of Strand Consult, an independent consultancy serving the global mobile telecom industry. She is also a Visiting Researcher at Aalborg University Copenhagen where she earned a doctoral thesis on network neutrality by measuring the outcome of the policy across 53 countries over 5 years. She served on the Presidential Transition Team for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and her work was critical to the FCC’s defense for the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. She has testified to the United States Senate and House on multiple topics including spectrum, broadband, mobile mergers, competition, and privacy. She founded the think tank China Tech Threat to study the problems of technology produced by the People’s Republic of China. She serves as the Program Chair for the Telecom Policy Research Conference, the leading interdisciplinary academic gathering. Her recent paper on rural broadband describes the empirical case for policy reform to recover network infrastructure costs from streaming video entertainment providers. She is a Senior Contributor to Forbes.
Technology Policy Manager, R Street Institute
Director of Legal Affairs, Center for Political Studies
Jacob Mchangama is director of legal affairs at the Center for Political Studies, a think tank based in Copenhagen, where he focuses on advocacy and academic research in the fields of human rights with a specific focus on freedom of expression. He is also an external lecturer in international human rights law at the University of Copenhagen. He has published numerous articles in academic journals as well as in international newspapers such as Wall Street Journal Europe, Globe and Mail, National Review, Reason, The Australian, South China Morning Post, Jerusalem Post, Hürriet Daily News, Voice of Russia, China Post, and Daily News (Egypt). His work has been mentioned in international media including the Economist, Courrier International and CBS.com. He is a frequent commentator for Danish TV and radio. In 2010 he was voted the most influential Danish public intellectual under the age of 40 by Danish newspaper Politiken.
Founder & President, Alliance of Iranian Women
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that informs world governments and human rights groups of the plight of women and children in Iran. During the Iranian revolution Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, the basic human rights of the women of Iran being brutally taken from them, and her homeland reverting back to 6th century Arabia.
Manda Zand Ervin has currently been working to inform Western governments about the plight of the women of Iran under Islamic law. She meets regularly with the members of the European Parliament and American Congress. In 2003 she garnered support from US Senators to pass a resolution on the Human rights of the women of Iran. She is frequently interviewed on national and international television and radio programs such as CNN, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and video America . She also lectures at Universities and conferences on the equal rights of women, human rights, and Islamic Sharia law. In February of 2008 Manda was appointed, by the President of the United States, as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.
Former Member, Danish Parliament
Naser Khader was born the 1st of July 1963 in Damascus, Syria. His father was Palestinian and his mother Syrian. His family lived a couple of years in Palestine and Jordan before they moved to Syria, where Naser Khader went to school.
When Naser Khader was 11 years old he moved to Denmark with his mother and siblings. His father had already been living in Denmark for a while when they came to live with him in the country where his father had managed to find a job. Naser Khader and his family became integrated into the Danish society.
Naser Khader has a master in economics from Copenhagen University. At the moment he studies theology also at the University of Copenhagen.
From 2001 - 2011 he was a member of the Danish parliament, Folketinget. His main political key issues are freedom of speech, the fight for democracy and democratic values in a multicultural society - subjects that have been intensively discussed in Denmark - particularly after the cartoon crisis in 2006. Naser Khader is member of The Conservative Party and he was spokesman of foreign policy and integration for the party. He has written several books about Islam and integration, he attends many debates, gives lectures and is often appears as an expert regarding the issues on Danish television and other medias.
Naser Khader has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his fight for the right to freedom of speech, secularity, and integration of immigrants into the Danish culture. Furthermore, he is the Co-Founder of the Association of Democratic Muslims in Denmark.
Naser Khader has a sincere interest in the “Arab Spring”, due to his origins and still having family living in Syria. This summer he therefore went to Syria and brought home much documentation (i.e. on video) of how the people in reality are being treated by the Assad regime and how they are fighting against the regime. He is considered one of Denmark’s leading experts in Middle East affairs, and he was one of the first to talk about an emerging civil courage amongst the civilians in the Arab countries (before the Arab spring).
