Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Judge, United States District Court for the District of Arizona
United States District Judge Michael T. Liburdi began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth V. McGregor of the Arizona Supreme Court.
He entered private practice with the law firm of Brown & Bain P.A., which became the Phoenix office of Perkins Coie LLP. He later practiced at Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.
From 2015-2018, Judge Liburdi served as General Counsel to Arizona Governor Douglas A. Ducey. Judge Liburdi provided legal advice to the Governor, advised on appointments to the state judiciary, directed litigation involving the state agencies, and worked with Arizona’s Congressional delegation on legal policy issues.
Immediately prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Liburdi was a shareholder at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Judge Liburdi’s private sector practice included complex commercial litigation, antitrust, constitutional law, and political and election law.
Judge Liburdi has served as an adjunct professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
Judge Liburdi earned his Juris Doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University.
President & CEO, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Danny brings more than 16 years of experience in global public affairs and government relations, as well as handling complex legal matters in private practice and public sector service. Prior to joining the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Danny was general counsel to the Valor Global leadership team. He focused on helping achieve growth objectives as well as providing continued public affairs guidance in AZ, WA and other States.
Danny worked at Intel, was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig where he chaired the Phoenix office government law and policy practice. Danny served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Arizona Governor Doug Ducey from 2014 to 2018 where he assisted in the passage of landmark legislation including the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act and K–12 education funding ballot referral.
Danny was recently named among 2020 Leaders of the Year in Public Policy by Arizona Capitol Times for his contributions in the field of law and public policy. Danny earned his Juris Doctor (cum laude) from Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Pepperdine University. Danny serves as an adjunct professor at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, is a board member of numerous community organizations. Danny is passionate about orphan care and volunteers with Orphan Outreach for orphaned and vulnerable children in Mathare, Nairobi and Bungoma, Kenya. He and his wife Ann, live in Phoenix with their three children.
Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University
Jennifer L. Selin is an associate professor at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. Her published and ongoing scholarship explores legal institutions and how they work. Using both legal analysis and empirical tools, she demonstrates the structure of the administrative decision-making environment has important consequences for policy implementation.
Prior to joining ASU in 2024, Professor Selin served as senior attorney advisor at the Administrative Conference of the United States. Before working in the federal executive branch, she was a professor at the Universities of Illinois and Missouri.
Selin's scholarship has been published in political science, public administration, and law journals and has been utilized by the Obama, Trump and Biden Administrations, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the media. A proud graduate of Lebanon Valley College, Selin holds a J.D. from Wake Forest University and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Before first joining academia, she practiced administrative law and specialized in federal electricity market regulation and alternative energy development, licensing and regulation.
Attorney General, Florida
James Uthmeier is the Attorney General of the State of Florida. Before this, he served as Chief of Staff to Governor Ron DeSantis. Previously, he was General Counsel to the Governor, overseeing litigation and judicial nominations. He also served as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce. A Georgetown Law graduate, Uthmeier is an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law and co-teaches religious education in Tallahassee.
Partner, Clement & Murphy, PLLC
Paul served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for over three years.
Paul has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, United States v. Booker, MGM v. Grokster, Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Rucho v. Common Cause, Facebook v. Duguid, and TransUnion v. Ramirez. Paul has argued more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. He has also argued many important cases in the lower courts, including Walker v. Cheney, United States v. Moussaoui and NFL v. Brady.
Paul’s practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional litigation and strategic counseling. He represents a broad array of clients in the Supreme Court and in federal and state appellate courts. Last year, for example, he successfully argued Supreme Court cases involving significant issues of energy regulation, statutory interpretation, state sovereign immunity and Article III standing, and successfully argued a trademark appeal in the Fourth Circuit, and a constitutional appeal before the en banc Eleventh Circuit.
Paul focuses on high-stakes appeals. In recent years, he successfully defended a $1.2 billion jury verdict for clients in a Tenth Circuit case, while securing the reversal of an over $2 billion jury verdict for another client in the Seventh Circuit and the approval of a nearly $1 billion dollar class action settlement in the Third Circuit. He has initiated major administrative law challenges and constitutional litigation against the federal government, such as the successful challenge to the HHS drug-pricing rule and threatened challenges that led to the withdrawal of the Treasury Department’s proposed cryptocurrency regulations. He also counsels clients on a variety of strategic legal questions, whether arising from pending legislation, government inquiries or ongoing litigation.
