Partner, Givens Pursley LLP
Jeff Beelaert is a partner at Givens Pursley LLP in Boise, Idaho, with a distinguished background of public service and extensive experience with trial and appellate litigation. As lead counsel, Jeff has achieved success for clients in high-stakes, complex cases at every level of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Before joining Givens Pursley, Jeff previously held several posts at the United States Department of Justice.
Jeff previously worked as an associate at Sidley Austin in DC, where he drafted Supreme Court briefs and handled white collar matters and investigations.
Associate, Jones Day
Harry Graver works on appeals and motions practice, with a focus on federal overreach. He has argued multiple successful cases before the federal appellate courts. And he has briefed matters at all levels of the judiciary.
Before joining Jones Day in 2021, Harry served as a law clerk to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Harry graduated from Harvard Law School, where he received the Fay Diploma for being first in his class. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the Scalia Law School at George Mason University, teaching a course on the separation of powers.
Associate Dean and William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Sam Kalen joined the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty in 2009, and he is the William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean, as well as the founder and co-director of the School’s Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies. Sam earned his B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and he spent a year studying legal history and constitutional thought in a PhD program at the University of Virginia. Before joining UW, Sam taught as a visitor or adjunct at a number of other law schools, he also served in the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration, and he practiced for many years with a Washington, D.C., law firm. Immediately after law school, he clerked at the Missouri Supreme Court.
Sam is passionate about teaching and writing in a variety of areas that impact environmental, public lands and natural resources, energy, and administrative law. He spent years practicing in each of these areas, including working with Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Nations, and attempts to explore these areas in both the classroom and in his scholarship. He is the author and co-author of numerous law review articles, including one that was cited and quoted in a Supreme Court opinion. His most recent law review article appeared in Maryland Law Review, on "Public Land Management’s Future Place: Envisioning a Paradigm Shift" (Vol 82, page 240, 2023). He also is a co-author of the American Bar Association’s Endangered Species Basic Practice Series book (2nd edition), a co-author of Natural Resources Law and Policy (3rd ed. Foundation Press), and a co-author Energy Follies: Missteps, Fiascos, and Successes of America’s Energy Policy (Cambridge U. Press 2018).
Sam alternates teaching a variety of courses, including Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Legislation, Legal History, Public Lands & Natural Resources, Energy Law, Energy & Climate Law & Policy, and Indian Law. He also has taught field courses, including courses exploring energy and natural resource issues in Wyoming, as well as a course on Public Lands and Natural Resources in Grand Teton National Park. Professor Kalen also has worked collaboratively with the University’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Senior Legal Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation
Before becoming an attorney, James had been a productive member of society working as an exploration geologist in the late 1970s throughout the southwestern United States. However, after several years of dealing with irrational government bureaucrats and environmental policies untethered from reality, James decided that what the world needs is more lawyers — if they are willing to fight for rationality in regulatory regimes, property rights, and liberty.
James attended the University of Arizona College of Law in Tucson, where he served as an editor for the Law Review and received a J.D. degree in 1983. He had previously received a Masters degree in geological sciences from Brown University and an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in New York. James received the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Arizona Alumni Association in 2018.
James has worked with Pacific Legal Foundation since 1983, litigating cases from Alaska to Florida. He is a member of the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group’s Executive Committee, a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, and an honorary member of Owners Counsel of America, an organization comprised of eminent domain attorneys who represent property owners. The Owners Counsel awarded James its Crystal Eagle award in 2013. In 2022, James was awarded the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the William & Mary College of Law. The prize is awarded annually to an individual whose work has advanced the cause of property rights and has contributed to the overall awareness of the important role property rights occupy in the broader scheme of individual liberty.
In 2001, James successfully argued a major property rights case, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, before the United States Supreme Court, a case which affirmed that rights in regulated property do not disappear when land is bought and sold. He has written extensively on all aspects of property rights and environmental law and frequently speaks on these subjects throughout the nation.
When James is not suing the government he enjoys skiing faster than he should, bicycling, hiking, swimming, and spending quality time with his wife, family, and grandchild.
Mr. Burling’s book Nowhere to Live: The Hidden Story of America’s Housing Crisis is available now on Amazon.
James is a member of the bar only in the states of Alaska and California.