With three phrases Naser Khaders describes himself primarily as a fanatic democrat, secondly as a Danish citizen and thirdly as cultural Muslim "ultra light".
Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP
David Rivkin is a member of the firm's litigation, international and environmental teams and is co-leader of the firm's national appellate practice. He has extensive experience in constitutional, administrative and international law litigation and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. With his prior experience in the government sector, David draws on a wealth of knowledge when providing compliance advice to companies and handling enforcement proceedings before government agencies on issues arising out of multilateral and unilateral sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-boycott issues, bankruptcy and financial fraud matters, and environmental and energy issues.
David has developed and implemented legislative, regulatory and litigation initiatives for two presidential administrations. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, op-eds, book reviews and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
Founder & President, Alliance of Iranian Women
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that informs world governments and human rights groups of the plight of women and children in Iran. During the Iranian revolution Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, the basic human rights of the women of Iran being brutally taken from them, and her homeland reverting back to 6th century Arabia.
Manda Zand Ervin has currently been working to inform Western governments about the plight of the women of Iran under Islamic law. She meets regularly with the members of the European Parliament and American Congress. In 2003 she garnered support from US Senators to pass a resolution on the Human rights of the women of Iran. She is frequently interviewed on national and international television and radio programs such as CNN, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and video America . She also lectures at Universities and conferences on the equal rights of women, human rights, and Islamic Sharia law. In February of 2008 Manda was appointed, by the President of the United States, as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.
Former Member, Danish Parliament
Naser Khader was born the 1st of July 1963 in Damascus, Syria. His father was Palestinian and his mother Syrian. His family lived a couple of years in Palestine and Jordan before they moved to Syria, where Naser Khader went to school.
When Naser Khader was 11 years old he moved to Denmark with his mother and siblings. His father had already been living in Denmark for a while when they came to live with him in the country where his father had managed to find a job. Naser Khader and his family became integrated into the Danish society.
Naser Khader has a master in economics from Copenhagen University. At the moment he studies theology also at the University of Copenhagen.
From 2001 - 2011 he was a member of the Danish parliament, Folketinget. His main political key issues are freedom of speech, the fight for democracy and democratic values in a multicultural society - subjects that have been intensively discussed in Denmark - particularly after the cartoon crisis in 2006. Naser Khader is member of The Conservative Party and he was spokesman of foreign policy and integration for the party. He has written several books about Islam and integration, he attends many debates, gives lectures and is often appears as an expert regarding the issues on Danish television and other medias.
Naser Khader has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his fight for the right to freedom of speech, secularity, and integration of immigrants into the Danish culture. Furthermore, he is the Co-Founder of the Association of Democratic Muslims in Denmark.
Naser Khader has a sincere interest in the “Arab Spring”, due to his origins and still having family living in Syria. This summer he therefore went to Syria and brought home much documentation (i.e. on video) of how the people in reality are being treated by the Assad regime and how they are fighting against the regime. He is considered one of Denmark’s leading experts in Middle East affairs, and he was one of the first to talk about an emerging civil courage amongst the civilians in the Arab countries (before the Arab spring).
With three phrases Naser Khaders describes himself primarily as a fanatic democrat, secondly as a Danish citizen and thirdly as cultural Muslim "ultra light".
Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP
David Rivkin is a member of the firm's litigation, international and environmental teams and is co-leader of the firm's national appellate practice. He has extensive experience in constitutional, administrative and international law litigation and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. With his prior experience in the government sector, David draws on a wealth of knowledge when providing compliance advice to companies and handling enforcement proceedings before government agencies on issues arising out of multilateral and unilateral sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-boycott issues, bankruptcy and financial fraud matters, and environmental and energy issues.
