Vice President and Director of Litigation, EdChoice
Thomas M. Fisher served as a Deputy Attorney General for 22 years and as Indiana’s first Solicitor General from 2005-2023. In that role he handled high profile litigation for the State, defended state statutes against constitutional attack, advised the Attorney General on a range of legal policy issues, and managed the State’s U.S. Supreme Court docket. A two-time recipient of the National Association of Attorneys General Best Brief Award, Fisher has argued five times before the High Court.
His U.S. Supreme Court experience also includes authorship of dozens of cert-stage and merits-stage amicus curiae briefs on a wide range of issues. In addition, Fisher has argued dozens of important and high-profile cases before both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Fisher is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and was recently named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Eric Holcomb.
A native Hoosier, Fisher is a graduate of Wabash College and Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
David Frank Hamilton is a United States federal judge, currently serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He previously was the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Sykes has two sons.
Associate, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, Terre Haute, Indiana; B.A. (honors), Calvin College, 2001; J.D., Valparaiso University School of Law, 2004.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Kenneth Kiyul Lee is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was appointed in June 2019 and is based in San Diego, California.
Prior to his appointment, he was a partner at the law firm of Jenner & Block in Los Angeles. Judge Lee previously served as an Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush and as Special Counsel to Senator Arlen Specter, then-chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He started his legal career at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York.
Judge Lee received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, and his A.B. from Cornell University, summa cum laude. He clerked for Judge Emilio M. Garza of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Kansas Securities Commissioner
Aaron Jack, J.D., M.B.A., is the Kansas Securities Commissioner, a position he was appointed to by Kansas Governor Sam Brownback in 2011. Aaron was previously the West-Central Zone Director for New York Life where his 3,200 registered representatives produced over $1.5 billion in sales annually. Aaron was the first director in the history of New York Life to raise $1 billion in new assets for the company's investment management subsidiary, NYLIM.
David Scott has a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University and has taught American government courses at a number of Illinois colleges and universities. In retirement he was the president of the Illinois State Historical Society and attended Federalist Society meetings in St. Louis.
Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
Chris W. Bonneau is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has been since 2002. His research is primarily in the areas of judicial selection (specifically, judicial elections) and judicial decisionmaking. Professor Bonneau’s work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and he has published numerous articles, including in the American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics. He is also the coauthor of three books: Strategic Behavior and Policy Choice on the U.S. Supreme Court (2005), In Defense of Judicial Elections (2009), and the award-winning Voters’ Verdicts: Citizens, Campaigns, and Institutions in State Supreme Court Elections (2015).
Professor Bonneau teaches undergraduate classes in constitutional law, judicial politics, and research methods, as well as graduate classes in judicial politics and research design.
Vice President and Director of Litigation, EdChoice
Thomas M. Fisher served as a Deputy Attorney General for 22 years and as Indiana’s first Solicitor General from 2005-2023. In that role he handled high profile litigation for the State, defended state statutes against constitutional attack, advised the Attorney General on a range of legal policy issues, and managed the State’s U.S. Supreme Court docket. A two-time recipient of the National Association of Attorneys General Best Brief Award, Fisher has argued five times before the High Court.
His U.S. Supreme Court experience also includes authorship of dozens of cert-stage and merits-stage amicus curiae briefs on a wide range of issues. In addition, Fisher has argued dozens of important and high-profile cases before both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Fisher is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and was recently named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Eric Holcomb.
A native Hoosier, Fisher is a graduate of Wabash College and Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
David Frank Hamilton is a United States federal judge, currently serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He previously was the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Judge Sykes was nominated to the Seventh Circuit by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2004. Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Sykes served as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Governor Tommy G. Thompson appointed her in September 1999 to fill a mid-term vacancy on the state supreme court, and she was elected to a full ten-year term in April 2000. From 1992-1999, Judge Sykes served on the state trial bench in Milwaukee County (elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998). From 1985-1992, Judge Sykes practiced law with the Milwaukee firm of Whyte & Hirschboeck, S.C., and from 1984-1985, was a law clerk to Federal Judge Terence T. Evans.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee area, Judge Sykes earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1980 and a law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1984. Between college and law school, Judge Sykes worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.
Judge Sykes has two sons.
Distinguished Scholar and Senior Advisor, The Liberty Fund
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. served as a two-term governor of the state of Indiana from 2004 to 2012 and as the 12th president of Purdue University from 2013 to 2022. He currently serves a Distinguished Scholar and Senior Advisor at the Liberty Fund.
He was elected governor in his first bid for any elected office, and then re-elected with more votes than any candidate in the state's history. During his tenure, Indiana went from an $800 million deficit to its first AAA credit rating, led the nation in infrastructure building, passed sweeping education and healthcare reforms, and transformed its business climate into one of the nation’s best.
At Purdue, Daniels prioritized student affordability and reinvestment in the university’s strengths. He ended 36 straight years of rising prices by freezing tuition and mandatory fees at 2012 levels for all students. The freeze is still in place today. As a result, the total cost of attendance is lower today than in 2012, even without adjusting for inflation and aggregate student borrowing has declined 37%.
In recognition of his leadership as both a governor and a university president, Daniels was named among the Top 50 Greatest World Leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2015 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. In 2023, Purdue University named its business school the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.
Prior to becoming governor, Daniels served as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar, senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He also was the CEO of the Hudson Institute and had an 11-year career as an executive at Eli Lilly and Company.
Daniels earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a law degree from Georgetown. He is the author of three books and a contributing columnist in the Washington Post.
He and his wife Cheri have four daughters and eight grandchildren.
Consultant, American Edge Project and U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Vice President and Director of Litigation, EdChoice
Thomas M. Fisher served as a Deputy Attorney General for 22 years and as Indiana’s first Solicitor General from 2005-2023. In that role he handled high profile litigation for the State, defended state statutes against constitutional attack, advised the Attorney General on a range of legal policy issues, and managed the State’s U.S. Supreme Court docket. A two-time recipient of the National Association of Attorneys General Best Brief Award, Fisher has argued five times before the High Court.
His U.S. Supreme Court experience also includes authorship of dozens of cert-stage and merits-stage amicus curiae briefs on a wide range of issues. In addition, Fisher has argued dozens of important and high-profile cases before both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Fisher is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and was recently named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Governor Eric Holcomb.
A native Hoosier, Fisher is a graduate of Wabash College and Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law.
The Death of Jurisprudence?
Thomas M. Fisher, David Hamilton, Diane S. Sykes
The Indianapolis Lawyers Chapter hosted this discussion on Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III's book, Cosmic...
Pennsylvania High Court Hears Challenge to Voter ID Law
Anita Y. Woudenberg
Voter ID laws, defined as laws requiring photo evidence of identification at the polls, are...
The Death of Jurisprudence?
Indianapolis Lawyers Chapter
Indianapolis, INEducation Policy
State Efforts to Impose "Amazon Tax" on Internet Vendors
Kenneth Kiyul Lee
Burdened by unfunded pensions and other fiscal calamities, cash-strapped states have scoured for new and...
The Economic Freedom Amendment: A States-Based Response to the Nationalizing Effects of Bailouts and Federal Ownership of Corporate Stock
Aaron Jack
Note from the Editor: This paper discusses a proposed state constitutional amendment that would deny...
The Obamacare Decision: What Happened?
The Ohio Constitution of 1803, Jefferson's Danbury Letter, and Religion in Education
David W. Scott
That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to...
A Survey of Empirical Evidence Concerning Judicial Elections
Chris W. Bonneau
The election of state judges is a controversial topic. Consider, for example, this quote from...
Recent Changes in Funding to Planned Parenthood