Associate Dean and William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Wyoming College of Law
Sam Kalen joined the University of Wyoming College of Law faculty in 2009, and he is the William T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean, as well as the founder and co-director of the School’s Center for Law and Energy Resources in the Rockies. Sam earned his B.A. from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and he spent a year studying legal history and constitutional thought in a PhD program at the University of Virginia. Before joining UW, Sam taught as a visitor or adjunct at a number of other law schools, he also served in the Solicitor’s Office at the Department of the Interior during the Clinton administration, and he practiced for many years with a Washington, D.C., law firm. Immediately after law school, he clerked at the Missouri Supreme Court.
Sam is passionate about teaching and writing in a variety of areas that impact environmental, public lands and natural resources, energy, and administrative law. He spent years practicing in each of these areas, including working with Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Nations, and attempts to explore these areas in both the classroom and in his scholarship. He is the author and co-author of numerous law review articles, including one that was cited and quoted in a Supreme Court opinion. His most recent law review article appeared in Maryland Law Review, on "Public Land Management’s Future Place: Envisioning a Paradigm Shift" (Vol 82, page 240, 2023). He also is a co-author of the American Bar Association’s Endangered Species Basic Practice Series book (2nd edition), a co-author of Natural Resources Law and Policy (3rd ed. Foundation Press), and a co-author Energy Follies: Missteps, Fiascos, and Successes of America’s Energy Policy (Cambridge U. Press 2018).
Sam alternates teaching a variety of courses, including Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Legislation, Legal History, Public Lands & Natural Resources, Energy Law, Energy & Climate Law & Policy, and Indian Law. He also has taught field courses, including courses exploring energy and natural resource issues in Wyoming, as well as a course on Public Lands and Natural Resources in Grand Teton National Park. Professor Kalen also has worked collaboratively with the University’s Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Partner, Baker Botts LLP
Drawing from two decades of experience in senior government, in-house corporate, and private law firm roles, Jeff Wood helps clients with federal enforcement, compliance, litigation, permitting, and policy challenges primarily in the energy and environmental fields.
Prior to joining Baker Botts, Mr. Wood served for almost two years as the Acting Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). In that capacity, Mr. Wood led ENRD and its more than 600 attorneys and staff representing EPA, Departments of the Interior, Energy, and Defense, and other agencies in civil and criminal enforcement and defensive environmental, energy, and natural resources litigation.
As the top official in ENRD, Mr. Wood managed a complex organization with an annual budget exceeding $200 million and a docket of more than 6,000 cases and matters. E&E News noted that “Wood maintains a strong relationship with ENRD's career staff” (Greenwire, Oct. 31, 2018). He previously served on the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
At the Justice Department, Mr. Wood oversaw the Division's civil and criminal enforcement programs and was responsible for developing legal strategies and approving briefs in key cases including filings before the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals in coordination with the Office of Solicitor General. In this role, Mr. Wood held the highest level security clearance and worked closely with top leadership at DOJ, EPA, the Interior Department, USDA, the Energy Department, Transportation Department, FERC, NRC and across the Executive Branch, including the White House.
With many years of both private law firm and in-house legal experience, Mr. Wood has handled complex environmental enforcement, regulatory, policy, and litigation matters for electric utilities, energy companies, maritime companies, mining companies, real estate developers, financial institutions, industrial companies and manufacturers, business coalitions, associations, small businesses, and individual property owners. Drawing from his experiences in-house, Mr. Wood brings a common-sense, cost-effective, client-focused approach to his work every day.
With a strong national reputation, Mr. Wood is a frequent speaker on environmental law and policy matters, with recent speeches and presentations at the Environmental Law Institute, Harvard Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, American University Law School, American Bar Association Environmental Law Conferences, the Texas Environmental SuperConference, Air Force Judge Advocate General School's Advanced Environmental Law Course, Baker Institute's Center for Energy Studies (Rice University), and many other venues. He frequently appears in national news to share insights on significant environmental law and policy issues, including recent quotes in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Law360, and E&E News, among others.
Vice President of Law & Policy, Property and Environment Research Center
Jonathan Wood is vice president of law and policy at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). An attorney, Jonathan has litigated environmental and property-rights cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, federal and state appellate courts, and trial courts across the country. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Review, Reason, and other outlets. And his research has been published in journals such as Environmental Law Reporter, Yale Journal on Regulation Notice & Comment, Pace Environmental Law Review, and California Western Law Review.
Prior to coming to PERC, Jonathan was a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, where he litigated cases concerning the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and other federal environmental laws. He was co-counsel for forest landowners in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that private land could not be arbitrarily regulated as critical habitat under the ESA. He also led a successful effort to reform regulation of threatened species to better align the incentives of private landowners with the interests of rare species.