David has developed and implemented legislative, regulatory and litigation initiatives for two presidential administrations. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, op-eds, book reviews and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Former Director (consultant), International Affairs, The Federalist Society
From 2005 to 2025, Jim Kelly served on a consulting basis as the Federalist Society’s Director of International Affairs, responsible for outreach to law students, lawyers, and judges in Canada, Europe, and Israel. From 2005 to 2008, he served on the U.S. National Commission to UNESCO, and as Chairman of its Social and Human Sciences Committee. From 2001 to 2008, he served as an official U.S. delegate to five international human rights conferences. In 2019, the U.S. State Department appointed Jim to serve as one of the two U.S. members on the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”). In 2020, the State Department named him as an expert to the OSCE Moscow Mechanism. In March 2022, he initiated Ukraine’s consideration and use of the Moscow Mechanism to conduct the first official international investigation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which resulted in the Report on Violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Committed in Ukraine (1 April – 25 June 2022). Jim is the Founder of, and Director of Research for, Global Governance Watch, a web-based project that monitors the global governance activities of the UN’s sustainable development and ESG agenda. In 2022, in connection with his position as a Lecturer at the Busch School of Business at Catholic University of America, he authored Evolution of Business, Human Rights, & ESG, consisting of 28 one-hour presentations about the technocratic, anti-democratic, anti-capitalist, and religious nature and practices of the ESG movement. Jim is Founder and President of Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., which, since 2001, has filed amicus curiae briefs in five landmark U.S. Supreme Court educational and religious liberty cases. He is the Founder and General Counsel of the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, Georgia’s largest K-12 tuition tax credit scholarship program, which, since 2008, has awarded scholarships worth $224.3 million to 21,744 students for use at the accredited private K-12 schools of their choice. He has served on the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission and Georgia Board of Juvenile Justice. In 2005, he authored Christianity, Democracy, and the American Ideal, a collection of the writings of the French-Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain. Jim earned his BBA and Law degrees from the University of Georgia. He also earned a Master of Taxation degree from Georgia State University, a Master of Non-Profit Management degree from Regis University, and a Master of International Relations degree from Salve Regina University. Jim and his wife, Lisa, reside in the Atlanta area.
Lecturer in Law, UCLA Law
Amjad Mahmood Khan teaches Fundamentals of U.S. Contract Law for Foreign Lawyers. A partner at Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan LLP (bnsklaw.com), he represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of high-stakes business litigation, including disputes related to commercial contracts, civil fraud, business torts, intellectual property, energy, insurance, antitrust and unfair competition and the False Claims Act. Amjad's clients have included a range of high-profile corporations, executives and organizations, including mortgage lenders, energy companies, technology firms, major airlines, municipalities and religious establishments. Amjad has extensive stand-up trial experience, having won multiple significant jury verdicts, including an award of approximately $12.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Amjad has significant appellate experience briefing and arguing appeals in both state and federal courts across the nation. Amjad has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers every year since 2012.
Amjad previously served as litigation counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and judicial clerk to the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Amjad received his J.D. in 2004 from Harvard Law School. While in law school, Amjad served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Human Rights Law Journal and as a teaching assistant to Professor Scott Brewer (Contracts, Jurisprudence). Amjad graduated summa cum laude from Claremont McKenna College in 2001, with a B.A. in Government and English (Literature).
In addition to his litigation practice, Amjad devotes a considerable portion of his time to pro bono matters. Amjad has special expertise in asylum and refugee law, deportation defense and providing legal aid to disaster victims. Amjad was co-chair of Latham & Watkins’ global human rights and refugee practice group. Amjad has first chaired over two dozen successful immigration and asylum matters. Amjad has received numerous awards and accolades for his pro bono work, which includes sharing the 2012 Muslim Advocates Thurgood Marshall Award. Amjad has also served as an expert witness in asylum cases and has testified five times before the U.S. House of Representatives on the human rights abuses of religious minorities in the Near East and South Asia. Amjad is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Amjad has published articles on qui tam and derivative suit litigation in Financial Fraud Law Report and Securities Regulation and Law Report. Amjad’s academic work focuses on transnational legal studies, comparative constitutional law and national security. He is a recognized expert on religious freedom in the Islamic world, and his scholarship has appeared in Harvard International Law Journal,Harvard National Security Law Journal, Harvard Human Rights Journaland Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business.
