Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group Member, Bodman PLC
Mr. Rheaume is a member of Bodman's Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He represents clients involved in complex commercial litigation matters and serves as local counsel for national and international law firms.
Mr. Rheaume has been selected to the Michigan Super Lawyers® Rising Stars list since 2013 for business litigation. Prior to joining Bodman, he served as a law clerk to Justice Stephen J. Markman of the Michigan Supreme Court. Based on this experience, Mr. Rheaume is an integral team member of the firm's Appellate Law Practice Group. He has written appellate and amicus briefs in state and federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Rheaume is President of The Federalist Society-Michigan Chapter. He serves on the alumni board of the Sigma Chi Fraternity of Michigan State University. He is also a board member of the Detroit Economic Club's Young Leader Program.
Mr. Rheaume graduated from Michigan State University College of Law ranked first in his class. While there, he served as an associate editor on The Michigan State Law Review and received Jurisprudence Awards for outstanding achievement in Secured Transactions, Professional Responsibility, Insurance Law, Construction Law, Decedents Estates & Trusts, Bankruptcy, Negotiations, and Income Taxation.
Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group Member, Bodman PLC
Mr. Kangas is a member of Bodman PLC’s Litigation and ADR Group. He represents diverse clients in complex commercial disputes in both state and federal courts.
Prior to joining Bodman, Mr. Kangas clerked for Hon. Ralph B. Guy, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Hon. Stephen J. Murphy, III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. As a law student, he interned with Chief Justice Robert P. Young of the Michigan Supreme Court and Hon. Robert H. Cleland of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
While in law school, Mr. Kangas served as Editor of the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, as President of the Catholic Law Students Association, and as Publicity Chair of the Federalist Society. He also served as a volunteer Student Attorney with the University of Michigan Law School’s Unemployment Insurance Project. Following law school, Mr. Kangas was accepted into the Georgetown Center for the Constitution's Originalism seminar.
Prior to practicing law, Mr. Kangas founded a presentation consulting firm, advising professionals and organizations on persuasive and impactful presentation skills.
Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Ohio Attorney General
Zachery joined the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in 2013. He started in the Constitutional Offices Section, a division that represents Ohio’s elected officials. In 2019, Zachery became a Deputy Solicitor General. In this role, he represents the State of Ohio—along with its agencies and officials—in appeals before the Ohio Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before working for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Zachery clerked for District Judge Edmund A. Sargus and Magistrate Judge Elizabeth P. Deavers in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He received his J.D. from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2010.
Any opinions expressed in Zachery’s posts represent his own views, which do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
President and CEO, The Buckeye Institute
Robert Alt is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Buckeye Institute where he has catalyzed exponential growth since he took the organization’s helm in 2012. He has since founded Buckeye’s renowned Economic Research Center and established its impactful Legal Center.
Alt is a distinguished scholar and attorney with particular expertise in legal policy, criminal justice, national security, and constitutional law. He previously worked for former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, regularly provides commentary on television and radio programs, and his writings have appeared in countless outlets.
In 2004, Alt spent five months in Iraq as an embedded war correspondent.
Alt has testified before Congress multiple times—including at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan—the Federal Election Commission regarding matters of constitutional and administrative law, and numerous state legislatures.
Alt serves as an officer on the boards of The Philadelphia Society and the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyers Chapter. He taught national security law, criminal law, and legislation at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as well as constitutional law and political parties and interest groups at Ashland University.
Alt earned his Doctor of Law degree from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Symposium Editor and the winner of the Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy as well as research assistant to Professor Richard Epstein. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Alice Batchelder on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alt graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science magna cum laude from Azusa Pacific University where he also won the Outstanding Senior Award in Political Science.
Alt is an accomplished high-altitude alpinist and endurance athlete who has successfully climbed 6.75 of the famed Seven Summits of the World including Mount Everest. He is the creator of PROFOUND CLIMBING™ and a frequent speaker across the country and around the world on legal and public policy topics as well as effective leadership, management, decision-making, and teamwork in contexts ranging from extraordinary life/death situations to ordinary professional/business settings.
Associate Justice, Arkansas Supreme Court
Nicholas Bronni was appointed to the Arkansas Supreme Court by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on December 20, 2024, and he began his service on January 1, 2025.
