Professor and Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Teresa Collett, J.D., is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. Collett received her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion and bioethics in her research.
Collett has published numerous legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility and co-editor of a collection of essays exploring “catholic” and “Catholic” perspectives on American law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collett to a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. Her appointment was renewed by His Holiness Pope Francis until 2016 when the responsibilities of the Council were assumed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. In 2013, she served as a delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) for the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
She represented Congressman Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the U.S. federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota defending the N.H. requirement of state parental involvement prior to performance of an abortion on a minor before the U.S. Supreme Court. Collett is often asked to represent the interests of government officials before federal appellate courts. She has served as special attorney general for the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as assisting other state attorneys general in defending laws protecting human life and marriage. Prior to joining St. Thomas in 2003, Collett taught at the South Texas College of Law, where she established the nation's first annual symposium on legal ethics.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Shareholder, Kirton McConkie
Christopher Bates is co-chair of the firm’s Appellate section and a member of the Litigation and First Amendment and Religious Organizations sections. His practice focuses on appeals and critical motions in complex cases. He has argued dozens of cases in courts across the country, including the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and eleven of the thirteen federal circuits. He has also handled a variety of dispositive motions in both state and federal court. Chris’s subject matter experience includes a range of constitutional, regulatory, and commercial issues.
Chris has significant experience in senior positions in both state and federal government. Before joining Kirton McConkie, Chris served as deputy solicitor general for Utah. In that position, he managed complex ligation for the state on a range of topics and routinely appeared in both appellate and trial courts. He also led the state’s amicus efforts in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. Prior to that, Chris served as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he defended agency rulemakings and other administrative actions against statutory and constitutional challenges.
Earlier in his career, Chris was chief counsel to U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, he served as Senator Hatch’s chief legal advisor on intellectual property, antitrust, and criminal law. He led introduction and passage of several key pieces of legislation and staffed the senator at two Supreme Court confirmation hearings. He brings this legislative experience to bear in analyzing complex statutes and building coalitions in multiparty litigation.
Chris began his career by serving as a law clerk to Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was then a litigation associate in Sidley Austin’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice in Washington, DC. He has also taught college-level courses on constitutional law and legal studies.
Principal, Spero Law LLC
Christopher Mills is the founder of Spero Law LLC. He was previously a partner at a national law firm and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court during October Term 2018. He also clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has authored briefs and motions in the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and trial courts, and successfully argued before the D.C. Circuit. He has served as special counsel to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
A 2012 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Christopher was a senior editor of the Harvard Law Review, an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and served on the Executive Board of the Harvard Federalist Society. In 2009, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Furman University.
Christopher lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, children, and golden retriever.
Professor and Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Teresa Collett, J.D., is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. Collett received her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion and bioethics in her research.
Collett has published numerous legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility and co-editor of a collection of essays exploring “catholic” and “Catholic” perspectives on American law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collett to a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. Her appointment was renewed by His Holiness Pope Francis until 2016 when the responsibilities of the Council were assumed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. In 2013, she served as a delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) for the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
She represented Congressman Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the U.S. federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota defending the N.H. requirement of state parental involvement prior to performance of an abortion on a minor before the U.S. Supreme Court. Collett is often asked to represent the interests of government officials before federal appellate courts. She has served as special attorney general for the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as assisting other state attorneys general in defending laws protecting human life and marriage. Prior to joining St. Thomas in 2003, Collett taught at the South Texas College of Law, where she established the nation's first annual symposium on legal ethics.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Professor and Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Teresa Collett, J.D., is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. Collett received her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion and bioethics in her research.
Collett has published numerous legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility and co-editor of a collection of essays exploring “catholic” and “Catholic” perspectives on American law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collett to a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. Her appointment was renewed by His Holiness Pope Francis until 2016 when the responsibilities of the Council were assumed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. In 2013, she served as a delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) for the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
She represented Congressman Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the U.S. federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota defending the N.H. requirement of state parental involvement prior to performance of an abortion on a minor before the U.S. Supreme Court. Collett is often asked to represent the interests of government officials before federal appellate courts. She has served as special attorney general for the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as assisting other state attorneys general in defending laws protecting human life and marriage. Prior to joining St. Thomas in 2003, Collett taught at the South Texas College of Law, where she established the nation's first annual symposium on legal ethics.
