Director, Washington Legislative Office, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Laura W. Murphy is in her second tenure as Director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, a position she first held from 1993-2005. Since returning Murphy has maintained strong relationships with leaders in the United States Congress and the Obama Administration to advance the ACLU’s public policy priorities including national security, criminal justice, human rights, privacy, reproductive rights, civil rights and First Amendment issues.
Recently, Murphy played a leadership role in the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 signed into law by President Obama on August 3, 2010—a law that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and that begins to address some of the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Under her leadership, the ACLU Washington Legislative Office worked with Congress and the White House to gain support around federally-funded abortions for servicewomen and military dependents in the cases of rape or incest. The provision was signed into law on January 2, 2013.
Prior to her return to the ACLU, she founded and directed her own firm, Laura Murphy & Associates, L.L.C., where she utilized her 30 years of policy-making and political expertise to guide and advise corporate and non-profit clients at the national, state and local levels.
Murphy is well known for her notable legislative career advancing human rights and civil liberties. Both major newspapers on Capitol Hill, Roll Call and The Hill, selected Murphy as one of the 50 most influential lobbyists and one of 17 top nonprofit lobbyists in 1997 and 2003, respectively. In 1997, and again in 2003, the Congressional Black Caucus honored her for her significant contributions to legislation that advances civil rights and civil liberties. She has been given awards for her work with Congress and the White House by ACLU affiliates in Massachusetts, Mississippi and Maryland. Murphy has also been instrumental in garnering support from African Americans for same sex marriage, especially in her home state of Maryland. Murphy’s family has a storied history in the civil rights movement and in the Black press, and they were intimately involved in the successful 2012 campaign for marriage equality in Maryland.
In previous professional positions Murphy served as chief of staff to a California Assembly Speaker and a cabinet member for the Mayor of the District of Columbia. Murphy has testified more than a dozen times before Congress and is an experienced national spokesperson. She has been a frequent guest on television and radio including PBS, “NBC Nightly News” and “The Today Show”, “ABC World News”, CNN, Fox News, and National Public Radio.
Founding Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
Jameel Jaffer is the founding director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which works to protect and expand the freedoms of speech and the press through strategic litigation, research, and public education. Until recently, Jaffer was deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union and director of the ACLU’s Center for Democracy, in which role he oversaw the ACLU’s work relating to free speech, privacy, technology, national security, and international human rights.
Jaffer has litigated some of the most significant post-9/11 cases relating to national security and civil liberties, including cases concerning detention, interrogation, surveillance, targeted killing, and government secrecy. He co-led the litigation that resulted in the publication of the Bush administration’s “torture memos”—a lawsuit the New York Times described as “among the most successful in the history of public disclosure.” More recently, he led the ACLU’s litigation that resulted in the publication of the Obama administration’s “drone memos.”
Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Dominic E. Draye has litigated at every level of the state and federal judiciary—from state trial court to the Supreme Court of the United States. His practice focuses on constitutional, regulatory, and environmental matters, and he has represented clients in both the public and private sectors. In the federal appellate courts, Mr. Draye has represented clients in the Second, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits.
Before joining Greenberg, Mr. Draye served as the Solicitor General of Arizona, where he briefed and argued the State’s highest-profile civil and criminal appeals and served as lead counsel for several multi-state coalitions litigating over agency rulemaking in the D.C. Circuit. Prior to government service, Mr. Draye was a litigator in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where his practice focused on legal issues and appeals.
Mr. Draye is a sought-after speaker on topics of administrative and constitutional law. He clerked for Hon. Edith H. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Managing Attorney of the Washington Office, Institute for Justice
William R. Maurer is the Managing Attorney of the Washington state office of the Institute for Justice, which engages in litigation in the areas of economic liberty, private property rights, educational choice, & freedom of speech.
Maurer is an advocate against the criminalization of poverty and the governmental use of the criminal and civil enforcement systems to raise revenue. He was lead counsel in a class action challenging the use of tickets to raise revenue in the city of Pagedale, Missouri. The suit resulted in a federal consent decree that reformed the city’s ticketing and municipal court system. He regularly speaks, teaches, and writes about the abuse of fines and fees in the criminal justice system. He was a participant in summits on taxation by citation put on by the White House and Department of Justice during the Obama Administration. His work on the issue includes serving as an advisory board member of the Fines and Fees Justice Center.