Jonathan has testified before several congressional committees on wildlife conservation and endangered species topics. He has also appeared on national television and radio, including NPR’s All Things Considered, C-Span’s Washington Journal, Stossel, Fox News, and Hill.TV.
Jonathan has a law degree from the New York University School of Law, a masters degree in economic policy from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas. He is on the executive committee for the Federalist Society’s Environmental Law and Property Rights Practice Group and a steering committee member for the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative.
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.
Deputy Solicitor, Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Department of the Interior
Biography of Karen Budd-Falen
Deputy Solicitor – Parks and Wildlife – Department of the Interior, Washington D.C.
Karen Budd-Falen was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior (DOI) as the Deputy Solicitor for Parks and Wildlife in November, 2018. Prior to her current appointment, Karen served for three years in the Reagan Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. She later served as a law clerk to the Assistant Solicitor for Water and Power. In between her stints in Washington D.C., she, along with her husband Frank Falen, were the owners of a private law firm located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Karen has also worked as an attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation, a public interest legal foundation in Denver, Colorado.
At DOI, Karen works on issues relating to the Endangered Species Act, national wildlife refuges and National parks. While she was in private practice, Karen represented private property owners, ranching and farming organizations, and local governments. Karen has assisted local governments in asserting their rights of consistency review, cooperation and coordination in federal agency decisions; private property owners in protecting their Constitutionally guaranteed property rights, other multiple users in supporting grazing and multiple use on federal/public lands; exposing the amount of fees paid by the taxpayers under the attorney fee shifting statutes.
Some of Karen's publications include The Right to Graze Livestock on the Federal Lands: The Historical Development of Western Grazing Rights, Idaho Law Review, Spring, 1994; Protecting Community Stability and Local Economies: Opportunities for County Government Influence in Federal Decision and Policy Making Processes, Whitman College, 1996; and Counterpoint: Opportunities Lost and Opportunities Gained: Separating Truth from Myth in the Western Ranching Debate, Karen Budd-Falen editor, Lewis and Clark Law School Environmental Law, 2006.
Karen was featured in Newsweek Magazine's "Who's Who: 20 for the Future" for her work on property rights issues (September 30, 1991). Karen was awarded Wyoming’s Outstanding Ag Citizen in 2001; the “Always There Helping” award from the New Mexico Stock Growers Association in 2003; the “Bud’s Contract” award from the New Mexico Public Lands Council in 2006 and the Individual of the Year award from the Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Economic Growth in 2011.
Karen has presented testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Forest Health; the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources; the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources relating to the National Environmental Policy Act; the U.S. House of Representatives Full Committee on Natural Resources; and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Karen has also testified before committees of the Wyoming Legislature.
Karen is an active volunteer and coach for Future Farmers of America (“FFA”). Karen grew up as a fifth generation rancher on a family-owned ranch in Big Piney, Wyoming. She received her undergraduate degrees and her law degree from the University of Wyoming. Karen and Frank have two children, Isaac (wife Reva Falen) and Sarah and grandson, Wesley.
Attorney, Kazmarek Mowrey Cloud Laseter LLP
Leland Frost is an attorney in private practice and handles a broad range of environmental matters including litigation and appeals, transactions, enforcement, risk assessment, investigations, and regulatory counseling. His experience covers water, air, and climate change issues, as well as Superfund, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) compliance.
Previously, Leland was associate general counsel for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), where he managed a robust litigation and amicus curiae portfolio including environmental, international, product liability, class actions, technology, constitutional rights, labor and employment, intellectual property, and securities issues. Leland’s NAM experience spanned all levels of the judiciary, including briefs in a dozen state courts, more than four dozen U.S. Supreme Court briefs, and work in international tribunals.
Leland earned his B.A., cum laude, from Furman University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served as editor in chief of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and as an editor on the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review.
Vice President, Energy & Resources Policy, The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
Rachel Jones is vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Ms. Jones oversees the NAM’s energy and environmental policy work and has expertise on issues ranging from energy production and use to air and water quality, climate change, energy efficiency and environmental regulation. She is a key voice for manufacturing on Capitol Hill, at federal agencies and across all forms of media.
Before joining the NAM, Jones was the environment and energy counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, where she advised the Committee on EPA, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, FERC, NASA, NOAA and the White House Office of Science and Technology activities. She served as a legal fellow for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and as executive student notes and comments editor for the Energy Law Journal.