Vice President for Legal Strategy, Stand Together
Casey Mattox is Vice President for Legal Strategy at Stand Together and Senior Advisor at
Americans for Prosperity. In these roles he advocates for and creates strategies and
partnerships to ensure a constitutionally limited government that protects the civil liberties of all
Americans. Prior to joining Stand Together and AFP Casey’s legal career focused on defending
the First Amendment rights of students, faculty, healthcare workers and religious organizations.
Casey has a J.D. from Boston College School of Law and an undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia. You can find him on Twitter at @CaseyMattox_ and on LinkedIn at
@Casey-Mattox-ST.
Shareholder, Kirton McConkie
Christopher Bates is co-chair of the firm’s Appellate section and a member of the Litigation and First Amendment and Religious Organizations sections. His practice focuses on appeals and critical motions in complex cases. He has argued dozens of cases in courts across the country, including the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and eleven of the thirteen federal circuits. He has also handled a variety of dispositive motions in both state and federal court. Chris’s subject matter experience includes a range of constitutional, regulatory, and commercial issues.
Chris has significant experience in senior positions in both state and federal government. Before joining Kirton McConkie, Chris served as deputy solicitor general for Utah. In that position, he managed complex ligation for the state on a range of topics and routinely appeared in both appellate and trial courts. He also led the state’s amicus efforts in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. Prior to that, Chris served as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he defended agency rulemakings and other administrative actions against statutory and constitutional challenges.
Earlier in his career, Chris was chief counsel to U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, he served as Senator Hatch’s chief legal advisor on intellectual property, antitrust, and criminal law. He led introduction and passage of several key pieces of legislation and staffed the senator at two Supreme Court confirmation hearings. He brings this legislative experience to bear in analyzing complex statutes and building coalitions in multiparty litigation.
Chris began his career by serving as a law clerk to Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was then a litigation associate in Sidley Austin’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice in Washington, DC. He has also taught college-level courses on constitutional law and legal studies.
Principal, Spero Law LLC
Christopher Mills is the founder of Spero Law LLC. He was previously a partner at a national law firm and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court during October Term 2018. He also clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has authored briefs and motions in the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and trial courts, and successfully argued before the D.C. Circuit. He has served as special counsel to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
A 2012 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Christopher was a senior editor of the Harvard Law Review, an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and served on the Executive Board of the Harvard Federalist Society. In 2009, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Furman University.
Christopher lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, children, and golden retriever.
Shareholder, Kirton McConkie
Christopher Bates is co-chair of the firm’s Appellate section and a member of the Litigation and First Amendment and Religious Organizations sections. His practice focuses on appeals and critical motions in complex cases. He has argued dozens of cases in courts across the country, including the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and eleven of the thirteen federal circuits. He has also handled a variety of dispositive motions in both state and federal court. Chris’s subject matter experience includes a range of constitutional, regulatory, and commercial issues.
Chris has significant experience in senior positions in both state and federal government. Before joining Kirton McConkie, Chris served as deputy solicitor general for Utah. In that position, he managed complex ligation for the state on a range of topics and routinely appeared in both appellate and trial courts. He also led the state’s amicus efforts in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals. Prior to that, Chris served as senior counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he defended agency rulemakings and other administrative actions against statutory and constitutional challenges.
Earlier in his career, Chris was chief counsel to U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that role, he served as Senator Hatch’s chief legal advisor on intellectual property, antitrust, and criminal law. He led introduction and passage of several key pieces of legislation and staffed the senator at two Supreme Court confirmation hearings. He brings this legislative experience to bear in analyzing complex statutes and building coalitions in multiparty litigation.
Chris began his career by serving as a law clerk to Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was then a litigation associate in Sidley Austin’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice in Washington, DC. He has also taught college-level courses on constitutional law and legal studies.
Principal, Spero Law LLC
Christopher Mills is the founder of Spero Law LLC. He was previously a partner at a national law firm and a Constitutional Law Fellow at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court during October Term 2018. He also clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He has authored briefs and motions in the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and trial courts, and successfully argued before the D.C. Circuit. He has served as special counsel to South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Charleston School of Law.