Director of Legal Affairs, Center for Political Studies
Jacob Mchangama is director of legal affairs at the Center for Political Studies, a think tank based in Copenhagen, where he focuses on advocacy and academic research in the fields of human rights with a specific focus on freedom of expression. He is also an external lecturer in international human rights law at the University of Copenhagen. He has published numerous articles in academic journals as well as in international newspapers such as Wall Street Journal Europe, Globe and Mail, National Review, Reason, The Australian, South China Morning Post, Jerusalem Post, Hürriet Daily News, Voice of Russia, China Post, and Daily News (Egypt). His work has been mentioned in international media including the Economist, Courrier International and CBS.com. He is a frequent commentator for Danish TV and radio. In 2010 he was voted the most influential Danish public intellectual under the age of 40 by Danish newspaper Politiken.
Research Fellow, Hudson Institute
Before joining Hudson in 2011, Tadros was a Senior Partner at the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth, an organization that aims to spread the ideas of classical liberalism in Egypt. He has received his MA in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University and his BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo. Mr. Tadros has previously interned at the American Enterprise Institute, where he worked on the Muslim Brotherhood and worked as a consultant for the Hudson Institute on Moderate Islamic Thinkers, and most recently the Heritage Foundation on Religious Freedom in Egypt. In 2007 he was chosen by the State Department in its first Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program in collaboration with Syracuse University's Maxwell School. His articles have previously been published by the Wall Street Journal, the American Thinker, the American Interest and the Weekly Standard. Mr. Tadros is a Professional Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Garwood Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow, James Madison Pr, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
David F. Forte is Professor of Law at Cleveland State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Charles R. Emrick, Jr.- Calfee Halter & Griswold Endowed Chair. This fall, Professor Forte will be the Garwood Visiting Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Politics, and Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. He holds degrees from Harvard College, Manchester University, England, the University of Toronto and Columbia University.
During the Reagan administration, Professor Forte served as chief counsel to the United States delegation to the United Nations and alternate delegate to the Security Council. He has authored a number of briefs before the United States Supreme Court, and has frequently testified before the United States Congress and consulted with the Department of State on human rights and international affairs issues. His advice was specifically sought on the approval of the Genocide Convention, on world-wide religious persecution, and Islamic extremism. He has appeared and spoken frequently on radio and television, both nationally and internationally. In 2002, the Department of State sponsored a speaking tour for Professor Forte in Amman, Jordan, and he was also a featured speaker to the Meeting of Peoples in Rimini, Italy, a meeting which gathers over 500,000 people from all over Europe. He has also been called to testify before the state legislatures of Ohio, Kansas, and Idaho as well as the New York City Council. He has assisted in drafting a number of pieces of legislation for the Ohio General Assembly dealing with abortion, international trade, and federalism. He has sat as acting judge on the municipal court of Lakewood Ohio and was chairman of Professional Ethics Committee of the Cleveland Bar Association. He has received a number of awards for his public service, including the Cleveland Bar Association’s President’s Award, the Cleveland State University Award for Distinguished Service, the Cleveland State University Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence. He served as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Family under Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In 2003, Dr. Forte was a Distinguished Fulbright Chair at the University of Trento and returned there in 2004 as a Visiting Professor. For the academic year, 2008-2009, Professor Forte was Senior Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Constitution in at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the Robert E. Henderson Constitution Day Lecturer at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, and he has given over 300 invited addresses and papers at more than 100 academic institutions. His work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Forte was a Bradley Scholar at the Heritage Foundation, and Visiting Scholar at the Liberty Fund. He has been President of the Ohio Association of Scholars, was on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Society, and is also adjunct Scholar at the Ashbrook Center. He has been appointed to the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been a Civil War re-enactor and a Merit Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts.
He writes and speaks nationally on topics such as constitutional law, religious liberty, Islamic law, the rights of families, and international affairs. He served as book review editor for the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has edited a volume entitled, Natural Law and Contemporary Public Policy, published by Georgetown University Press. His book, Islamic Law Studies: Classical and Contemporary Applications, has been published by Austin & Winfield. He is Senior Editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution (2006), 2d edition (2014), published by Regnery & Co, a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution of the United States.
His teaching competencies include Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, Islamic Law, Jurisprudence, Natural Law, International Law, International Human Rights, the Presidency, and Constitutional History.
