Senior Litigation Counsel, New Civil Liberties Alliance
Throughout his 40-year career in private law practice in Washington, D.C., Richard Samp has specialized in appellate litigation with a focus on constitutional law. He served as Chief Counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation for more than 30 years. He has participated directly in more than 200 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Samp is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School and clerked for a federal judge in Detroit.
Counsel, Wyoming Liberty Group
Benjamin Barr focuses his practice on the development of innovative strategies for the recovery of constitutional liberties. He is the lead attorney in the ongoing Free Speech v. FEC litigation and successfully litigated Carey v. FEC. The Texas Court of Appeals, Third District, recently relied on much of Barr's amicus brief in DeLay v. Texas to reverse earlier judgments and fully acquit DeLay.
In his past, Barr served as an associate with James Bopp, Jr. and litigated election law challenges across the United States. He also served as a Senior Fellow with the Goldwater Institute and as special counsel to two chairmen of the Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court has cited his work in the area of First Amendment jurisprudence and he is the co-author of a forthcoming law review article on the import of anonymous political speech in the University of Wyoming Law Review.
Government Affairs Lobbyist, Public Citizen
Craig Holman, Ph.D. is currently Government Affairs Lobbyist for Public Citizen. As Legislative Representative, he serves as the organization’s Capitol Hill lobbyist on campaign finance and governmental ethics. Previously, Holman was Senior Policy Analyst at the Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law. Dr. Holman worked closely with reform organizations and the Democratic congressional caucus of the 110th Congress in drafting and promoting the “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act,” the new federal lobbying and ethics reform legislation signed into law on September 14, 2007. As a consequence of this legislation, Holman is also working with European nongovernmental organizations and members of the European Commission and Parliament in developing a lobbyist registration system for the European Union.
Holman has assisted in drafting campaign finance reform legislation, including pay-to-play legislation, and has conducted numerous research projects on the initiative process and the impact of money in politics. He has been called upon to assist as a researcher and/or expert witness defending in court the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) as well as the campaign finance reform laws of Alaska, Arkansas, California and Colorado. He has authored and co-authored several studies on campaign finance and the initiative process, including four major works entitled BUYING TIME 2000: TELEVISION ADVERTISING IN THE 2000 FEDERAL ELECTIONS (2001); THE PRICE OF JUSTICE: A CASE STUDY IN JUDICIAL CAMPAIGN FINANCING (1995); TO GOVERN OURSELVES: BALLOT INITIATIVES IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA (1992), and DEMOCRACY BY INITIATIVE (1992). Some of his other publications include: “Lobbying Reform in the United States and the European Union: Progress on Two Continents,” in Conor McGrath, ed., INTEREST GROUPS AND LOBBYING (2009); “The Structure and Organization of Congress and the Practice of Lobbying,” in Thomas Susman and William Luneburg, eds., THE LOBBYING MANUAL: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO FEDERAL LAW GOVERNING LAWYERS AND LOBBYISTS, FOURTH EDITION (2008); “Close the 527 Loophole” in Matt Kerbel, ed., GET THIS PARTY STARTED: HOW PROGRESSIVES CAN FIGHT BACK AND WIN (2006); “The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: Limits and Opportunities for Non-Profit Groups in Federal Elections,” Northern Kentucky Law Review (2004); “The Nuts and Bolts of Public Financing of State Candidate Campaigns,” National Civic Review (2003); and THE NEW POLITICS OF JUDICIAL ELECTIONS (2002).
Executive Vice President, The Federalist Society
Dean Reuter is Executive Vice President at the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is the principal author of the non-fiction book, The Hidden Nazi: The Untold Story of America's Deal with the Devil, and editor of Liberty’s Nemesis: The Unchecked Expansion of the State and Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security. He was appointed by the President and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and recently served as an appointee on the U.S. Commission on Presidential Scholars. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law.
Warren Belmar has served as the Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy since June, 2006. He is responsible for coordinating the activities and functions assigned to the Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulatory Law, the Assistant General Counsel for Fossil Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Interventions and Power Marketing, and the Assistant General Counsel for General Law. In this role, he acts as principal legal advisor, on behalf of the General Counsel, to the Secretary and senior DOE officials within assigned functional areas, and performs other tasks within and outside of functional responsibility as determined by the General Counsel.
Prior to becoming Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy, Mr. Belmar’s legal career has been spent in private practice in Washington, D.C., primarily with the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, from which he retired in 1999 after 22 years as a partner. In the years immediately prior to joining DOE, Mr. Belmar served as Managing Partner of Capitol Counsel Group, LLC, and as a partner with the law firm of Balch & Bingham LLP. His practice primarily involved providing counsel to clients in the financial services and energy sectors, representing clients in litigation in the Federal courts and before various federal and state departments and agencies, and before the U. S. Congress.
Mr. Belmar received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Brooklyn College in 1963, and his law degree with honors from Columbia Law School in 1966. He served as Court law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and as an attorney with the Office of Legal Counsel of the U. S. Department of Justice. He is a former Chair of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association, a former Chair of the Judicial Review Committee of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a former Senior Counsel of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, and a Life Member of American Law Institute.
B.A. Brooklyn College, 1963
J.D. Columbia Law School, 1966
Warren Belmar has served as the Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy since June, 2006. He is responsible for coordinating the activities and functions assigned to the Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulatory Law, the Assistant General Counsel for Fossil Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Interventions and Power Marketing, and the Assistant General Counsel for General Law. In this role, he acts as principal legal advisor, on behalf of the General Counsel, to the Secretary and senior DOE officials within assigned functional areas, and performs other tasks within and outside of functional responsibility as determined by the General Counsel.
Prior to becoming Deputy General Counsel for Energy Policy, Mr. Belmar’s legal career has been spent in private practice in Washington, D.C., primarily with the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, from which he retired in 1999 after 22 years as a partner. In the years immediately prior to joining DOE, Mr. Belmar served as Managing Partner of Capitol Counsel Group, LLC, and as a partner with the law firm of Balch & Bingham LLP. His practice primarily involved providing counsel to clients in the financial services and energy sectors, representing clients in litigation in the Federal courts and before various federal and state departments and agencies, and before the U. S. Congress.
Mr. Belmar received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Brooklyn College in 1963, and his law degree with honors from Columbia Law School in 1966. He served as Court law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and as an attorney with the Office of Legal Counsel of the U. S. Department of Justice. He is a former Chair of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association, a former Chair of the Judicial Review Committee of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a former Senior Counsel of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, and a Life Member of American Law Institute.
B.A. Brooklyn College, 1963
J.D. Columbia Law School, 1966
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Richard A. Samp
On Monday, March 21, the Court heard RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. The European Community. The...
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Benjamin Barr, Craig Holman, Dean Reuter
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been involved in a lengthy legal battle over...
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Engage Volume 6, Issue 2, October 2005
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We will not win the terrorism war only by pursuing the money-laundering techniques of the...