Partner, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
Erik Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, Senators, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 120 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 70 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and he was a sole practitioner from 1997 to 2018. He joined the firm of Schaerr | Jaffe LLP in 2018.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC
Matt Petersen is a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with two decades of high-level legal experience in political and administrative law. Matt—who also previously served in senior staff positions in both houses of Congress—is recognized nationally for his expertise in campaign finance, elections, lobbying, free speech, and government ethics.
Matt was nominated to the FEC by President George W. Bush in 2008 and served as its Chairman in 2010 and 2016 and its Vice Chairman in 2009, 2015, and 2019. His FEC tenure coincided with several court cases that significantly changed campaign finance law, most notably the Supreme Court’s opinion in Citizens United v. FEC. Consequently, Matt played a large role in shaping the post-Citizens United legal framework governing Super PACs (and candidate involvement in their fundraising activities) and corporate and union political speech.
Matt was also a strong advocate for protecting the Internet as a tool for political speech and democratic participation and ensuring that emerging technologies can continue to flourish without being stymied by unnecessary regulation. Finally, Matt helped draft new procedures affording enhanced rights and protections for individuals and organizations involved in FEC enforcement matters, audits, and advisory opinion requests.
Prior to joining the FEC, Matt served as Republican chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (2005-08) and as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration (2002-05). He was extensively involved in the crafting of the Help America Vote Act of 2002—the sweeping election reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 presidential recount—and was chief adviser to the Republican floor manager during the Senate debate on the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, the most recent comprehensive revision of federal lobbying and government ethics laws.
Matt received his J.D. in 1999 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in philosophy from Brigham Young University in 1996. He also received an A.S. with high honors from Utah Valley University.
Partner, Schaerr | Jaffe LLP
Erik Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters. He has represented businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, Senators, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals. Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 120 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 30 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 70 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.
A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and he was a sole practitioner from 1997 to 2018. He joined the firm of Schaerr | Jaffe LLP in 2018.
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky PLLC
Matt Petersen is a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with two decades of high-level legal experience in political and administrative law. Matt—who also previously served in senior staff positions in both houses of Congress—is recognized nationally for his expertise in campaign finance, elections, lobbying, free speech, and government ethics.
Matt was nominated to the FEC by President George W. Bush in 2008 and served as its Chairman in 2010 and 2016 and its Vice Chairman in 2009, 2015, and 2019. His FEC tenure coincided with several court cases that significantly changed campaign finance law, most notably the Supreme Court’s opinion in Citizens United v. FEC. Consequently, Matt played a large role in shaping the post-Citizens United legal framework governing Super PACs (and candidate involvement in their fundraising activities) and corporate and union political speech.
Matt was also a strong advocate for protecting the Internet as a tool for political speech and democratic participation and ensuring that emerging technologies can continue to flourish without being stymied by unnecessary regulation. Finally, Matt helped draft new procedures affording enhanced rights and protections for individuals and organizations involved in FEC enforcement matters, audits, and advisory opinion requests.
Prior to joining the FEC, Matt served as Republican chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (2005-08) and as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration (2002-05). He was extensively involved in the crafting of the Help America Vote Act of 2002—the sweeping election reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 presidential recount—and was chief adviser to the Republican floor manager during the Senate debate on the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, the most recent comprehensive revision of federal lobbying and government ethics laws.
Matt received his J.D. in 1999 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Virginia Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in philosophy from Brigham Young University in 1996. He also received an A.S. with high honors from Utah Valley University.
Federalization of Elections
Erik S. Jaffe, Matthew Spencer Petersen
The United States, a constitutional republic, employs a decentralized election regulation system with decision making...
Federalization of Elections
Election Law Teleforum Series
Teleforum