Former Director (consultant), International Affairs, The Federalist Society
From 2005 to 2025, Jim Kelly served on a consulting basis as the Federalist Society’s Director of International Affairs, responsible for outreach to law students, lawyers, and judges in Canada, Europe, and Israel. From 2005 to 2008, he served on the U.S. National Commission to UNESCO, and as Chairman of its Social and Human Sciences Committee. From 2001 to 2008, he served as an official U.S. delegate to five international human rights conferences. In 2019, the U.S. State Department appointed Jim to serve as one of the two U.S. members on the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the “Venice Commission”). In 2020, the State Department named him as an expert to the OSCE Moscow Mechanism. In March 2022, he initiated Ukraine’s consideration and use of the Moscow Mechanism to conduct the first official international investigation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which resulted in the Report on Violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Committed in Ukraine (1 April – 25 June 2022). Jim is the Founder of, and Director of Research for, Global Governance Watch, a web-based project that monitors the global governance activities of the UN’s sustainable development and ESG agenda. In 2022, in connection with his position as a Lecturer at the Busch School of Business at Catholic University of America, he authored Evolution of Business, Human Rights, & ESG, consisting of 28 one-hour presentations about the technocratic, anti-democratic, anti-capitalist, and religious nature and practices of the ESG movement. Jim is Founder and President of Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., which, since 2001, has filed amicus curiae briefs in five landmark U.S. Supreme Court educational and religious liberty cases. He is the Founder and General Counsel of the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, Georgia’s largest K-12 tuition tax credit scholarship program, which, since 2008, has awarded scholarships worth $224.3 million to 21,744 students for use at the accredited private K-12 schools of their choice. He has served on the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission and Georgia Board of Juvenile Justice. In 2005, he authored Christianity, Democracy, and the American Ideal, a collection of the writings of the French-Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain. Jim earned his BBA and Law degrees from the University of Georgia. He also earned a Master of Taxation degree from Georgia State University, a Master of Non-Profit Management degree from Regis University, and a Master of International Relations degree from Salve Regina University. Jim and his wife, Lisa, reside in the Atlanta area.
Lecturer in Law, UCLA Law
Amjad Mahmood Khan teaches Fundamentals of U.S. Contract Law for Foreign Lawyers. A partner at Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan LLP (bnsklaw.com), he represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of high-stakes business litigation, including disputes related to commercial contracts, civil fraud, business torts, intellectual property, energy, insurance, antitrust and unfair competition and the False Claims Act. Amjad's clients have included a range of high-profile corporations, executives and organizations, including mortgage lenders, energy companies, technology firms, major airlines, municipalities and religious establishments. Amjad has extensive stand-up trial experience, having won multiple significant jury verdicts, including an award of approximately $12.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Amjad has significant appellate experience briefing and arguing appeals in both state and federal courts across the nation. Amjad has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Southern California Super Lawyers every year since 2012.
Amjad previously served as litigation counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and judicial clerk to the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Amjad received his J.D. in 2004 from Harvard Law School. While in law school, Amjad served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Human Rights Law Journal and as a teaching assistant to Professor Scott Brewer (Contracts, Jurisprudence). Amjad graduated summa cum laude from Claremont McKenna College in 2001, with a B.A. in Government and English (Literature).
In addition to his litigation practice, Amjad devotes a considerable portion of his time to pro bono matters. Amjad has special expertise in asylum and refugee law, deportation defense and providing legal aid to disaster victims. Amjad was co-chair of Latham & Watkins’ global human rights and refugee practice group. Amjad has first chaired over two dozen successful immigration and asylum matters. Amjad has received numerous awards and accolades for his pro bono work, which includes sharing the 2012 Muslim Advocates Thurgood Marshall Award. Amjad has also served as an expert witness in asylum cases and has testified five times before the U.S. House of Representatives on the human rights abuses of religious minorities in the Near East and South Asia. Amjad is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Amjad has published articles on qui tam and derivative suit litigation in Financial Fraud Law Report and Securities Regulation and Law Report. Amjad’s academic work focuses on transnational legal studies, comparative constitutional law and national security. He is a recognized expert on religious freedom in the Islamic world, and his scholarship has appeared in Harvard International Law Journal,Harvard National Security Law Journal, Harvard Human Rights Journaland Richmond Journal of Global Law and Business.