A 2012 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Christopher was a senior editor of the Harvard Law Review, an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and served on the Executive Board of the Harvard Federalist Society. In 2009, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Furman University.
Christopher lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife, children, and golden retriever.
Associate Attorney, Gibson Dunn
David Casazza is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law, and Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice groups.
Mr. Casazza has represented clients in appellate and regulatory litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States, federal appellate courts, and federal district courts. These cases have involved a wide range of subjects including separation of powers, federal rulemaking challenges, data privacy protections, anti-terrorism claims and foreign sovereign immunity, energy infrastructure permitting, and a variety of First Amendment speech and religious liberty claims. He has also represented clients in complex litigation, obtaining dismissal with prejudice of consumer class actions attacking major brand names. He has been named by Best Lawyers as a 2021 and 2022 “One to Watch” in Appellate Practice.
He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as a Managing Editor for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and as Executive Vice President of the Harvard Federalist Society. Mr. Casazza received an A.B. magna cum laude in history from Princeton and an M.A. in history from the Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Casazza served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and for Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
He is a member of the bars of New York and the District of Columbia and is admitted to practice in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits and in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Boyd litigates and provides regulatory advice for a wide variety of telecommunications and technology clients.
Litigation Associate, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Jill Jacobson is an Appeals and Strategic Counseling and Complex Commercial Litigation associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. She is a former law clerk to Judge Aileen M. Cannon on the District Court for the Southern District of Florida and a future law clerk to Judge Elizabeth L. Branch on the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Jill a fellow emeritus at the Independent Women's Law Center and a Senior Contributor at Young Voices. She has also been a Litigation Contractor at the Institute for Justice. She holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a Masters from Northeastern University.
Litigation Director, Center for Individual Rights
Caleb Kruckenberg is CIR’s Litigation Director.
Caleb previously worked as a prosecutor, a public defender, a lobbyist for a national advocacy organization and, most recently, an impact litigator protecting the separation of powers at both the Pacific Legal Foundation and the New Civil Liberties Alliance. He has won major victories against numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is also proud to have sued every U.S. attorney general, eight so far, since he has been litigating against the government on behalf of liberty-minded clients. Caleb has also argued more than 20 times in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, winning cases in 8 of the 12 regional circuit courts.
He graduated cum laude from Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, where he was the lead articles editor for the Temple Law Review. Caleb also attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied figurative painting.
Sheila M. McDevitt Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Election Law Center, Florida State University College of Law
Professor Morley joined FSU Law in 2018, and teaches and writes in the areas of election law, constitutional law, remedies, and the federal courts. He is best known for his work on election emergencies and post-election litigation, nationwide and other defendant-oriented injunctions, the jurisdiction of the federal courts and their equitable powers more generally. He has testified before congressional committees, made presentations to election officials for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and participated in bipartisan blue-ribbon groups to develop election reforms. The governor of Florida also appointed Professor Morley to the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force, to propose potential revisions to the legislature.
The U.S. Supreme Court has cited several of his articles, and he was counsel of record for the successful Petitioner in a landmark campaign finance case. Professor Morley has appeared on C-SPAN, Court TV, Fox News and numerous local news programs, and has been quoted in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, Politico, U.S. News and World Report, and a wide range of other national publications. His work has been published in many of the nation’s top law reviews, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Northwestern University Law Review, Boston University Law Review and Emory Law Journal.
Before joining FSU Law, Professor Morley was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. Prior to his experience in academia, he served in government as special assistant to the General Counsel of the Army at the Pentagon, as well as a law clerk for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During his tenure with the Army General Counsel’s office, he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Army Staff Lapel Pin. He also worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP and the Supreme Court & Appellate group of Winston & Strawn, LLP, both in Washington, D.C.
Professor Morley earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2003, where he was a senior editor on the Yale Law Journal; served on the moot court board; and received the Thurman Arnold Prize for Best Oralist in the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
Associate Professor, UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law
Zvi S. Rosen is an Associate Professor at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law and the Faculty Director of the Franklin Pierce Society for Intellectual Property. He has served as a Assistant Professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Law, as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, and as a Visiting Scholar and Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University School of Law.
