Author of "The Nixon Conspiracy" (2021) and "The Real Watergate Scandal" (2015)
Geoff Shepard worked on President Nixon’s White House staff for five years, including serving as deputy counsel on his Watergate defense team. He testified as a government chain-of-custody witness in the Plumbers Trial and was subpoenaed for the same purpose in the Cover-up Trial. He possesses a “clearance letter” from the special prosecutor, stating he was never the object of an investigation by that office. Geoff has spent much of the past fifteen year researching and writing about the Watergate scandal. He has published three books, authored dozens of essays and made over fifty presentations challenging Watergate’s conventional narrative. Much of his work is based on recently uncovered internal files of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, including their infamous “Road Map” that was the basis for the grand jury naming Nixon a cover-up co-conspirator and for the House Judiciary Committee urging his impeachment.
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Professor Richard L. Hasen is Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. Hasen is a nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation, and is co-author of a leading casebook on election law.
From 2001-2010, he served (with Dan Lowenstein) as founding co-editor of the quarterly peer-reviewed publication, Election Law Journal. He is the author of over 100 articles on election law issues, published in numerous journals including the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review and Supreme Court Review. He was elected to The American Law Institute in 2009 and served as an Adviser on ALI’s law reform project, Principles of Election Law: Resolution of Election Disputes.
Professor Hasen was named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by The National Law Journal in 2013, and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2005 and 2016 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal.
His op-eds and commentaries have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, and Slate. Hasen also writes the often-quoted Election Law Blog, which the ABA Journal named to its “Blawg 100 Hall of Fame” in 2015. His newest book, The Justice of Contradictions: Antonin Scalia and the Politics of Disruption, will be published in 2018 by Yale University Press.
Professor Hasen holds a B.A. degree (with highest honors) from UC Berkeley, and a J.D., M.A., and Ph.D. (Political Science) from UCLA. After law school, Hasen clerked for the Honorable David R. Thompson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then worked as a civil appellate lawyer at the Encino firm Horvitz and Levy.
From 1994-1997, Hasen taught at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and from 1998-2011 he taught at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where he was named the William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law in 2005. He joined the UC Irvine School of Law faculty in July 2011, and is a faculty member of the UC Irvine Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy.
Chairman, Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Practice, Baker Botts LLP
Aaron Streett is the Chairman of Baker Botts’ Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Practice. He has presented oral argument in scores of appeals, covering the U.S. Supreme Court and courts around the country—including over 40 arguments between the Fifth and D.C. Circuits alone. Mr. Streett’s practice involves virtually all substantive areas of the law, including commercial litigation, statutory interpretation, constitutional law, administrative law, securities, and jurisdictional issues. Mr. Streett maintains an active practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, having represented parties in merits cases seven times since 2010, as well as filing numerous amicus and certiorari-stage briefs. Mr. Streett was named one of only six “Appellate MVPs” for 2014 by Law360, which had previously recognized him in 2011 as one of the top five appellate “Rising Stars” under age 40. Mr. Streett has been featured on National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List three times in recent years and in 2021 was named Houston’s “Lawyer of the Year” for Appellate Practice by Best Lawyers magazine. Mr. Streett is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Fifth Circuit Bar Association and previously served as President of the Houston Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. Mr. Streett speaks regularly on the Supreme Court and constitutional law to attorneys and law students around the country. Following graduation from Hillsdale College and University of Texas School of Law, Mr. Streett served as a law clerk to the Honorable David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.
Judge, Illinois 18th Judicial Circuit
Judge Kenton Skarin serves on the Illinois 18th Judicial Circuit, a trial court of general jurisdiction that serves almost one million people in the western suburbs of Chicago.
Judge Skarin graduated first in his class from Northwestern University School of Law and summa cum laude from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
Earlier in his career, Judge Skarin clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas at the United States Supreme Court and for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Judge Skarin also practiced appellate law in the Chicago office of Jones Day and served as Deputy General Counsel to the Governor of Illinois.
Judge Skarin is a lifelong native of Wheaton, Illinois, where he lives with his wife and children.
Founder, Original Jurisdiction
David Lat is a lawyer turned writer. He publishes Original Jurisdiction, a newsletter on Substack about law and legal affairs, and he writes for newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Prior to launching Original Jurisdiction, David founded Above the Law, one of the nation's most widely read legal news websites, and Underneath Their Robes, a popular blog about federal judges that he wrote under a pseudonym. He is also the author of a novel set in the world of the federal courts, Supreme Ambitions. Before entering the media world, David worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, in New York; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. David graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
The Ethics and Justice Center
Prof. Jack Kress
Director, Ethics and Justice Center
Jack Kress has published more than 15 books and 70 articles on various issues of justice and ethics. He is perhaps best known for his early work co-originating the very concept of sentencing guidelines and directing the research projects that developed and implemented the first sentencing guidelines systems in America; he has been called the "father of sentencing guidelines" by ABC News. He helped establish the sentencing guidelines systems now in place in more than half the states, and also worked with Congress and the Department of Justice in first bringing the United States Sentencing Commission into existence. An elected life member of the American Law Institute, Professor Kress lectures broadly on criminal justice and sentencing reform; he is presently consulting with the ALI's Reporter in revising the Model Penal Code's sentencing provisions.
Professor Jack Kress holds degrees from Columbia University and Cambridge University; he has been tenured and taught at several law and other graduate schools. A former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, his more recent work has been in ethics and bioethics.
In 1990, Professor Kress was named Special Counsel for Ethics and Designated Agency Ethics Official for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, where he worked with the Office of White House Counsel and the U. S. Office of Government Ethics in formulating the federal government's ethics policies; he concurrently directed the largest federal ethics and bioethics program, encompassing all components of HHS, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2001, Jack Kress was selected as the first Executive Director of the HHS Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, and led that group in promulgating and implementing more than forty recommendations for reform in America’s donation and transplantation system, including the establishment of the national breakthrough collaborative. From 2004-2009, Professor Kress was a core faculty member of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College. His most recent peer-reviewed article was published in the prestigious American Journal of Transplantation. He presently directs the Ethics and Justice Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. See www.ethicsandjustice.org
The Ethics and Justice Center
Prof. Jack Kress
Director, Ethics and Justice Center
Jack Kress has published more than 15 books and 70 articles on various issues of justice and ethics. He is perhaps best known for his early work co-originating the very concept of sentencing guidelines and directing the research projects that developed and implemented the first sentencing guidelines systems in America; he has been called the "father of sentencing guidelines" by ABC News. He helped establish the sentencing guidelines systems now in place in more than half the states, and also worked with Congress and the Department of Justice in first bringing the United States Sentencing Commission into existence. An elected life member of the American Law Institute, Professor Kress lectures broadly on criminal justice and sentencing reform; he is presently consulting with the ALI's Reporter in revising the Model Penal Code's sentencing provisions.
Professor Jack Kress holds degrees from Columbia University and Cambridge University; he has been tenured and taught at several law and other graduate schools. A former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney, his more recent work has been in ethics and bioethics.
In 1990, Professor Kress was named Special Counsel for Ethics and Designated Agency Ethics Official for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, where he worked with the Office of White House Counsel and the U. S. Office of Government Ethics in formulating the federal government's ethics policies; he concurrently directed the largest federal ethics and bioethics program, encompassing all components of HHS, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2001, Jack Kress was selected as the first Executive Director of the HHS Advisory Committee on Organ Transplantation, and led that group in promulgating and implementing more than forty recommendations for reform in America’s donation and transplantation system, including the establishment of the national breakthrough collaborative. From 2004-2009, Professor Kress was a core faculty member of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College. His most recent peer-reviewed article was published in the prestigious American Journal of Transplantation. He presently directs the Ethics and Justice Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. See www.ethicsandjustice.org
Fellow, Catholic Studies Program at Ethics and Public Policy Center
Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. She directs the Catholic Women’s Forum, a network of Catholic professional women and scholars, and co-founded the Person and Identity Project, a new initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to counter gender ideology and promote the truth of the human person. An attorney and policy expert, Mary served as keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education (2018), women and work (2017), caregiving (2019), and gender ideology (2019). She currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth.
Mary speaks frequently in national and international venues on topics related to gender ideology, parental rights, religious liberty, and culture. She is frequently called upon to provide expert counsel on federal and state legislation and, in 2021, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee against the Equality Act and before the Australian Parliament, New South Wales, in support of parental rights legislation.
She has co-authored several books on education, including Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child From Public School Before It’s Too Late (Regnery 2018), and her writing has appeared in a variety of policy journals, scholarly publications, and traditional media includings The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, First Thing, National Review Online, and the National Catholic Register, among others. She is a frequent media commentator in both religious and secular media.
A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, Mary and her husband Seamus Hasson have seven grown children and two grandchildren.
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