In addition to his work on criminal and civil justice reform, Maurer is a First Amendment litigator. In 2011, he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that Arizona’s punitive campaign financing regime was unconstitutional. Before the Washington Supreme Court, he successfully argued against efforts to classify radio commentary as a contribution under the state’s campaign finance law.
His cases and advocacy have been covered in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and other major media outlets.
Maurer was named a “Washington Superlawyer” by Washington Law & Politics Magazine for several years. He is a chapter author in numerous legal reference works and has written several articles for law reviews and legal publications across the country.
Prior to joining IJ-WA, Maurer clerked for Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders and then practiced law at Perkins Coie LLP. Maurer received his law degree in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he was an editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. He received his BA from Bard College in 1989.
Director of the Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daren Bakst is Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment and a Senior Fellow. In this role, he manages, develops, and leads the coalition, advocacy, and research activities of the Center, which is one of the most effective advocates for Free Market Environmentalism.
Before joining CEI as Deputy Director in March, 2023, Daren was a Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Policy and Regulation at the Heritage Foundation, where he played a leading role in the launch of the organization’s new energy and environment center, and created and hosted the Heritage Foundation’s energy and environment podcast the “PowerCast.” During his decade at Heritage, Daren wrote about energy and environmental policy, food and agricultural policy (including editing and co-authoring the book Farms and Free Enterprise), regulation, and trade among other topics.
Daren also worked on environmental policy and regulation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he was a policy counsel and served as the executive to the association’s Government Oversight, Operations & Consumer Affairs committee, which was responsible for issues such as regulatory process reform. Daren has significant state level experience, working for seven years at the Raleigh, N.C.-based John Locke Foundation, one of the largest state-based, free-market think tanks. As director of legal and regulatory studies, his broad portfolio included energy and environmental policy, regulatory reform, and property rights.
Daren has testified numerous times before Congress, regularly submits comments to federal agencies and has appeared in or been quoted by a wide range of media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Times, CNN, Fox Business News, Al-Jazeera America, and U.S. News and World Report. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Executive Committee and serves on the College Level Advisory Board for Constituting America, an organization that informs and educates about the importance of the U.S. Constitution.
Daren, who hails from Florida, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from George Washington University. A licensed attorney, he holds a law degree from the University of Miami and a master of laws degree from American University.
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.
Partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP
Lee A. Casey focuses on federal environmental, constitutional and international law and Alien Tort Statute issues. He also advises clients on compliance issues under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), U.S. trade sanctions regimes, and federal ethics requirements. Mr. Casey’s practice includes federal, district and appellate court litigation, as well as matters before federal agencies. Prior to joining BakerHostetler, Mr. Casey was an associate with Hunton & Williams, practicing in international, environmental and constitutional law. From 2004 through 2007 he served as an member of the United Nations Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
From 1986 to 1993, Mr. Casey served in various capacities in the federal government, including the Office of Legal Policy (1986-90) and the Office of Legal Counsel (1992-93) at the U.S. Department of Justice and served as Deputy Associate General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy (1990-92). The Office of Legal Counsel is responsible for advising the Attorney General and the White House on issues of constitutional law and statutory interpretation. The Office of Legal Policy served as a strategic “think tank” for the Reagan Justice Department and was responsible for reviewing candidates for appointments to the federal bench.
Before joining the government in 1986, Mr. Casey was an associate in the Los Angeles firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, practicing in the litigation section, with an emphasis on copyright, contract and First Amendment issues. From 1984 to 1985, Mr. Casey served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Alex Kozinski, then Chief Judge of the United States Claims Court. From 1982 to 1984, he practiced at the Detroit firm of Dykema Gossett, focusing on corporate, securities, commercial and intellectual property litigation, and from 1990 through 1994, he served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, Virginia.