Paul has undertaken substantial pro bono engagements in the Supreme Court, such as twice successfully representing the defendant in Bond v. United States and successfully representing the Omaha Tribe in Nebraska v. Parker, the guardian ad litem in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the defendant in Sekhar v. United States, a high school football coach in Kennedy v. Bremerton, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Paul’s pro bono representation also precipitated the federal government’s confession of error in United States v. Rojas.
Following law school, Paul clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, he went on to serve as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights.
Paul is a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught in various capacities since 1998. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute. He is the Justice Joseph Story Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Gray Center at Scalia Law School.
Partner, Briscoe Prows Kao Ivester & Bazel LLP
Tony Francois is experienced in Water and Real Property Law, Land Use and Zoning, Environmental Regulation, Natural Resources Development, Agricultural Law, and Constitutional Law. He has represented homeowners, builders, farmers and ranchers, trade associations, and water districts in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and state and federal trial and appellate courts. He is a member of the California State Bar and the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the Districts of New Mexico and North Dakota, and has litigated cases in federal courts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has appeared before the Supreme Courts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and the United States.
Prior to attending law school, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was stationed in the former West Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Tony was an Attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation from 2012 to 2021. He was a lobbyist for 10 years, first with California Farm Bureau Federation from 2003 to 2007, and then with KP Public Affairs from 2007 to 2012. He was an attorney at McQuaid, Bedford & Van Zandt in San Francisco from 1999 – 2003.
Chief Legal Officer, Airbnb
Ron Klain oversees Airbnb’s global legal and ethics functions and community policy team.
Ron served as the 30th White House Chief of Staff, from January 2021 to February 2023 – the longest tenure of any Democratic President’s first chief of staff.
Ron’s career in public service began as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron White for the Court’s 1987 and 1988 Terms. Following his time clerking at the Supreme Court, Ron was Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Staff Director of the Senate Democratic Leadership Committees, Associate Counsel for Judicial Selection under President Clinton, Chief of Staff to Vice President Al Gore, Chief of Staff and Counselor to the US Attorney General, and Chief of Staff to Vice President Joe Biden. In the Obama administration, Ron served as White House Ebola Response Coordinator, to tackle the West African Ebola epidemic of 2014-15.
In the private sector, Ron has served as Partner and National Practice Group Chair at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, from 1999-2004 and again in 2023. Earlier he was General Counsel for the technology investment firm Revolution LLC from 2005 to 2020.
Professor of Law and Executive Director, Law and Economics Center, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Donald Kochan is Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Law & Economics Center (LEC). Professor Kochan is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and serves as an Adviser to ALI's Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property project. Professor Kochan is a Nonresident Scholar at the Center for the Constitution at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Visiting Scholar in residence during Fall 2018. Before joining the Antonin Scalia Law School faculty, he was the Parker S. Kennedy Professor in Law at Chapman University’s Dale E. Fowler School of Law from 2004 to 2020. From 2003 to 2004, Professor Kochan was an Olin Fellow at the University of Virginia School of Law. During 2002-2003, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason’s Scalia Law School.
Professor Kochan’s scholarship focuses on areas of property law, constitutional law, administrative law, local government law, natural resources and environmental law, and law & economics. He has published several books and more than 50 scholarly articles and essays in well-regarded law journals. His work has been cited in more than a dozen state and federal court opinions, in more than 75 briefs filed in state and federal courts including more than 25 filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, in dozens of books and treatises, and in more than 800 scholarly articles.
Professor Kochan received his JD from Cornell Law School, where he was a John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics and managing editor of the Cornell International Law Journal. During law school, he also served as editor and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy symposium issues in 1997 and 1998. He received his BA from Western Michigan University, magna cum laude, with majors in both political science and philosophy, where he studied as the John W. Gill Medallion Scholar and was honored as the Presidential Scholar (awarded to the top graduate in the political science department).