Ms. Jones’s relentless drive has made her a powerful advocate for our members and a respected voice on the Hill and in the Administration on issues ranging from environmental policy to energy production to infrastructure and regulatory issues.
Ms. Jones has a B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University and a J.D. from University of Tulsa College of Law.
Corporate Director of Regulatory Affairs, Continental Resources, Inc.
President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies
Lawrence J. Spiwak is President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that studies broad public-policy issues related to governance, social and economic conditions, with a particular emphasis on the law and economics of the digital age. Mr. Spiwak is a prolific scholar whose work is frequently cited by policymakers, major news media and academic journals around the world, and is in the top 1.3%of authors downloaded on the Social Science Research Network. Mr. Spiwak currently serves as the co-chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s (FCBA) committee responsible for overseeing the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL and is a member of the program committee of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (“TPRC”). Mr. Spiwak is also the recipient of the FCBA’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to joining the Phoenix Center, Mr. Spiwak was a Senior Attorney with the Competition Division in the FCC’s Office of General Counsel from 1994-1998. While in college, Mr. Spiwak was accepted into the Presidential Stay-In School program where he was responsible for delivering classified and confidential material among senior White House and Reagan Administration officials and received a full FBI security clearance. Mr. Spiwak received his B.A. with Special Honors from the George Washington University and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Mr. Spiwak is a member in good standing of the bars of New York, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
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.
Deputy Counsel, the President
Gary currently is the Deputy Counsel to the President. He was previously a partner at the Dhillon Law Group and worked at the Department of the Interior and Federal Election Commission. He is a native of Virginia, and earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia.
Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Attorney, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, PA
Erik Zimmerman is a commercial and appellate litigator. He previously clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Aided by his experience in the judicial system, Erik represents clients at all levels of the federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, federal and state appellate and trial courts, and federal administrative agencies.
Erik has experience in a broad range of subject areas, including contract disputes, employment and labor law, ERISA, and health care and health insurance law. He also represents clients in cases involving constitutional law, communications law, fraud, the False Claims Act, product liability, punitive damages and federal preemption of state law.
Erik's representative matters include helping to secure dismissal of a multibillion dollar breach of contract action in federal district court. He also successfully represented a client in appealing a judgment of nearly $100 million to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in another contract dispute.
Erik also maintains an active pro bono practice. He has represented clients in federal and state appeals involving issues of criminal law, the Fourth Amendment and landlord-tenant law. Erik is admitted only in the District of Columbia.
Deputy Counsel, the President
Gary currently is the Deputy Counsel to the President. He was previously a partner at the Dhillon Law Group and worked at the Department of the Interior and Federal Election Commission. He is a native of Virginia, and earned his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia.
The Antiquities Act: A Tool for Conservation, or a Law Without Limit?
Jeff Beelaert, Harry S. Graver, Sam Kalen
In 1906, Congress passed the Antiquities Act, which gives the President the authority to set...
The Public Lands Rule: Will A New “Conservation and Landscape Health” Paradigm for Federal Lands Survive Judicial Review?
James S. Burling, Sam Kalen, Jeffrey H. Wood, Jonathan Wood
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently adopted comprehensive new land management regulations known as...
Jacobson v. Massachusetts [SCOTUSbrief]
Josh Blackman
When a smallpox outbreak swept through the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1903, Rev. Henning...
Effectiveness of the Revised National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Karen Budd-Falen, Leland Frost, Rachel Jones, J. Roger Kelley
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires agencies to assess major actions that could significantly...
The Preemption Predicament Over Broadband Internet Access Services
Lawrence J. Spiwak
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
The GDPR: What It Really Does and How the U.S. Can Chart a Better Course
Roslyn Layton, Julian McLendon
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the European Union’s new General Data Protection Rule...
Deep Dive Episode 19 – Does the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Prohibit Incidental or Accidental Killing?
Gary Lawkowski
Pursuant to a modern interpretation of a 100-year old law, every American who owns a...
Deep Dive Episode 19 – Does the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Prohibit Incidental or Accidental Killing?
Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
Exploring Net Neutrality and the Implications of Repeal
Brent Skorup
For about a decade, some legal scholars have urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to...
Patchak v. Zinke - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Erik R. Zimmerman
On November 7, 2017, the Supreme Court heard argument in Patchak v. Zinke, a case...