In 2015-2016, he was the Abraham L. Kaminstein Scholar in Residence at the U.S. Copyright Office. Mr. Rosen received his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2005 and LLM in Intellectual Property in 2006 from the George Washington University Law School. He has practiced at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP as well as smaller firms and his own practice, and clerked for the Hon. Thomas B. Bennett of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He has written extensively on the development of modern copyright and trademark law, as well as on bankruptcy law.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel
Mohammad “Mo” Jazil is a partner with Holtzman Vogel. His broad litigation practice includes state and federal constitutional cases, financial disputes, environmental disputes, white-collar criminal matters, and government investigations. Mohammad has served as first chair in federal and state court trials. He has briefed and argued dispositive motions and appeals before the federal courts, state appellate courts, and state supreme courts. He has also briefed cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, though he has never argued a case there.
Chambers USA calls Mohammad “a very good thinker,” “fantastic,” and “an excellent litigator.”
Since the summer of 2018, Mohammad has represented two Florida Governors and four Florida Secretaries of State on election-related and redistricting matters before federal and state trial courts, the Florida Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Notably, this work includes wins in nine federal cases related to Florida’s 2018 recounts; the successful defense of Florida’s felon re-enfranchisement program; federal and state-court decisions upholding Florida’s most recent congressional plan; and the defense of various election-related statutes.
Mohammad represents other public officials as well. He has represented two Speakers of the Florida House of Representatives on issues as varied as cannabis regulation and transportation policy. And he has represented Florida’s Surgeon General, members of Florida’s Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine, and the head of Florida’s Medicaid agency on health-policy issues.
Finally, Mohammad routinely represents companies and individuals on a variety of issues. This work includes pricing and tax disputes involving some of the country’s largest companies, commercial disputes where he has obtained and collected on eight-figure trial judgments, and criminal proceedings.
David Johnson is a partner at Holtzman Vogel and focuses his practice on political and election law regulatory compliance, appellate law, and state attorneys general investigations and litigation.
Prior to joining the firm, David was Policy Director and General Counsel to the Republican Attorneys General Association, as well as serving as president for the Rule of Law Defense Fund and Center for Law and Policy. In these roles, he worked closely with Republican attorneys general and their staff on developing and advancing policy priorities. He has also worked with President Trump's administration and other leading Republican political and conservative policy organizations with respect to key policy initiatives.
Previously, David was Senior Counsel with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General where he advised the Attorney General on strategy with respect to litigation, communications, complex legal objectives, and policy goals. Prior to joining the Indiana Office of Attorney General, David served as Corporation Counsel for Lawrence, Indiana. In that role, David advised on myriad issues including municipal bonding, human resources, and capital projects. And before that, David served as Deputy General Counsel and Policy Director for Governor Mike Pence, providing strategic counsel to the Governor on litigation, policy, crisis communications, and legislative strategy, as well as guiding policy efforts on gaming issues in Indiana.
He earned his AB from Wabash College, and his JD from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel
Mark Pinkert is a litigation and appellate partner with Holtzman Vogel. He represents clients at every stage of litigation, in state and federal courts around the country. He has extensive experience in constitutional law, administrative law, political law, antitrust, white collar defense, and complex commercial disputes. Additionally, Mark maintains an active practice focused on religious freedom, First Amendment rights, and combatting antisemitism, especially on college campuses.
Mark is a formidable writer and advocate. He has drafted letters, white papers to government agencies, legal memoranda, regulatory comments, complaints, dispositive motions, motions in limine, appellate briefs, and several briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court. His incisive and persuasive writing style has helped him earn key victories for his clients. Mark has argued a Daubert motion in a multi-billion-dollar environmental dispute and was recently appointed lead counsel by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to represent an indigent petitioner in a habeas corpus appeal. Mark’s legal commentary has been published in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Times of Israel, Daily Business Review, University of Miami Law Review, and many others.
Mark is also an adept legal strategist, advising some of the largest companies in the world on their most pressing issues. Rather than merely react to problems, he provides holistic thinking and anticipates issues before they arise. He helps clients develop proactive plans of action that mitigate risks, avoid conflict, and reduce costs.
Before joining Holtzman Vogel, Mark worked at a global law firm and clerked for the Honorable Adalberto Jordan (11th Cir.) and the Honorable Roy K. Altman (S.D. Fla.). Clerking at both the trial and appellate levels has given him rare insight into the federal court system and has sharpened his advocacy.