After graduating from law school, Professor Kochan was a law clerk to The Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Professor Kochan was an associate with the firm of Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in natural resources & environmental law as well as tort, products, and consumer civil litigation & legislative affairs.
Senior State Policy Counsel, Pacific Legal Foundation
Jaimie Cavanaugh is senior state policy counsel at Pacific Legal Foundation, where she works with legislators around the country to end burdensome laws and create opportunities for individuals to thrive.
Jaimie’s prior work as a litigator led to the recognition of the right to economic liberty by the Georgia Supreme Court and ended New Jersey’s ban on selling cottage food. In Minnesota, she secured a victory for vintners who wanted to make wine with ingredients from other states and eased needlessly restrictive continuing legal education requirements for attorneys.
But there are many ways to advance liberty, and Jaimie has also spent several years assisting legislators in reforming or repealing certificate of need laws, which make it difficult or impossible to open healthcare facilities. She has published reports on certificate of need laws and written extensively about their harms. Her experience has established her as a national policy expert.
Growing up outside of Detroit, Jaimie learned that people, not government, know what’s best for themselves and their families. That’s why her work also promotes protections for private property, equality, and economic opportunity.
Jaimie studied linguistics and German at the University of Michigan before earning her J.D. from the University of Colorado. After law school, she completed a judicial fellowship with Justice Monica Márquez before spending five years as an attorney with Mountain States Legal Foundation and five years as an attorney with Institute for Justice.
Renée Flaherty is an attorney with the Institute for Justice. She joined the Institute in 2013 and litigates cases to secure property rights, economic liberty and school choice in federal and state courts.
Renée successfully represented families in defense of North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, which was upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court in July 2015.
Renée’s views have been published in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
Prior to joining the Institute for Justice, Renée worked in private practice as a tax controversy associate at the Washington, D.C., office of Bingham McCutchen, LLP. She received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 2011, where she was an editor of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review and served on the Executive Board of the Federalist Society. Renée graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Business Administration. Renée is originally from Odessa, Texas.
Renée Flaherty is a member of the D.C. bar.
Head of U.S. Policy and Strategic Advocacy, Electric Coin Company
Paul Brigner is the Head of U.S. Policy and Strategic Advocacy at the Electric Coin Company. He has served in senior level technology policy and government relations roles for the last eighteen years with another ten years of hands-on technical experience at the beginning his career after serving in the United States Army.
He holds an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. He received a Bachelors degree from Stephen F. Austin State University where he was named the Outstanding Computer Science Graduate.
General Counsel, Espresso Systems
Michael Mosier is General Counsel at Espresso Systems, which is developing configurable privacy for digital assets with decentralized private computation. He served as Acting Director, Deputy Director, and the first Digital Innovation Officer of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He also was Counselor (for Cybersecurity & Emerging Technology) to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
Previously, Michael was Chief Technical Counsel at Chainalysis; an Associate Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control; a Deputy Chief at the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering Section; and White House National Security Council Director for Transnational Organized Crime. He began his public service with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Kevin Werbach is a professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and formerly Counsel for New Technology Policy at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Werbach has spent the past two decades exploring major trends at the intersection of the Internet, digital media, and communications. He served on the Obama Administration's Presidential Transition Team and founded the Supernova Group, a technology consulting firm, which organized the CEO-level Supernova technology conference. He also created one of the most successful massive open online courses, with nearly half a million enrollments. He was named Wharton's first-ever Iron Prof in 2010.
Werbach has published four books, including The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, For the Win: The Power of Gamification and Game Thinking in Business, Education, Government, and Social Impact, and After the Digital Tornado: Networks, Algorithms, Humanity.
Earlier in his career, he edited the influential technology newsletter Release 1.0, and helped develop the U.S. Government's Internet and e-commerce policies in the Clinton Administration
Associate Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Associate Professor of Law J.W. Verret joined the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University faculty in 2008. In 2013, he took leave for two years to serve as the Chief Economist and Senior Counsel for the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He received his JD and MA in Public Policy from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, respectively, in 2006. While in law school, Professor Verret served an Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics at the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance under the guidance of Prof. Lucian Bebchuk.
