Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute
Matthew Cavedon is the Director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. He focuses on reforming plea-driven mass adjudication, ensuring police accountability, and defending constitutional criminal originalism. Cavedon’s scholarship has been published (or is forthcoming in) publications including the Arizona State Law Journal, Cato Supreme Court Review, Seattle University Law Review, and Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. Formerly a Georgia public defender and fellow at the Institute for Justice, Cavedon has taught law school courses on criminal law and procedure, as well as the First Amendment. Cavedon clerked for a U.S. district court and the Supreme Court of Georgia. He came to Cato following a fellowship at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Legal Director & General Counsel, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Kent S. Scheidegger has been the Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation since December 1986. He also served as Chairman of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society 2003 to 2005. His articles on criminal and constitutional law have been published in law reviews, national legal publications, and congressional reports. Legal arguments authored by Mr. Scheidegger have been cited and incorporated in several precedent-setting United States Supreme Court decisions.
After receiving a degree in physics with honors from New Mexico State University in 1976, Mr. Scheidegger served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer. He took his law degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1982 and practiced civil law in Northern California. He was general counsel of California Cooler, Inc. from 1984 until 1986, when he joined the Foundation.
Assistant Solicitor General, Office of the Texas Attorney General
Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School
Elizabeth (Liza) Goitein is senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program.
Goitein is a nationally-recognized expert on presidential emergency powers, government surveillance, and government secrecy. Her writing has been featured in major newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Magazine, and The New Republic, and she has appeared frequently on MSNBC, CNN, and NPR. She has testified on several occasions before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees.
Before coming to the Brennan Center, Goitein served as counsel to Senator Russ Feingold, chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. Goitein graduated from Yale Law School and clerked for the Honorable Michael Daly Hawkins on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2021–22, she was a member of the inaugural class of Senior Practitioner Fellows at the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government.
Senior Adviser, International Security Program, CSIS
Glenn S. Gerstell served as the general counsel of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 2015 to 2020. A frequent guest commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR, he has written and spoken widely about the intersections of technology and national security, with articles appearing in the New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, The Hill, Barron’s, and POLITICO. Prior to joining the NSA, Mr. Gerstell practiced law for almost 40 years at the international law firm of Milbank, LLP, where he focused on the global telecommunications industry and was the managing partner of the firm's Washington, D.C., Singapore, and Hong Kong offices. Mr. Gerstell served on the President's National Infrastructure Advisory Council, the Future of Encryption Committee for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission. A graduate of New York University and the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Gerstell is an elected member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier in his career, he was an adjunct law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and New York Law School. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, and the NSA Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.
Criminal Law & Procedure at the Supreme Court—A Recap of OT25
Matthew P. Cavedon, Marc Levin, Kent Scheidegger
This term, several important questions of criminal law and procedure reached the Supreme Court, ranging...
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Do Compelled Biometrics Violate the Fifth Amendment? A Deepening Split Among Lower Courts
Chief Justice Roberts remarked in 2014 that modern cell phones are “such a pervasive and...
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Is ActBlue in Legal Peril?
Since its inception in 2004, the powerhouse Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue has made its mark...
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Does Collective Bargaining Violate Article II? How the Unitary Executive Theory Could Transform the Federal Workforce
On January 17, 2025, three days before the presidency changed hands, the American Federation of...
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New Report Fails to Vindicate Public Campaign Finance
Earlier this month, the progressive Brennan Center for Justice released a report on New York...
Texas Court Confronts Misleading Political Communications and the First Amendment
Daniel Ortner
Can states prohibit “misleading” political communications? Not if the First Amendment has anything to say...
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Oral Arguments in Murthy v. Missouri
The Supreme Court looked unlikely to uphold a sweeping Fifth Circuit injunction on Monday, as...
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Does Texas Have The Right to Defend Its Border?
The state of Texas has taken bold steps to secure its southern border and stem...
Reforming Section 702: Should the FBI require a warrant to search its database for the communications of US persons?
Elizabeth Goitein, Glenn Gerstell
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the government to collect non-content metadata from communications service providers. Advocates for renewal, including members of the US intelligence community, argue that it is a critical tool for national security and failure to renew it will leave the nation vulnerable. Critics claim Section 702 creates a loophole that allows for the collection of personal information without a warrant. In this Briefcase, two experts, Glenn Gerstell and Liza Goitein, debate a key issue of reform, whether the FBI should require a warrant to search its database for the communications of US persons.
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A First Amendment Bulwark Against a Ministry of Truth
As many know by now, on July 4 in Missouri v. Biden, U. S. District...