Senior Attorney, DC, Pacific Legal Foundation
Steve Simpson joined PLF in 2019 to head up its Separation of Powers practice group.
Steve’s career in public interest law started at the Institute for Justice in 2001, where he litigated free speech, campaign finance, and economic liberty cases. Among other high-profile cases in which Steve was involved, he was co-counsel in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, IJ’s successful Supreme Court challenge to Arizona’s public financing law for political campaigns. He was the lead litigator in SpeechNow.org v. FEC, a joint effort between IJ and the Institute for Free Speech that led to the creation of super PACs. And he was co-counsel in Swedenburg v. Kelly, IJ’s successful Supreme Court challenge to New York’s ban on the interstate shipping of wine.
In 2013, Steve moved into the policy arena as the Ayn Rand Institute’s director of Legal Studies, where he spent five years writing and speaking on a wide variety of legal and cultural issues. From there, he moved back into law as senior litigation counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance in Washington, D.C.
Steve has spoken and written on a wide variety of legal and policy issues. He has testified in Congress and briefed congressional staffers. He has been interviewed on scores of television and radio programs, including PBS News Hour, Stossel, and The Rubin Report. His writings have appeared in many publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. In 2014, Steve was a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute. He is the editor of Defending Free Speech (ARI Press, 2016).
Steve earned his law degree magna cum laude from New York Law School in 1994. Following law school, he clerked for a federal district judge in the Southern District of Florida and spent several years as a litigator at Shearman & Sterling.
When he’s not at work or spending time with his wife and three daughters, Steve can usually be found mucking around in the woods at his cabin on Shenandoah Mountain.
Best Selling Author, Columnist, and Reporter, Fox Business Network
John Stossel joined Fox Business Network (FBN) in 2009. Stossel appears regularly on both Fox News Channel (FNC) and FBN providing signature libertarian analysis.
Prior to joining FBN, Stossel co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, "20/20." There, he contributed in-depth special reports and recurring segments on a variety of consumer topics, from pop culture to government and business. His "John Stossel specials" asked tough questions facing Americans today: "Sick in America" delved into the debate between private vs. government health care; "Stupid in America" exposed the government school monopoly; "John Stossel Goes to Washington" revealed government growth under both parties, while "Hype" exposed media distortions.
Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, "Stossel in the Classroom." High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year. Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award. The Dallas Morning News named him the "the most consistently thought- provoking TV reporter of our time" and the Orlando Sentinel said he "has the gift for entertaining while saying something profound."
Earlier in his career, Stossel served as consumer editor for "Good Morning America" and as a reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City. His first job in journalism was as a researcher for KGW-TV (NBC) in Portland, Ore.
Stossel is a graduate of Princeton University, with a B.A. in psychology.
Check out his Twitter: twitter.com/JohnStossel
Best Selling Author, Columnist, and Reporter, Fox Business Network
John Stossel joined Fox Business Network (FBN) in 2009. Stossel appears regularly on both Fox News Channel (FNC) and FBN providing signature libertarian analysis.
Prior to joining FBN, Stossel co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, "20/20." There, he contributed in-depth special reports and recurring segments on a variety of consumer topics, from pop culture to government and business. His "John Stossel specials" asked tough questions facing Americans today: "Sick in America" delved into the debate between private vs. government health care; "Stupid in America" exposed the government school monopoly; "John Stossel Goes to Washington" revealed government growth under both parties, while "Hype" exposed media distortions.
Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, "Stossel in the Classroom." High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year. Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award. The Dallas Morning News named him the "the most consistently thought- provoking TV reporter of our time" and the Orlando Sentinel said he "has the gift for entertaining while saying something profound."
Earlier in his career, Stossel served as consumer editor for "Good Morning America" and as a reporter at WCBS-TV in New York City. His first job in journalism was as a researcher for KGW-TV (NBC) in Portland, Ore.
Stossel is a graduate of Princeton University, with a B.A. in psychology.
Check out his Twitter: twitter.com/JohnStossel
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Judge Winter was appointed United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit on December 10, 1981 and entered on duty January 5, 1982. He received a B.A. degree from Yale College in 1957 and an LL.B. degree from Yale Law School in 1960. He served as a law clerk to Judge Caleb M. Wright, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Delaware, 1960-61, and to Judge Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1961-62.
Judge Winter was a full-time member of the Yale Law School Faculty from 1962 until entering judicial service. At the time of his appointment, he was the William K. Townsend Professor of Law. He was also a Consultant to the Subcommittee of Separation of Powers, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate from 1968 to 1972, a Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C. from 1968 to 1970, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow from 1971 to 1972 and an Adjutant Scholar, American Enterprise Institute from 1972 to 1981.
He served from 1987 to 1992 as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. He served as Chair of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence from 1992 to 1996. From July 1, 1997 to September 30, 2000, Judge Winter served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In April 1998, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference. From October 1999 to September 2000, he served as Chair of the Executive Committee. On October 1, 2000, he took Senior Judge status.
He served as Chair of the Committee to Review Circuit Council Conduct and Disability Orders from 2005 to 2008. He was a member of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court of Review from 2003 to 2010.
Judge Winter has received the Connecticut Law Review Award, Honorary Doctors of Law from Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School, the Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Award for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence, and the Yale Law School's Association's Award of Merit. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Achieving Meaningful Civil Justice Reform: Is the Defense Bar a Problem?
Ralph K. Winter
Today's luncheon program is titled, "Meaningful Change in our Civil Justice System: Is the Defense...