Professor Verret then served as a law clerk for Vice-Chancellor John W. Noble of the Delaware Court of Chancery. Prior to joining the faculty at Scalia Law, Professor Verret was an associate in the SEC Enforcement Defense Practice Group at Skadden, Arps in Washington, D.C. He has written extensively on corporate law topics, including Delaware's Guidance, co-written with Chief Justice Myron T. Steele of the Delaware Supreme Court. His academic work has been featured in the Yale Journal on Regulation, The Business Lawyer, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Stanford Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, and the Virginia Law and Business Review. Professor Verret was selected by the Northwestern Law School Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth for a 2009-2010 Searle-Kaufmann Research Fellowship.
Professor Verret is also a Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Working Group on Financial Markets, where he regularly briefs Congressional staff, members of Congress, SEC Commissioners and other financial regulatory agencies on financial regulation topics. He also directs the Corporate Federalism Initiative, where he obtains research grants for a network of students and faculty scholars who study the division between states and the federal government as sources of corporate law. Professor Verret has been invited to testify before various House and Senate Committees four times during the financial crisis of 2009 regarding all of the central provisions of the Obama Administration's 2009 financial regulatory reform proposals. For a full list of Professor Verret's C-Span appearances, including testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, see http://www.c-spanvideo.org/jwverret.
Professor Verret has been an invited panelist for various television appearances, including an interview on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Professor Verret has been quoted in various media on financial regulation and corporate law topics, including the New York Times, CNN Money, the CNN Political Ticker, CNBC, ABC News, Investor's Business Daily, ESPN.com, The American Banker, The American Lawyer, The Huffington Post, CBS.com, and AP News. Professor Verret's op-eds have been featured in Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, The Orange County Register, and The Wall Street Journal. Professor Verret is also a regular guest contributor to three of the most noted corporate law and financial regulation law blogs: the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation Forum, Deallawyers.com, and The Conglomerate.
Justice, Supreme Court of Arizona
Clint Bolick was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey in January 2016 to serve on the Arizona Supreme Court and was retained by the voters in 2018 and 2024.
Prior to joining the Court, Justice Bolick litigated constitutional cases in state and federal courts from coast to coast, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Among other positions, he served as Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and as Co-founder and Vice President for Litigation at the Institute for Justice. He has litigated in support of school choice, freedom of enterprise, private property rights, freedom of speech, and federalism, and against racial classifications and government subsidies.
Justice Bolick received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Davis, where he has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus, and his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Drew University. He serves as a research fellow with the Hoover Institution. Among other honors, he was named one of the 90 Greatest DC Lawyers in the Last 30 Years by Legal Times in 2008, received a Bradley Prize in 2006, and was recognized as one of the nation’s three lawyers of the year by American Lawyer in 2002 for his successful defense of school vouchers in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.
Justice Bolick is a prolific author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles. Among his most recent books are Unshackled: Freeing America’s K-12 Education System: Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, co-authored with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush; and David’s Hammer: The Case for an Activist Judiciary. Bolick serves as an adjunct professor of constitutional law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law and has served as a lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice Arizona Office. He joined the Institute in March 2010 and litigates free speech, property rights, economic liberty, school choice and other constitutional cases in federal and state courts.
As the head of IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative, Paul represents natural hair braiders across the country to protect their right to earn an honest living. The Initiative uses lawsuits, activism and research to remove laws that require potential braiders to undergo hundreds of costly training hours just to braid hair. Since IJ launched the Braiding Freedom Initiative in 2014, 12 additional states have freed braiders from unnecessary licensing burdens. Paul drafted the model Natural Hair Braiding Protection Act, which has been adopted in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Texas and South Dakota. He is currently representing braiders in Missouri, where state laws infringe upon their right to earn an honest living.
In his free speech work, Paul has challenged numerous laws that trample First Amendment rights. In Arizona Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, he represented candidates and independent groups in a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s publicly financed elections system. He represented grassroots groups and individuals in Arizona, Mississippi and Washington, where state laws burdened their political speech by requiring them to register with the government, to navigate complex regulations and to face fines and possible criminal penalties merely because they talked about political issues. In Washington, Paul protected a lawyer’s right to defend, pro-bono, the First Amendment rights of political speakers. Through litigation and legislation, Paul leads the fight against abusive civil forfeiture laws in Arizona and elsewhere.