At Yale Law School, Mark was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and an editor for the Yale Journal of Law & Humanities. He was also a research assistant and taught constitutional law to high school students in New Haven.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Brandon Smith is a partner at Holtzman Vogel, based in Tennessee, where he focuses on government investigations, white collar matters, and specialty litigation. A seasoned government leader and legal strategist, Brandon has played a central role in shaping conservative policy and litigation at the highest levels of state government.
Before joining the firm, Brandon served as Chief of Staff and Assistant Solicitor General in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. In that role, he led multi-state litigation, high-profile constitutional challenges, and efforts to counter federal overreach and ESG-related corporate activism. He worked closely with nearly every Republican Attorney General’s Office in the country, coordinating litigation, strategy, and multi-state policy efforts.
Earlier in his career, Brandon served as Executive Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and as Policy Director to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, where he helped drive key legislative and budget initiatives. He also held roles as Deputy Director of the Federalist Society and as an adjunct professor at American University.
Brandon’s career has been defined by a commitment to defending federalism, advancing conservative governance, and shaping legal and policy fights that matter.
Solicitor General, Iowa Office of the Attorney General
Eric Wessan serves as Iowa’s Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In that role, Wessan leads Iowa’s litigation before State and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts. Before that role, Wessan worked on complex commercial litigation at two large law firms in Chicago. Wessan also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable John F. Kness on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wessan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with honors, and of the University of Chicago.
Partner, Wiley Rein, LLP
Megan L. Brown is a partner at Wiley Rein LLP. She has significant litigation, appellate and regulatory experience before state and federal courts and agencies.
Ms. Brown helps businesses respond to federal, state and local regulation and investigations raising administrative law, statutory interpretation, and constitutional issues, including the First Amendment.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
Reporter, SCOTUSblog
Amy Howe is the co-founder of SCOTUSblog, a news site devoted to coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court, and its primary reporter. She was part of the blog team that won a Peabody Award in 2013, as well as a National Press Club Journalism Award for Breaking News. Since the spring of 2025, she has also served as the Supreme Court analyst for the PBS NewsHour. In the fall of 2025, she is a fellow in Georgetown University's Institute of Politics.
Before turning to full-time journalism, Amy was a practicing lawyer and served as a lawyer in over two dozen cases at the Supreme Court, on issues ranging from international child custody to the death penalty, and argued two cases there. She has taught or co-taught courses on Supreme Court litigation at Vanderbilt Law School, Stanford Law School, and Harvard Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master's in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Partner, King & Spalding
John Richter is a trial and investigations partner in the Special Matters and Investigations Practice Group, and represents and defends companies, Boards of Directors, Board committees, and individuals facing a variety of white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters, parallel civil litigation, and internal corporate investigations. John previously served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, having been nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate.
Partner, Hogan Lovells
Jo-Ann Sagar is a Partner at Hogan Lovells, focusing on appellate litigation in both state and federal courts. Her work spans constitutional and administrative law, technology and telecommunications, as well as education and employment. She has briefed and argued cases on these topics before federal and state appellate courts.
Jo-Ann has significant experience practicing before the United States Supreme Court. She has secured grants of certiorari in numerous cases, including three in the last term. Additionally, she has briefed several cases on the merits before the Supreme Court, including as Counsel of Record, and has filed numerous amicus briefs.
President, JCN
Carrie Campbell Severino is the president of the JCN, and co-author with Mollie Hemingway of the bestselling book Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Court. As a go-to expert on the confirmation process, Mrs. Severino has been extensively quoted in the media. She regularly appears on television, including FOX, CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and ABC’s This Week.
Severino writes and speaks on a wide range of judicial issues, including the constitutional limits on government, the federal nomination process, and state judicial selection. She has testified before Congress on constitutional questions and briefed Senators on judicial nominations, and regularly files briefs in high-profile Supreme Court cases. She was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D.), Duke University (B.A., Biology), and Michigan State University (M.A., Linguistics).
Knights of Columbus Professor of Law and the Catholic Tradition, The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
Kevin C. Walsh teaches and writes in the areas of federal jurisdiction, constitutional law, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His scholarship explores the doctrines that define—and delimit—the scope of federal judicial power.