Director of Legal Affairs, Center for Political Studies
Jacob Mchangama is director of legal affairs at the Center for Political Studies, a think tank based in Copenhagen, where he focuses on advocacy and academic research in the fields of human rights with a specific focus on freedom of expression. He is also an external lecturer in international human rights law at the University of Copenhagen. He has published numerous articles in academic journals as well as in international newspapers such as Wall Street Journal Europe, Globe and Mail, National Review, Reason, The Australian, South China Morning Post, Jerusalem Post, Hürriet Daily News, Voice of Russia, China Post, and Daily News (Egypt). His work has been mentioned in international media including the Economist, Courrier International and CBS.com. He is a frequent commentator for Danish TV and radio. In 2010 he was voted the most influential Danish public intellectual under the age of 40 by Danish newspaper Politiken.
Research Fellow, Hudson Institute
Before joining Hudson in 2011, Tadros was a Senior Partner at the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth, an organization that aims to spread the ideas of classical liberalism in Egypt. He has received his MA in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University and his BA in Political Science from the American University in Cairo. Mr. Tadros has previously interned at the American Enterprise Institute, where he worked on the Muslim Brotherhood and worked as a consultant for the Hudson Institute on Moderate Islamic Thinkers, and most recently the Heritage Foundation on Religious Freedom in Egypt. In 2007 he was chosen by the State Department in its first Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program in collaboration with Syracuse University's Maxwell School. His articles have previously been published by the Wall Street Journal, the American Thinker, the American Interest and the Weekly Standard. Mr. Tadros is a Professional Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Founder, International Free Press Society
Lars Hedegaard was voted one of the Top 50 2013 Danish opinion leaders in a survey commissioned by Denmark’s leading daily Politiken. He founded both the International Free Press Society, an association of writers, and Dispatch International, a publication featuring challenging cultural and political discussions. Hedegaard is also an historian, instructor, and editor. His commentary has been featured in many US and European publications.
Founder, Libertas-West Project
Karen Lugo is a constitutional law consultant and national security analyst. She was Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment at Texas Public Policy Foundation from 2013 to 2015. When living in California, she was Co-Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence Center. From 2005 – 2012, she was a clinical visiting and adjunct professor at Chapman University School of Law where she co-taught the advanced Constitutional Law Clinic. Karen has co-authored and written circuit-level and Supreme Court amicus briefs on such issues as FISA Surveillance, Healthcare Reform, Arizona’s Border Security, Gay Marriage, The Ten Commandments, Eminent Domain, Christian Clubs on University Campuses, and Material Support for Terrorists.
Karen is the founder of the Libertas-West Project, a center for study Islamic integration and radicalization issues. In this capacity, she consulted with the Center for Security Policy to write a book on local over-watch of mosque construction and community engagement called: Mosques in America: A Guide to Accountable Permit Hearings and Continuing Citizen Oversight.
Karen writes and speaks for European and American groups on the importance of basing assimilation efforts on principles of Western exceptionalism. She presented a policy brief to the French Conseil d’Etat analyzing the legal implications of banning the burqa. Ms. Lugo has written one of the most comprehensive overviews of sharia law in American courts, American Family Law and Sharia-Compliant Marriages, for the Federalist Society law journal, Engage. She has written several white papers on the American Law for American Courts legislation and sharia tribunals in America.
Ms. Lugo was an appointee to the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She also taught a Human Rights law course on the contrast between French and English Enlightenment theories in Strasbourg, France.
Until moving from California, Ms. Lugo was a member of the David Horowitz Freedom Center Board of Directors. She was also a regular guest on the Orange County PBS local issues debate program, Inside OC, and she is a contributor to Pajamas Media, National Review Online, City Journal, American Spectator, American Greatness, Townhall.com, American Thinker, Daily Caller, and Family Security Matters. She has been interviewed by dozens of radio hosts and has spoken for civic groups on constitutional and cultural concerns.