Paul also co-authored the most comprehensive published study of economic liberty protections in the Arizona Constitution. The Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court appointed Paul to the Task Force on the Review of the Role and Governance Structure of the State Bar of Arizona, where he dissented from the majority report and called on leaders to substantially reform the Bar and state regulation of the practice of law. He often speaks at law schools across the country about constitutional issues and his work at IJ.
Prior to joining IJ-AZ, Paul worked as an attorney in Philadelphia. He clerked for Judge Roger Miner on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Justice Andrew Hurwitz on the Arizona Supreme Court, and Judge Daniel Barker on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Paul graduated manga cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2004 and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 2000.
Constitutional Scholarship Director and Senior Legal Analyst, Pacific Legal Foundation
Anastasia Boden is Director of Constitutional Scholarship at Pacific Legal Foundation, where she leads the organization’s Supreme Court commentary and directs scholarly analysis in support of the firm’s litigation. She has represented entrepreneurs and small businesses nationwide in challenges to onerous licensing regimes, anti-competitive titling restrictions, Certificate of Need (“competitor’s veto”) laws, and other forms of unnecessary red tape that block economic opportunity.
Prior to this role, Anastasia developed nearly a dozen constitutional challenges to Certificate of Need laws across the country, helping spur legislative reform in Montana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Her victories include a ruling invalidating Houston’s busking restrictions, multiple appellate decisions expanding access to the courts for civil rights plaintiffs, and the legislative repeal of Virginia’s happy-hour advertising ban.
Her writings on law and liberty have been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and more, and she has appeared on Headline News, CBS News, Fox News, ReasonTV, Newsmax, and John Stossel. In 2020, she was featured on Libertarian Party presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen’s Supreme Court shortlist.
Anastasia earned her BA with dean’s honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was research assistant to Professor Randy E. Barnett—the “intellectual godfather” of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare. She is the co-creator of the podcast Dissed, about infamous Supreme Court dissents. She authors the biweekly newsletter SCOTUS Scoop and the column, “In Dissent” for SCOTUSblog.
General Counsel, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Daniel Greenberg is the General Counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His research focuses on civil asset forfeiture and regulatory reform. He served as senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2017-2021. From 2011-2017, he was president of the Advance Arkansas Institute, a nonprofit research and educational organization.
He has been an adjunct professor of law and political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as well as senior counsel for the Center for Class Action Fairness. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2007-2011, and on the Pulaski County Quorum Court for four years prior to that. As a state legislator, he received National Review’s “2010 Challenge / Best Conservative Idea” award for his work on federalism issues as well as the Arkansas Press Association’s Freedom of Information Award for his work on First Amendment issues.
During the 1990s, he served as a congressional staffer for Congressman Jay Dickey and Tim Hutchinson before moving to the Heritage Foundation and then to the Cato Institute. He has published extensively on government and public policy in newspapers, magazines and academic journals, including the New York Times, National Review, the Monist, the John Marshall Law Review, and the Ohio State Law Journal. He holds degrees from Brown University, Bowling Green State University, and UALR’s Bowen School of Law.
Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Nicolas (Nick) Loris, an economist, focuses on energy, environmental, and regulatory issues as the Deputy Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Herbert and Joyce Morgan fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Loris studies and writes about energy supplies, energy prices, and other economic effects of environmental policies and regulations, including climate change legislation, energy efficiency mandates, and energy subsidies.
He also covers coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear gas, and renewable energy policy and articulates the benefits of free market environmentalism.
Loris has testified before House and Senate committees. He has been published and quoted in major newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. His radio and television appearances include CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and National Public Radio.
He is a prolific contributor to the energy and environment section of The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news organization.
Loris was promoted to research fellow in March 2016. He had been a senior policy analyst since 2013, and was named Morgan fellow the year before. The fellowship was endowed by retired real estate developer Herbert Morgan and his late wife, Joyce, of Arlington, Va., longtime proponents of free enterprise and limited government.
Before joining Heritage in 2007, Loris was an associate at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, immersing himself for a year in a market-based management program.
He received his master's degree in economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics, finance, and political science from Albright College in Reading, Pa.
Loris, who was born and grew up in Quakertown, Pa., currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Director, Center for International Trade and Economics and Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation
Terry Miller champions free markets as director of two of The Heritage Foundation’s key research centers, Data Analysis and Trade and Economics, and as the think tank’s Mark A. Kolokotrones fellow in economic freedom.
At the Center for Trade and Economics, Miller focuses on research into how free markets and international trade foster economic growth around the world. He is editor of a signature Heritage publication, the annual Index of Economic Freedom.
At the Center for Data Analysis, Miller oversees the statistical and econometric modeling that underpins the think tank’s wide-ranging research programs.
Both centers are part of Heritage’s Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity.
Before joining Heritage in 2007 as director of the Center for Trade and Economics, Miller had a distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service. In 2006, he was appointed as an ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. representative on the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council.
Miller previously served at the State Department as deputy assistant secretary for economic and global issues. He headed offices at State devoted to the promotion of human rights, social issues, development and trade.
Overseas, Miller served in Italy, France, Barbados and New Zealand. He headed the U.S. observer mission to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Miller did both his undergraduate studies in government and his graduate studies in economics at the University of Texas in Austin.
He and his wife, the former opera singer Deborah Miller, have three children.
Director, Free Trade Initiative, National Taxpayers Union
Bryan Riley is Director of NTU’s Free Trade Initiative.
Bryan’s background includes years of research on the impact trade has on people in the United States. He has led grassroots campaigns in support of initiatives like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and in opposition to special-interest efforts to get the government to pick winners and losers in the U.S. economy.
Bryan has been quoted in publications including the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is also an in-demand speaker who travels the country explaining the benefits international trade and investment bring to Americans.
Bryan Riley grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Kansas State University and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Southern California.
Bryan first came to Washington, DC as an NTU intern during the Reagan administration, and he continues to champion President Reagan’s pro-trade vision for America.
Postponed - Federalism, Farming, and Food Freedom
Los Angeles Lawyers Chapter
Los Angeles, CAPanel I: Laboratories of Liberty: State Deregulation and Economic Freedom
Paul Avelar, Michael T. Liburdi, Danny B. Seiden, Jennifer Selin, James William Uthmeier
Featuring: Mr. Paul Avelar, Arizona Office Managing Attorney, Institute for Justice Mr. Danny Seiden, President...
Property & Personal Rights: A Discussion of Short-Term Rental Regulations
Paul D. Clement, Tony Francois, Ron Klain, Donald J. Kochan
Short-term rentals—popularized by Airbnb and Vrbo—have been given modern platforms for the customary alternative to...
Litigation Update: Jackson v. Raffensperger
Jaimie N. Cavanaugh, Renée Flaherty
In Jackson v. Raffensperger, 316 Ga. 383 (2023), the Supreme Court of Georgia struck down...
Is the Office of Foreign Assets Control's Sanctioning of Tornado Cash a Threat to the Future of Financial Privacy?
Paul Brigner, Michael Mosier, Kevin Werbach, J.W. Verret
Tornado Cash is an open source, decentralized cryptocurrency tumbler that was introduced in 2019. The...
Principles of State Constitutional Interpretation
Clint Bolick
State constitutionalism—the practice of state courts deciding cases on independent state constitutional grounds—is a vital...
Courthouse Steps Decision Teleforum: Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid
The Supreme Court issued its decision in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid today, June 23, 2021,...
State Court Docket Watch: Schires v. Carlat
Paul Avelar
Note from the Editor: Mr. Avelar served on an outside moot panel for the taxpayers’...
Explainer Episode 27 – Occupational Regulations in the Beauty Industry
Anastasia P. Boden, Daniel Greenberg
In this episode, Anastasia P. Boden interviews Daniel Greenberg about his new article, "Regulating Glamour: A Quantitative Analysis...
The Importance of Economic Freedom During and After the Coronavirus Pandemic
Nicolas Loris, Terry Miller, Bryan Riley
The Heritage Foundation’s newly released 2020 Index of Economic Freedom confirms yet again the economic...