Among the chapters, articles and papers that Mr. Casey has authored or co-authored are: “International Law and the Nation-State at the U.N.,” Reclaiming the Language of Freedom at the United Nations: A Guide for U.S. Policymakers, The Heritage Foundation (2006) (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “The Dangerous Myth of Universal Jurisdiction,” A Country I Do Not Recognize (ed. Robert H. Bork) (2005) (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “Leashing the Dogs of War,” The National Interest (Fall 2003) (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “The Limits of Legitimacy: The Rome Statute’s Unlawful Application to Non-State Parties,” 44 Va.J.Int’l L. 63 (Fall 2003) (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “Devil’s Advocates: The Danger of Judging Lawyers By Their Clients,” Policy Review (Feb. and Mar. 2002) (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “The Case Against the International Criminal Court,” 25 Fordham Int’l L.J. 840 (2002); “Europe in the Balance: The Alarmingly Undemocratic Drift of the European Union,” Policy Review (June and July 2001) (with David B. Rivkin Jr.); “Against an International Criminal Court,” Commentary, May 1998 (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “Federalism (Cont’d.),” Commentary, December 1996 (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “Presidents and War Powers: Another View,” Common Sense, Winter 1996 (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); “How Binding Are Contracts?” The American Enterprise, Nov./Dec. 1993 (with David B. Rivkin, Jr.); and “Pirate Constitutionalism: An Essay in Self-Government,” 8 J. of L. & Politics 477 (1992).
Mr. Casey is a member of the California, Michigan and District of Columbia Bar Associations.
Partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP
Darin Bartram focuses his practice in the areas of constitutional litigation and appellate work, with particular experience in environmental law.
Chairman, The Ashcroft Law Firm LLC, and former United States Attorney General
Former U.S. Attorney General, Governor and U.S. Senator John Ashcroft serves as the firm’s founder and chairman. As Attorney General, and the U.S. Justice Department’s CEO, Mr. Ashcroft led the world’s largest and foremost international law firm and law enforcement agency—an organization larger than most Fortune 500 companies, with over 122,000 employees. Mr. Ashcroft integrated strategic planning, budgeting, and performance measures, which resulted in the DOJ earning a clean audit for the first time in its history.
Mr. Ashcroft boldly led the Department of Justice through the transformational period after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He subsequently reorganized the Department to focus on its number one priority: preventing terrorism. The tough antiterrorism campaign he directed helped keep America safe throughout his tenure and resulted in the dismantling of terrorist cells across America and the disruption of over 150 terrorist plots worldwide.
Within two months of the attacks, and with financial markets still reeling, the unprecedented corporate scandals at ENRON, WorldCom and dozens more unfolded, further destabilizing the weakened economy. John Ashcroft was called upon to restore America’s faith in the integrity of our marketplace. He marshaled the resources of the federal government to bring to justice those guilty of massive corporate fraud. At all times, he demanded that cases be brought swiftly, with appropriate serious penalties—always taking into account the best interests of the employees and shareholders whose lives were most directly affected.
From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft balanced eight consecutive budgets, built a $120 million budget surplus and established a $190 million operating reserve. His management and fiscal integrity helped generate 338,000 new jobs state-wide, a triple-A bond rating from the three major Wall Street rating agencies, a per capita state and local tax burden ranked 49th in the United States and a 12 percent increase in personal income. His new education performance standards led Fortune magazine to name him as one of the nation’s top ten Education Governors. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association voted him Chairman.
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he brought his management skills to Washington where he authored budget rules protecting Social Security and Medicare and helped balance the federal budget for the first time in decades. As a member of the Senate Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Commerce Committees, he worked to reform laws regulating the banking, telecommunications, aviation, transportation and information technology industries.
In 1973, Mr. Ashcroft served as Missouri Auditor, followed by two terms as Missouri Attorney General. He was raised in Springfield, Missouri, received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago.