Professor Walsh graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was Articles Chair for Volume 115 of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. He then practiced law at Hunton & Williams LLP and taught as a visiting assistant professor at Villanova University School of Law. Walsh received his A.B. from Dartmouth College, and an M.A. in Theological Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He taught at the University of Richmond School of Law for thirteen years prior to joining The Catholic University of America, where he currently resides.
In early 2011, Professor Walsh filed two amicus curiae briefs addressing jurisdictional issues in the State challenges to the individual mandate in the federal healthcare reform legislation: a brief in Virginia v. Sebelius (United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit), and a brief in Florida v. HHS (United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit).
Professor and Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Teresa Collett, J.D., is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. Collett received her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion and bioethics in her research.
Collett has published numerous legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility and co-editor of a collection of essays exploring “catholic” and “Catholic” perspectives on American law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collett to a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. Her appointment was renewed by His Holiness Pope Francis until 2016 when the responsibilities of the Council were assumed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. In 2013, she served as a delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) for the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
She represented Congressman Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the U.S. federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota defending the N.H. requirement of state parental involvement prior to performance of an abortion on a minor before the U.S. Supreme Court. Collett is often asked to represent the interests of government officials before federal appellate courts. She has served as special attorney general for the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as assisting other state attorneys general in defending laws protecting human life and marriage. Prior to joining St. Thomas in 2003, Collett taught at the South Texas College of Law, where she established the nation's first annual symposium on legal ethics.
Supreme Court & Appellate Litigation Chair, Lex Politica; Of Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erin Morrow Hawley serves as Chair of Lex Politica's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice overseeing the firm’s strategic appellate litigation and critical motions practice in the trial courts. Erin is an experienced litigator who represents clients in constitutional, regulatory, and appellate matters in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Erin has represented dozens of clients before the Supreme Court of the United States, served as lead counsel in high-profile cases raising novel constitutional and statutory issues, and authored numerous successful petitions for certiorari and briefs in opposition. She has argued in state and federal appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Erin represents diverse clients in high-stakes litigation from state governments to faith-based nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies. She possesses expertise on a wide range of subject matters including administrative law, the First Amendment, religious liberty, federal jurisdiction, federal preemption, equitable jurisdiction, tax law, the Affordable Care Act, and Title IX.
Erin represents clients in cases where public communications strategy is paramount. She is a sought-after speaker and writer, has testified multiple times before Congress, and is a frequent presenter on constitutional and administrative law issues, including at the Oxford Union, the National Federalist Society Convention, and university campuses across the country. She is a frequent commentator to media outlets, including Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, WORLD, USA Today, the Federalist, and the Hill.
Erin previously oversaw Alliance Defending Freedom’s--where she still serves as Of Counsel--litigation strategies to empower women and protect the dignity of life, defend pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights from government overreach, and safeguard Americans’ freedoms from the ever-encroaching administrative state.
Courthouse Steps Decision: First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Davenport
Courthouse Steps Decision: First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Davenport
Teresa Stanton Collett, Casey Mattox
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport, the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew...
Courthouse Steps Decision: First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Davenport
Teresa Stanton Collett, Casey Mattox
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport, the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin
Christopher Bates, Christopher E. Mills
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin
Christopher Bates, Christopher E. Mills
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin
A Seat at the Sitting - December 2025
David W. Casazza, Boyd Garriott, Jill Jacobson, Caleb Kruckenberg, Michael T. Morley, Joel S. Nolette, Zvi Rosen
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
State AGs and the Supreme Court 2025 Term
Mohammad Jazil, David P. Johnson, Mark I. Pinkert, Brandon J. Smith, Eric Wessan
Presented by the In-House Counsel Network andHoltzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC State...
Supreme Court Preview: What Is in Store for October Term 2025?
Megan L. Brown, Michael R. Dimino, Amy Howe, John C. Richter, Jo-Ann Sagar, Carrie Campbell Severino, Kevin C. Walsh
REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. On October 1, 2025, the Federalist Society's Faculty Division and Practice...
Courthouse Steps Preview: First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin
Teresa Stanton Collett, Erin M. Hawley
In First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, the New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew...