Legal Fellow and Manager, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program, The Heritage Foundation
Zack is a Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
He previously served for several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Florida. Prior to that, he spent two years as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which he joined after clerking for the Hon. Emmett R. Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Smith received his undergraduate, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida. During law school, Smith served as the Editor in Chief of the Florida Law Review and served on the executive boards of several student organizations, including the UF Chapter of the Federalist Society.
Senior Counsel, Litigation, Defense of Freedom Institute
Don Daugherty is Senior Counsel, Litigation, at the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies. He previously served as a Senior Counsel at the Institute for Free Speech and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Before that, he was a partner at three of Wisconsin’s largest firms, with nearly 30 years of trial and appellate litigation experience. He has been consistently recognized as among the “Best Lawyers in America,” as well as Wisconsin’s “Super Lawyers.” He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School. After law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Roger J. Miner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Don is on the Board of Advisors for the Milwaukee Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society, and on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s Litigation Practice Group.
Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Attorney General of Iowa
Patrick C. Valencia serves as Iowa’s Deputy Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In this role, he helps marshal Iowa’s appellate docket, and briefs and argues cases, before state and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts.
Before moving to Iowa, Patrick worked on appeals across all levels of state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as a senior associate in the Supreme Court and Appellate practice group at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Patrick has worked on cases involving a wide range of issues, including constitutional law, civil procedure, civil rights, employment law, and complex commercial litigation, across a variety of industries, including the automotive, energy, health care, and technology industries. Patrick has also served as appellate counsel in federal district courts, including on several antitrust cases.
Before Hogan Lovells, Patrick clerked for the Honorables Roger W. Titus and Paul W. Grimm of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and then for the Honorable Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Patrick graduated Order of the Coif with high honors from the George Washington University Law School. Patrick completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame, where he studied political science and Irish history.
Associate Justice, Alabama Supreme Court
James L. “Jay” Mitchell was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2018.
Prior to serving on the Supreme Court, Justice Mitchell was an accomplished litigation attorney with Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C. During his time in private practice, he tried a number of complex cases to verdict, successfully handled appeals, and obtained favorable settlements for clients. He was rated as one of the top litigators in the United States and Alabama, and received the highest possible rating for professional ethics. He also served on Maynard, Cooper & Gale’s executive committee, helping to lead strategic and growth initiatives for the firm.
Justice Mitchell was born in Mobile and grew up in South Alabama and in Homewood. He is a graduate of Homewood High School and received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from Birmingham-Southern College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, served as president of the student body, and played forward on the school’s 1995 national championship basketball team. He holds a Master of Arts from University College in Dublin, Ireland, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Justice Mitchell has long been active in organizations that benefit the community and enhance the legal profession. In addition to his service with other organizations, he is a member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham and serves on the board of directors at Cornerstone School, an inner city Christian school. He is also a member of the Federalist Society.
Justice Mitchell and his wife, Elizabeth, have been married for 20 years and have four children. They reside in Homewood and are longtime members of Church of the Highlands.
Shareholder & Co-Chair of the Workplace Policy Institute, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Alexander T. MacDonald advises employers on all aspects of the employment and labor landscape, focusing on emerging legislation and regulation. He has extensive experience advising businesses on worker classification, arbitration, the administrative and regulatory process, and the future of work. He frequently writes, publishes, and speaks on these subjects. His work has been cited by scholars and appellate courts. He is a recognized voice for the management perspective.
Alexander is a co-chair of the Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) team. With WPI, he advises employers on legislative, administrative, and regulatory developments at the state and federal level. He advocates for employers in the regulatory and administrative process. He also helps employers protect their businesses by understanding and anticipating cutting-edge legal developments.
Alexander also has extensive experience in traditional labor law. He represents management in all aspects of labor-management relations, including unfair labor practice charges, grievance arbitrations, representation elections, contract negotiations, and related litigation, including litigation in the U.S. courts of appeals.
Before joining Littler, Alexander served as the director, future of work, for a major technology company. He also worked in a national labor and employment law firm and a major public-sector general counsel’s office. He was a law clerk to the senior judges in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
He is also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He served in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. In law school, he graduated first in his class
Partner and Co-Chair, Public Policy Group, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
Mark Behrens co-chairs Shook's Washington, DC-based Public Policy Practice Group and is a leading national expert on civil justice issues with over thirty years of experience. A substantial part of his practice is working to improve the civil litigation environment through state and federal legislation; in the courts through amicus curiae briefs; through legal scholarship and judicial education; and in the court of public opinion.
Mark is actively involved in civil justice reform efforts at the federal and state levels. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and most state legislatures on behalf of business and civil justice organizations. Mark also has an active amicus brief practice specializing in tort liability and civil justice issues. He has authored or co-authored over 150 amicus briefs in cases before the United States Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts on behalf of business, civil justice, and defense lawyer organizations. In addition, Mark routinely files comments on behalf of business, civil justice, and defense lawyer organizations regarding potential changes to federal and state court rules. He chairs the International Association of Defense Counsel’s (IADC) Civil Justice Response Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ).
Mark is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI). He received his J.D. in 1990 from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was a member of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his B.A. in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1987.
Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law
Jeffrey D. Jackson comes to Washburn Law from the Kansas Supreme Court where he was staff attorney for Death Penalty and Constitutional issues. Prior to that, he was a law clerk for the Honorable Mary Beck Briscoe in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, law clerk to The Honorable Justice Robert E. Davis at the Kansas Supreme Court, an associate at Bennett & Dillon L.L.P., in Topeka and staff attorney for the Kansas Court of Appeals.
Jackson received his B.B.A. in economics from Washburn University in 1989, his J.D. from Washburn Law in 1992 and his LL.M. in Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center in 2003. At Washburn Law, Jackson was assistant editor for the Washburn Law Journal. Jackson is admitted to practice in Kansas, Missouri, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is a member of the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee.
Professor Jackson teaches in the law school's Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program and he is Director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy.
Vice President, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
John G. Malcolm oversees Advancing American Freedom’s work to increase understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law as Vice President of the organization’s Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law. Malcolm brings to the challenge a wealth of legal expertise and experience in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Advancing American Freedom in 2025, Malcolm was the Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2012, Malcolm was general counsel at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as well as a distinguished practitioner in residence at Pepperdine Law School. From 2004 to 2009, Malcolm was executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association.
Malcolm served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division from 2001 to 2004, where he oversaw sections on computer crime and intellectual property, domestic security, child exploitation and obscenity, and special investigations. Immediately prior to that, he was a founding partner in the Atlanta law firm of Malcolm & Schroeder, LLP.
From 1990 to 1997, Malcolm was an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, assigned to the fraud and public corruption section, and also an associate independent counsel, investigating fraud and abuse in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was honored with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance for his work in connection with the successful prosecution of Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who assassinated an 11th Circuit judge and the head of the Savannah chapter of the NAACP.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia College, Malcolm began his career as a law clerk to a federal district court judge and a federal appellate court judge, and as an associate at the Atlanta-based law firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan (new Eversheds Sutherland).
Malcolm, who resides in Washington, D.C., serves on the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera and is a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States.
The Supreme Court's 2023 Term: Return to Original Meaning or a Dangerous "Paradigm Shift"?
Zack Smith, Donald A. Daugherty
Each Supreme Court term over the past several years seems to produce more momentous decisions...
Iowa’s Constitution Provides a Legislative Privilege Despite Lacking a Speech or Debate Clause
Patrick C. Valencia
A civil rights organization, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa (LULAC),...
Textualism in Alabama
Jay Mitchell
Textualism is alive and well in Alabama. This interpretive doctrine teaches that legal texts have...
Bargaining Rights Gone Wrong: How State Courts Invented a Constitutional Duty to Bargain and How It Harms Individual Workers
Alexander T. MacDonald
Constitutions often give you the right to do things. They give you the right to...
Topics
Can Social Media Companies Censor Lawmakers’ Accounts?
Two trends in social media law and policy are headed for conflict: Aggressive takedowns of...
2020 Civil Justice Update
Mark A. Behrens
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
Topics
How Justice Dan Kelly Has Helped Transform the Wisconsin State Supreme Court
The nation's eyes are focused on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the...
The Rational Basis Test [No. 86]
Jeffrey D. Jackson
Under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, we have strict scrutiny for laws...
The Problem with the Proliferation of Collateral Consequences
John G. Malcolm
Note from the Editor: This article discusses collateral consequences of criminal convictions and argues that...
Topics
Scrutiny for Me, But Not For Thee? New York Times Columnist Praises Courts for "Calling out Legislators" in Abortion and Voting Rights Cases
It is not often that a progressive columnist offers full-throated praise for judicial decisions to...