Founder & President, Alliance of Iranian Women
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that informs world governments and human rights groups of the plight of women and children in Iran. During the Iranian revolution Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, the basic human rights of the women of Iran being brutally taken from them, and her homeland reverting back to 6th century Arabia.
Manda Zand Ervin has currently been working to inform Western governments about the plight of the women of Iran under Islamic law. She meets regularly with the members of the European Parliament and American Congress. In 2003 she garnered support from US Senators to pass a resolution on the Human rights of the women of Iran. She is frequently interviewed on national and international television and radio programs such as CNN, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and video America . She also lectures at Universities and conferences on the equal rights of women, human rights, and Islamic Sharia law. In February of 2008 Manda was appointed, by the President of the United States, as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women.
Former Member, Danish Parliament
Naser Khader was born the 1st of July 1963 in Damascus, Syria. His father was Palestinian and his mother Syrian. His family lived a couple of years in Palestine and Jordan before they moved to Syria, where Naser Khader went to school.
When Naser Khader was 11 years old he moved to Denmark with his mother and siblings. His father had already been living in Denmark for a while when they came to live with him in the country where his father had managed to find a job. Naser Khader and his family became integrated into the Danish society.
Naser Khader has a master in economics from Copenhagen University. At the moment he studies theology also at the University of Copenhagen.
From 2001 - 2011 he was a member of the Danish parliament, Folketinget. His main political key issues are freedom of speech, the fight for democracy and democratic values in a multicultural society - subjects that have been intensively discussed in Denmark - particularly after the cartoon crisis in 2006. Naser Khader is member of The Conservative Party and he was spokesman of foreign policy and integration for the party. He has written several books about Islam and integration, he attends many debates, gives lectures and is often appears as an expert regarding the issues on Danish television and other medias.
Naser Khader has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his fight for the right to freedom of speech, secularity, and integration of immigrants into the Danish culture. Furthermore, he is the Co-Founder of the Association of Democratic Muslims in Denmark.
Naser Khader has a sincere interest in the “Arab Spring”, due to his origins and still having family living in Syria. This summer he therefore went to Syria and brought home much documentation (i.e. on video) of how the people in reality are being treated by the Assad regime and how they are fighting against the regime. He is considered one of Denmark’s leading experts in Middle East affairs, and he was one of the first to talk about an emerging civil courage amongst the civilians in the Arab countries (before the Arab spring).
With three phrases Naser Khaders describes himself primarily as a fanatic democrat, secondly as a Danish citizen and thirdly as cultural Muslim "ultra light".
Partner, Baker Hostetler LLP
David Rivkin is a member of the firm's litigation, international and environmental teams and is co-leader of the firm's national appellate practice. He has extensive experience in constitutional, administrative and international law litigation and has been involved in numerous high-profile cases. With his prior experience in the government sector, David draws on a wealth of knowledge when providing compliance advice to companies and handling enforcement proceedings before government agencies on issues arising out of multilateral and unilateral sanctions, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-boycott issues, bankruptcy and financial fraud matters, and environmental and energy issues.
David has developed and implemented legislative, regulatory and litigation initiatives for two presidential administrations. Over the years, he has published hundreds of articles, op-eds, book reviews and book chapters on a variety of international, legal, constitutional, defense, arms control, foreign policy, environmental and energy issues for various newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times, and has been a frequent commentator and guest on TV and radio shows including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
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Keynote Address and Commentary: Where Are the Muslim Moderates?
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The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the deadly 2006 Danish cartoon riots brought worldwide...
Panel I: The Muslim World
David F. Forte, James P. Kelly, Amjad M. Khan, Jacob Mchangama, Samuel Tadros
The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the deadly 2006 Danish cartoon riots brought worldwide...
Keynote Address and Commentary: Where Are the Muslim Moderates?
Silenced: Are Global Trends to Ban Religious Defamation, Religious Insult, and Islamophobia a New Challenge to First Amendment Freedoms?
Washington, DC