Co-Chairman, The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
Leonard is Co-Chairman and former Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society, joining the organization over 25 years ago. Since that time he has been instrumental in helping the organization top 70,000, focusing on the growth of lawyers membership, operations and activities advancing limited, constitutional government. In addition to his work at the Society, Leonard has advised President Trump on judicial selection, assisted with the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Supreme Court selection and confirmation process, and served as a member of the transition team. He also organized the outside coalition efforts in support of the Roberts and Alito U.S. Supreme Court confirmations. Leonard was appointed by President George W. Bush to three terms to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as chairman. He was also a U.S. Delegate to the UN Council and UN Commission on Human Rights during the Bush Administration. Leonard was the recipient of the 2009 Bradley Prize, along with the other founders and directors of the Federalist Society, for his work in advancing freedom and the rule of law. He is the coeditor of Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House, as well as the author of opinion editorials in the New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Leonard holds degrees from Cornell University and Cornell Law School. He presently resides in Northern Virginia, where he and his wife Sally have raised their seven children.
Adjunct Professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Professor of Criminal Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law, The University of Utah College of Law
Paul G. Cassell is an internationally recognized legal scholar on criminal and civil justice, crime victims' rights, constitutional law, evidence, judicial process, and other legal issues. Cassell received a B.A. (1981) and a J.D. (1984) from Stanford University, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was President of the Stanford Law Review. He clerked for then-Judge Antonin Scalia when Scalia was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1984-85) and for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court (1985-86). Cassell then served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General with the U.S. Justice Department (1986-88) and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1988 to 1991). Cassell joined the faculty at the College of Law in 1992, where he taught full-time until he was sworn in as a U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Utah in July 2002. In November 2007, he resigned his judgeship to return full-time to the College of Law to teach, write, and litigate concerning issues relating to crime victims' rights and criminal and civil justice reform. Professor Cassell has also published numerous law review articles in journals such as the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. He is a co-author of the nation's only law school textbook on crime victims' rights, Victims in Criminal Procedure (various editions, most recently in its fifth edition published in 2025). Professor Cassell has argued pro bono cases relating to criminal procedure and crime victims' rights before the United States Supreme Court, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and D.C. Circuits (including the 5th and 11th Circuits en banc), several U.S. District Courts, the Utah Supreme Court, and the Arizona Supreme Court. In 2020, Cassell received the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award - National Crime Victims' Service Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. Cassell is a member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and an inaugural member of the Council on Criminal Justice. He is also an occasional blogger at The Volokh Conspiracy.
Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Experience: Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Springfield, VA, 1989-Present; Associate, Borland & Borland, Wilkes-Barre, PA, 1989; Intern, Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Atlanta, GA, U.S. Justice Department, 1988-89; Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Peer Review Rated.
Bar Admissions: Pennsylvania, 1989; District of Columbia, 1991; U.S. Supreme Court, 1992 (admitted only in PA & DC).
Law School: Emory University, J.D., 1989.
College: Hampden-Sydney College, B.A., with Honors in Political Science and History, magna cum laude, 1986.
Member: Federalist Society.
Publications: “Casting an Overdue Skeptical Eye: Knox v. SEIU,” CATO SUPREME COURT REVIEW, September 2012, at 333; “Making Windows into Litigants’ Souls: The Pernicious Potential of Gilpin v. AFSCME,” Engage, Apr. 2004, at 90; Co-author, “Big Labor’s Tyranny of the Minority: Forced Union Dues in Politics,” Federalist Society Free Speech & Election Law Newsletter, Fall 1996.
Reported Decisions (partial listing): Knox v. SEIU Local 1000, 132 S.Ct. 2277 (2012); Locke v. Karass, 555 U.S. 207 (2009); Cummings v. Connell, 402 F. 3d 935 (9th Cir. 2005); Prescott v. County of El Dorado, 177 F.3d 1102 (9th Cir. 1999), vacated, 528 U.S. 1111, reinstated in part, 204 F.3d 984 (9th Cir. 2000); Knight v. Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, 131 F.3d 807 (9th Cir. 1997); Johnson v. Lafayette Firefighters Ass’n, 51 F.3d 726 (7th Cir. 1995); Weaver v. University of Cincinnati, 942 F.2d 1039 (1991), further proceedings, 970 F.2d 1523 (6th Cir. 1992); Dixon v. City of Chicago, 948 F.2d 355 (7th Cir. 1991); Orr v. National Football League Players Ass’n, 147 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2845 (Va. Cir. Ct. 1994), aff’d, 150 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2191 (Va. 1995).
Legislative Assistant for Diane Feinstein
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