Before being appointed to the bench, Justice Bronni served as the Solicitor General of Arkansas. In that role, he successfully argued two cases in the United States Supreme Court: Delaware v. Pennsylvania, 598 U.S. 115 (2023), an original jurisdiction case concerning unclaimed property; and Rutledge v. PCMA, 592 U.S. 80 (2020), an ERISA preemption case. Justice Bronni also successfully argued numerous cases before federal and state appellate courts, including Arkansas Times v. Waldrip, 37 F.4th 1386 (8th Cir. 2022) (en banc), which upheld Arkansas's law barring state contractors from boycotting Israel; and Arkansas State Conf. NAACP v. Arkansas Bd. of Apportionment, 86 F.4th 1204 (8th Cir. 2023), a landmark case holding that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is not privately enforceable. As Solicitor General, Justice Bronni received the National Association of Attorneys General's 2024 Best Supreme Court Brief Award for his multistate amicus brief in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, 601 U.S. 346 (2024).
Justice Bronni received his law degree with magna cum laude honors from the University of Michigan Law School. At Michigan, he was an editor of the Michigan Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, and with special departmental honors from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.
Prior to returning home to Arkansas, Justice Bronni was a Senior Litigation Counsel with the Appellate Litigation Group at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also an associate with Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP in Washington, DC. Justice Bronni clerked for the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Julie Marie Blake serves as senior counsel for regulatory litigation at Alliance Defending Freedom. Over the last decade, she has been on the front lines of high-profile, precedent-setting cases challenging federal overreach in courts across the country.
Blake served as deputy solicitor general for the state of Missouri from 2017 to 2020 and as assistant solicitor general for the state of West Virginia from 2013 to 2017. In these roles, she argued 26 federal and state appeals, including before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She received the Best Brief Award from National Association of Attorneys General for her U.S. Supreme Court advocacy.
Before entering government service in 2013, Blake was a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P., where she served as volunteer amicus counsel in several ADF cases, including Town of Greece v. Galloway.
Following law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2009. She received her B.A. in Politics and Theology & Religious Studies phi beta kappa from the Catholic University of America in 2006. She is a 2007 Blackstone Fellow.
Blake is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and in many federal district and appellate courts.
Senior Counsel and VP, Appellate Advocacy, Alliance Defending Freedom
John Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. Bursch has argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases and more than 30 state supreme court cases since 2011, and a recent study concluded that among all frequent Supreme Court advocates who did not work for the federal government, he had the 3rd highest success rate for persuading justices to adopt his legal position.
Bursch served as solicitor general for the state of Michigan from 2011-2013. He has argued multiple Michigan Supreme Court cases in eight of the last ten terms and has successfully litigated hundreds of matters nationwide, including six with at least $1 billion at stake. As part of his private firm, Bursch Law PLLC, he has represented Fortune 500 companies, foreign and domestic governments, top public officials, and industry associations in high-profile cases, primarily on appeal. He was inducted into the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and serves as a member of the American Law Institute. His work has resulted in repeated listings in Michigan Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers.
Before entering private practice, Bursch served as a law clerk to the Honorable James B. Loken on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1997 from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he served as Chief Note & Comment Editor for the Minnesota Law Review. Prior to that, he attended Western Michigan University, where he received degrees in mathematics and music performance summa cum laude.
State Court Docket Watch: Rafaeli, LLC v. Oakland County
James J. Ryan, Gordon J. Kangas
When Rafaeli, LLC underpaid its property tax bill by $8.40, the county auctioned off the...
State Court Docket Watch: HWCC-Tunica, Inc. v. Mississippi Dep’t of Revenue
Most discussions of judicial deference to administrative agencies center on federal doctrines like those established...
State Court Docket Watch: State v. Nettles
Zachery Keller
The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Nettles[1] illustrates what happens when decades-old law...
Criminal Law Update: A Survey of State Law Changes in 2019
Robert Alt
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
Criminal Law Update: A Survey of State Law Changes in 2019
Robert Alt
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
The Supreme Court in 2020: A Conversation with John Bursch
Jefferson City Lawyers Chapter - Online Event
State Court Docket Watch: Myers v. Yamato Kogyo Co.
Nicholas Bronni
When should courts defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute? At the federal level,...
The Michigan Supreme Court Protects the Rights of Property Owners
On July 17, 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously held in Rafaeli v. Oakland County...
Improving Congressional Oversight
Early this year, the House Modernization Committee held a hearing focused on restoring the capacity...
The Supreme Court Declines to Consider a Constitutional Challenge to Wisconsin’s Unified Bar
On June 1, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Jarchow v. State...