Director of the National Research Initiative, American Enterprise Institute
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Rachel N. Morrison is an attorney and Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project. Her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison lives with her husband and daughter in Virginia.
Vice President & Senior Legal Fellow, Defending Education
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education.
Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.
Sarah joined Heritage after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education where she focused on policy reform, technical guidance, and the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) annual report to Congress. While at OCR, she was appointed by the Acting Assistant Secretary to co-chair the Employment Engagement, Diversity, & Inclusion Council and, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement oversee the hiring of dozens of attorneys for OCR’s 12 regional offices nationwide. Prior to her tenure at the Department of Education, she spent six years at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. where she was Senior Fellow for Education Reform and later, became the regular substitute host for the “Washington Watch” radio show. Her work at the Family Research Council also included the building and oversight of multiple policy coalitions geared toward the fight against antisemitism in academia, curbing tech censorship, and protecting religious liberty.
Before joining FRC, Sarah was in-house counsel and director of development for a Baltimore advertising agency, providing management of all new business transactions from pitch to contract execution for the multi-million-dollar enterprise. She began her practice at the litigation firm of Simms Showers, LLP where her work included Title VII employment discrimination, maritime/admiralty, and False Claims Act (“Qui Tam”) law. Sarah has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, a recipient of the American Jurisprudence award, a Phi Delta Phi honor society member, and a student practitioner in the appellate litigation clinic where she argued before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She holds a B.S. in Journalism with honors from Liberty University.
Her commentary and analysis have appeared in media outlets across the country, including the AP, BBC, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and the New York Times. She is the mother of three children, and the author of just as many books on the trials and triumphs of parenting children on the autism spectrum. Sarah is a member of the Kirkpatrick Society at the American Enterprise Institute, and makes her home north of Baltimore, Maryland.
Visiting Fellow in Bioethics, Ethics & Public Policy Center
Alexander Raikin is a Visiting Fellow in the Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research focuses on the dignity of human life and end-of-life issues, especially on its impact on the field of medicine and broader ethical questions of social belonging.
For tips, please send an email to araikin+tips@eppc.org.
His writing has been widely cited in major publications such as The Atlantic and the New York Times and in academic journals in the United States, Canada, UK, and France. He wrote cover stories for National Review and The New Atlantis, while his other bylines include City Journal, Plough, and the Washington Free Beacon. Raikin frequently speaks on national radio and on major podcasts.
Last year, Raikin was an inaugural Richard John Neuhaus Fellow at the Public Interest Fellowship and EPPC. He was a Tikvah Summer Fellow and a Killam scholar with Fulbright at American University. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Raikin is a proud member of Kesher Israel synagogue and lives with his wife in Washington, D.C.
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute
Jeffrey A. Singer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is principal and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona, and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than 35 years.
He is also a visiting fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. Singer is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the American Council on Science and Health. From 1994 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to Arizona Medicine, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association. He served on the Advisory Board Council of the Center for Political Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2018 and is an adjunct instructor in the Program on Political History and Leadership at ASU. He writes and speaks extensively on regional and national public policy, with a specific focus on the areas of health care policy and the harmful effects of drug prohibition.
He received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group
Dan Troy is Managing Director and an expert witness on FDA matters at Berkeley Research Group. Previously he served as Chief Counsel of the US Food and Drug Administration and General Counsel of GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Visiting Fellow in Bioethics, Ethics & Public Policy Center
Alexander Raikin is a Visiting Fellow in the Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research focuses on the dignity of human life and end-of-life issues, especially on its impact on the field of medicine and broader ethical questions of social belonging.
For tips, please send an email to araikin+tips@eppc.org.
His writing has been widely cited in major publications such as The Atlantic and the New York Times and in academic journals in the United States, Canada, UK, and France. He wrote cover stories for National Review and The New Atlantis, while his other bylines include City Journal, Plough, and the Washington Free Beacon. Raikin frequently speaks on national radio and on major podcasts.
Last year, Raikin was an inaugural Richard John Neuhaus Fellow at the Public Interest Fellowship and EPPC. He was a Tikvah Summer Fellow and a Killam scholar with Fulbright at American University. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Raikin is a proud member of Kesher Israel synagogue and lives with his wife in Washington, D.C.
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute
Jeffrey A. Singer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is principal and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona, and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than 35 years.
He is also a visiting fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. Singer is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the American Council on Science and Health. From 1994 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to Arizona Medicine, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association. He served on the Advisory Board Council of the Center for Political Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2018 and is an adjunct instructor in the Program on Political History and Leadership at ASU. He writes and speaks extensively on regional and national public policy, with a specific focus on the areas of health care policy and the harmful effects of drug prohibition.
He received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Managing Director, Berkeley Research Group
Dan Troy is Managing Director and an expert witness on FDA matters at Berkeley Research Group. Previously he served as Chief Counsel of the US Food and Drug Administration and General Counsel of GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Andrew N. Ferguson was sworn in April 2, 2024 as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. President Joe Biden named Ferguson to a term that expires on September 25, 2030.
Ferguson most recently served as solicitor general of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to that position, he served as chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and as a Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He also practiced law at several Washington, D.C. law firms. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. After law school, Ferguson clerked for Judge Karen L. Henderson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Partner, Torridon Law PLLC
Mike Fragoso is an experienced legal and policy strategist who represents clients before all three branches of the federal government. Most recently he served as chief counsel to the Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He has negotiated consequential legislation, managed successful congressional oversight, and prepared individuals for the most contentious Senate hearings.
As chief counsel to Leader McConnell, Mike was the Leader’s primary legal advisor and managed the “last mile” of any legislation touching on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He ran the 2024 reauthorization of FISA Section 702 and was involved at the highest levels of the appropriations and budget-reconciliation processes. Mike also repeatedly represented Leader McConnell as counsel of record at the Supreme Court. Leader McConnell said of Mike that he’s “equally at home in the high-minded philosophical discourse of the legal community and the urgent pragmatism of congressional dealmaking,” and that he “maintains a firm grasp on the realm of the possible” but “knows which screws to twist.” He observed that Mike “is so exceptionally competent that he often produces from his desk the work that would normally require, literally, teams of outside counsel.”
President and CEO, The Federalist Society
Sheldon Gilbert is the President and CEO of The Federalist Society. Gilbert has been involved in the conservative and libertarian legal movement since law school, and has served in prominent roles at both nonprofit organizations as well as corporate America.
A longtime constitutional litigator, Gilbert has represented clients through amicus and party briefs in nearly a hundred cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, at both the certiorari and merits stages. Most recently, Gilbert served as Senior Lead Counsel for Strategic Initiatives at Walmart, the world’s largest company, where he led teams providing legal advice related to government enforcement, internal investigations, government relations, public relations, and special projects at the center of law and policy.
Before joining Walmart, Gilbert served as Vice President for Content and Development and Senior Fellow for Constitutional Studies at the National Constitution Center, a congressionally chartered non-partisan center for constitutional education and debate, where he led both fundraising and programming efforts. While at the NCC, Gilbert helped ensure that the Center’s programming and exhibits incorporated constitutional perspectives from experts on both the right and the left, including the launch of the Center’s landmark permanent exhibit on the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments.
Prior to the National Constitution Center, Gilbert served as the director of the Institute for Justice’s Center for Judicial Engagement (CJE), where he educated the public about the role of the courts and the Constitution, where he frequently hosted discussions and debates on constitutional issues, and often spoke at Federalist Society lawyer and student chapters across the country.
He was also a litigator with the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he represented the U.S. Chamber in over 400 cases in federal and state courts addressing a wide range of legal issues, from free speech to property rights.
Gilbert is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School where he helped found a first-of-its-kind National Religious Freedom Moot Court, which hosted law students from across the country to debate important, emerging religious liberty issues. After graduating from GWU, he also taught as a professorial lecturer at the school.
A graduate of the University of Utah, Gilbert is a child of the Mountain West, where he was born in a coal mining town in Utah and raised in Idaho near the Grand Tetons. Before going to law school, Gilbert’s diverse interests led him to work in a wide range of roles, from software development project management for a nonprofit, to working in his University’s radiobiology research lab, to volunteer service in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for his church.
Gilbert is married with four children.
Shareholder, D.C. Office Managing Shareholder
Lee is a former Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Chairman Lindsey Graham, Deputy Counsel to Vice President J.D. Vance, and federal prosecutor who serves as Managing Shareholder of Maynard Nexsen’s Washington, D.C. office. He has deep experience in all three branches of the federal government, stand-up courtroom experience, and extensive knowledge of Washington, D.C.
While serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lee played a central role in some of the most consequential legislative, nominations, and oversight efforts in recent years. He led Supreme Court and Attorney General confirmation hearings, guided politically charged negotiations on the First Step Act, police reform, the CARES Act, and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and oversaw the Committee’s work on the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation. Lee also helped advance the CLOUD Act and major intellectual property legislation, including the Defend Trade Secrets Act, the Music Modernization Act, and the CASE Act. Over his seven-year Senate career, he handled the Committee’s authorization of subpoenas, participated in transcribed interviews, managed public communications campaigns, and prepared witnesses and nominees for high-profile hearings—culminating in his service as a key advisor to Republican Senators during both impeachments of President Donald Trump.
As a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Lee managed a diverse criminal and civil litigation docket, including first chair of a felony trial, briefing appeals, and arguing in the Fourth Circuit. Lee defended the United States in civil suits under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), and also served as the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) prosecutor for the South Carolina U.S. Attorney's Office. Before joining Maynard Nexsen, Lee served in the White House, where he provided strategic and legal advice to the Office of the Vice President.
Lee earned his law degree at the Vanderbilt University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Affairs from Florida State University. He clerked for the Honorable Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and briefly on the Fourth Circuit when Judge Anderson sat on that court by designation.
Senior Director, Microsoft, Former Staff Director and Chief Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
Judge Julius “Jay” Richardson serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Jay grew up in Barnwell, South Carolina. After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Jay moved to Hawaii and worked at a pool-side bar-and-grill. Jay later earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the Law Review and right fielder for the law school’s championship softball team. Following law school, Jay clerked for Judge Richard A. Posner and for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. He then practiced with Kellogg Hansen in Washington, DC before returning to South Carolina as an Assistant United States Attorney. Along with prosecuting violent crime, gangs, terrorism, public corruption, civil rights, and narcotics trafficking, he led the prosecution of Dylann Roof, who was convicted and sentenced to death for his racist massacre of nine Black worshippers during a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. He and his wife Macon are blessed with four daughters.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Rachel N. Morrison is an attorney and Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project. Her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison lives with her husband and daughter in Virginia.
Vice President & Senior Legal Fellow, Defending Education
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education.
Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.
Sarah joined Heritage after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education where she focused on policy reform, technical guidance, and the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) annual report to Congress. While at OCR, she was appointed by the Acting Assistant Secretary to co-chair the Employment Engagement, Diversity, & Inclusion Council and, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement oversee the hiring of dozens of attorneys for OCR’s 12 regional offices nationwide. Prior to her tenure at the Department of Education, she spent six years at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. where she was Senior Fellow for Education Reform and later, became the regular substitute host for the “Washington Watch” radio show. Her work at the Family Research Council also included the building and oversight of multiple policy coalitions geared toward the fight against antisemitism in academia, curbing tech censorship, and protecting religious liberty.
Before joining FRC, Sarah was in-house counsel and director of development for a Baltimore advertising agency, providing management of all new business transactions from pitch to contract execution for the multi-million-dollar enterprise. She began her practice at the litigation firm of Simms Showers, LLP where her work included Title VII employment discrimination, maritime/admiralty, and False Claims Act (“Qui Tam”) law. Sarah has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, a recipient of the American Jurisprudence award, a Phi Delta Phi honor society member, and a student practitioner in the appellate litigation clinic where she argued before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She holds a B.S. in Journalism with honors from Liberty University.
Her commentary and analysis have appeared in media outlets across the country, including the AP, BBC, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and the New York Times. She is the mother of three children, and the author of just as many books on the trials and triumphs of parenting children on the autism spectrum. Sarah is a member of the Kirkpatrick Society at the American Enterprise Institute, and makes her home north of Baltimore, Maryland.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Rachel N. Morrison is an attorney and Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Administrative State Accountability Project. Her legal and policy work focuses on religious liberty, health care rights of conscience, the right to life, nondiscrimination, and civil rights.
Before joining EPPC, Ms. Morrison served as an Attorney Advisor and Special Assistant to General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she focused on religious discrimination issues and was a member of the General Counsel’s Religious Discrimination Work Group. Before that, she served as Litigation Counsel for Americans United for Life and as a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, defending the right to life and religious freedom for all. She also clerked on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Ms. Morrison’s legal analysis has been published in the Seton Hall Law Review, the Pepperdine Law Review, and the Ave Maria Law Review, as well as various other print media outlets.
Ms. Morrison earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Speech Communication, summa cum laude, from Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She is a member of the District of Columbia and the Washington State bars.
Ms. Morrison lives with her husband and daughter in Virginia.
Vice President & Senior Legal Fellow, Defending Education
Sarah Parshall Perry is vice president and senior legal fellow at Defending Education.
Before coming to Defending Education, Sarah served as a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage, where her work centered on civil rights and the proper role of the courts.
Sarah joined Heritage after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education where she focused on policy reform, technical guidance, and the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) annual report to Congress. While at OCR, she was appointed by the Acting Assistant Secretary to co-chair the Employment Engagement, Diversity, & Inclusion Council and, in coordination with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement oversee the hiring of dozens of attorneys for OCR’s 12 regional offices nationwide. Prior to her tenure at the Department of Education, she spent six years at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. where she was Senior Fellow for Education Reform and later, became the regular substitute host for the “Washington Watch” radio show. Her work at the Family Research Council also included the building and oversight of multiple policy coalitions geared toward the fight against antisemitism in academia, curbing tech censorship, and protecting religious liberty.
Before joining FRC, Sarah was in-house counsel and director of development for a Baltimore advertising agency, providing management of all new business transactions from pitch to contract execution for the multi-million-dollar enterprise. She began her practice at the litigation firm of Simms Showers, LLP where her work included Title VII employment discrimination, maritime/admiralty, and False Claims Act (“Qui Tam”) law. Sarah has a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was an editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law, a recipient of the American Jurisprudence award, a Phi Delta Phi honor society member, and a student practitioner in the appellate litigation clinic where she argued before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. She holds a B.S. in Journalism with honors from Liberty University.
Her commentary and analysis have appeared in media outlets across the country, including the AP, BBC, Fox News, NPR, The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and the New York Times. She is the mother of three children, and the author of just as many books on the trials and triumphs of parenting children on the autism spectrum. Sarah is a member of the Kirkpatrick Society at the American Enterprise Institute, and makes her home north of Baltimore, Maryland.
AI Innovation and Law Fellow, University of Texas School of Law
Kevin Frazier is an AI Innovation and Law Fellow with University of Texas School of Law.
General Counsel, ACT | The App Association
I lead the App Association's legislative initiatives on behalf of 5,000 small mobile software and connected device companies in the app economy. My portfolio includes consumer privacy; broadband deployment; cybersecurity matters; standards-essential patent issues; connected health; and digital trade issues. I also advise on executive branch and judiciary projects related to telecommunications, connected health, intellectual property, and workforce development.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Clare Morell is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Technology and Human Flourishing Project. Prior to joining EPPC, Ms. Morell worked in both the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice, as well as in the private and non-profit sectors. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones, which will be published by Penguin Random House.
At the Department of Justice, Ms. Morell worked as an Advisor to Attorney General Bill Barr. As part of her work for the Attorney General, she helped oversee the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice and served as Editor of the Commission’s final report. A major focus of the Commission’s report was the challenges that Big Tech’s end-to-end encryption presents to law enforcement for gaining lawful access to crucial intelligence in criminal investigations, like domestic terrorism, as well as human and drug trafficking crimes. Ms. Morell also supported the Attorney General’s work on Section 230 reform as one of his main priorities.
Prior to her role with the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. Morell worked on judicial nominations for the White House Counsel’s office and monitored all nominations data to create high-level presentations for briefing White House leadership. From her experience, Ms. Morell brings an intimate knowledge and understanding of how policy is advanced within the Executive Branch of the federal government, particularly in the Department of Justice and the White House.
Ms. Morell has had opinion pieces published in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Newsweek, the Washington Examiner, National Review, American Affairs Journal, Deseret News, The Federalist, Public Discourse, WORLD Magazine, the Washington Times, and the Daily Signal.
Ms. Morell received a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she majored in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. She graduated summa cum laude and received the Edmund A. Walsh Award for academic achievement in international law. She also is proficient in Spanish.
Ms. Morell lives with her husband and three children in Washington, D.C.
Senior Fellow, Technology Policy, Cato Institute
Jennifer’s research focuses on the intersection of emerging technology and law with a particular interest in the interactions between technology and the administrative state. Her work covers topics including judicial deference, liability protection for Internet platforms, autonomous vehicles and other disruptive transportation technologies, the regulation of data privacy, and the benefits of technology and innovation. Her work has appeared in USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, the Sacramento Bee, the Washington Times, Real Clear Policy, and U.S. News and World Report. Jennifer has a JD from the University of Alabama School of Law and a BA in political science at Wellesley College.
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.
Director of Federal Affairs, Electronic Frontier Foundation
India McKinney currently serves as the director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she works to fight for encryption, for consumer privacy, and civil liberties in the digital realm.. She is a former Capitol Hill staffer with over 10 years experience as a legislative staffer.
Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Clare Morell is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she directs EPPC’s Technology and Human Flourishing Project. Prior to joining EPPC, Ms. Morell worked in both the White House Counsel’s Office and the Department of Justice, as well as in the private and non-profit sectors. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones, which will be published by Penguin Random House.
At the Department of Justice, Ms. Morell worked as an Advisor to Attorney General Bill Barr. As part of her work for the Attorney General, she helped oversee the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice and served as Editor of the Commission’s final report. A major focus of the Commission’s report was the challenges that Big Tech’s end-to-end encryption presents to law enforcement for gaining lawful access to crucial intelligence in criminal investigations, like domestic terrorism, as well as human and drug trafficking crimes. Ms. Morell also supported the Attorney General’s work on Section 230 reform as one of his main priorities.
Prior to her role with the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. Morell worked on judicial nominations for the White House Counsel’s office and monitored all nominations data to create high-level presentations for briefing White House leadership. From her experience, Ms. Morell brings an intimate knowledge and understanding of how policy is advanced within the Executive Branch of the federal government, particularly in the Department of Justice and the White House.
Ms. Morell has had opinion pieces published in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Newsweek, the Washington Examiner, National Review, American Affairs Journal, Deseret News, The Federalist, Public Discourse, WORLD Magazine, the Washington Times, and the Daily Signal.
Ms. Morell received a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she majored in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. She graduated summa cum laude and received the Edmund A. Walsh Award for academic achievement in international law. She also is proficient in Spanish.
Ms. Morell lives with her husband and three children in Washington, D.C.
Resident Senior Fellow, Technology and Innovation, R Street Institute
Spence works for the R Street Institute on the impact of misinformation on society and public policy, including creating a new framework for information governance.
Previously, Spence served as the director of technology policy at the Reason Foundation, where he was responsible for managing fundraising efforts and policy implementation. He also served as a graduate fellow in the Executive Office of the Governor in Florida.
Before pursuing his graduate studies, Spence was the business development manager for a technology startup, Dealers United, in Sarasota, Florida.
In recognition of his work, Spence won the Policy Paper of the Year award in the Florida Legislature in 2015 for his policy brief on data sharing and software procurement.
Spence earned his master’s degree in public administration from Florida State University and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Stetson University.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Brandon Smith is a partner at Holtzman Vogel, based in Tennessee, where he focuses on government investigations, white collar matters, and specialty litigation. A seasoned government leader and legal strategist, Brandon has played a central role in shaping conservative policy and litigation at the highest levels of state government.
Before joining the firm, Brandon served as Chief of Staff and Assistant Solicitor General in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. In that role, he led multi-state litigation, high-profile constitutional challenges, and efforts to counter federal overreach and ESG-related corporate activism. He worked closely with nearly every Republican Attorney General’s Office in the country, coordinating litigation, strategy, and multi-state policy efforts.
Earlier in his career, Brandon served as Executive Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and as Policy Director to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, where he helped drive key legislative and budget initiatives. He also held roles as Deputy Director of the Federalist Society and as an adjunct professor at American University.
Brandon’s career has been defined by a commitment to defending federalism, advancing conservative governance, and shaping legal and policy fights that matter.
Fusion Power: Why a Populist-Conservative Party Can Save America
Silicon Valley Lawyer Chapter
Mountain View, CAComfort Care or Hastened Death? Assisted Suicide and the Medicare Hospice Benefit
Alexander Raikin, Jeffrey A. Singer, Daniel E. Troy
Assisted suicide is a contested issue in American law and medicine, raising questions over individual...
Comfort Care or Hastened Death? Assisted Suicide and the Medicare Hospice Benefit
Alexander Raikin, Jeffrey A. Singer, Daniel E. Troy
Assisted suicide is a contested issue in American law and medicine, raising questions over individual...
Lindsey Graham and the Judiciary: A Senate Legacy
Andrew N. Ferguson, Michael Fragoso, Sheldon Gilbert, Lee Holmes, Katherine Nikas, Julius N. Richardson
Hon. Lindsey Graham (1955-2026) For more than two decades, Senator Lindsey Graham was a consequential...
From the Courthouse Steps: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Rachel N. Morrison, Sarah Parshall Perry
In the consolidated cases Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., the Supreme Court...
From the Courthouse Steps: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Rachel N. Morrison, Sarah Parshall Perry
In the consolidated cases Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., the Supreme Court...
From the Courthouse Steps: Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.
Plenary Session 2: Legislation, Confirmations, and Oversight– Working and Succeeding in a Legislative Legal Role
Featuring: Ms. Ashley Callen, Partner, Jenner & Block LLP Mr. Michael Fragoso, Partner, Torridon Group...
Tech Roundup 30 - The Impact of AI on the Age Verification Debate
Kevin Frazier, Graham Dufault, Clare Morell, Jennifer Huddleston
What are the effects of AI on the already contentious debate concerning age verification technology?...
Safeguarding Vulnerable Populations Online
Paul G. Cassell, India McKinney, Clare Morell, Spence Purnell, Brandon J. Smith
Modern life is increasingly dependent on the internet, but with dependence comes vulnerability. Popular websites...