Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Joe Davis joined Becket in 2017 as Legal Counsel. His work at Becket has included appellate litigation in both federal and state courts, including representing religious entities and governments sued because of their openness to religious expression in precedent-setting victories before the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits. Joe has appeared in national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including on Fox News and numerous radio and print outlets, and his academic work on topics related to religious liberty has been published at venues including the Yale Law Journal Forum and the Notre Dame Law Review Online.
Before joining Becket, Joe worked as a litigator at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he worked on a variety of matters from commercial and criminal litigation to bankruptcy. From 2014 to 2015, he clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Joe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2014, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Joe studied religious liberty law with one of the top religious liberty scholars and litigators in the nation. He also worked as a researcher for the law school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Before going to law school, Joe received his B.A. in Economics with a minor in Religion, summa cum laude, from Mississippi State University.
Joe is married to his high school sweetheart. When he’s not helping her corral their four young children, he tends to be reading the classics, watching college football, or listening to his vinyl collection.
Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Joe Davis joined Becket in 2017 as Legal Counsel. His work at Becket has included appellate litigation in both federal and state courts, including representing religious entities and governments sued because of their openness to religious expression in precedent-setting victories before the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits. Joe has appeared in national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including on Fox News and numerous radio and print outlets, and his academic work on topics related to religious liberty has been published at venues including the Yale Law Journal Forum and the Notre Dame Law Review Online.
Before joining Becket, Joe worked as a litigator at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he worked on a variety of matters from commercial and criminal litigation to bankruptcy. From 2014 to 2015, he clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Joe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2014, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Joe studied religious liberty law with one of the top religious liberty scholars and litigators in the nation. He also worked as a researcher for the law school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Before going to law school, Joe received his B.A. in Economics with a minor in Religion, summa cum laude, from Mississippi State University.
Joe is married to his high school sweetheart. When he’s not helping her corral their four young children, he tends to be reading the classics, watching college football, or listening to his vinyl collection.
Managing Director & Head of Global Policy and Public Investment, DigitalBridge Investment Management
Jonathan S. Adelstein is a Managing Director and Head of Global Policy and Public Investment at DigitalBridge Investment Management. In this role, Mr. Adelstein works with all DigitalBridge portfolio companies on public policy and strategic regulatory matters and reviews policy impacts on potential investments.
Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Mr. Adelstein was President and CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), where he represented over 200 businesses that build, own, and operate wireless infrastructure, including infrastructure owners, developers, carriers, and professional service firms.
Prior to WIA, Mr. Adelstein was nominated to positions by both President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously for each by the U.S. Senate. Under President Obama, Mr. Adelstein headed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service as Administrator. There, he led the investment of nearly $7 billion under the Recovery Act in rural broadband and water infrastructure and oversaw a $60 billion loan portfolio in rural electric, telecommunications, and water infrastructure. Under President Obama, Mr. Adelstein was appointed to the White House National Science and Technology Council, which coordinates science and technology policy across the Federal government, and the White House Business Council, leading Council meetings with business leaders across America.
Mr. Adelstein was nominated by President Bush and served as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2002 to 2009. At the FCC, he worked to achieve bipartisan progress on issues including spectrum auctions, broadband expansion, widening access to the Internet and media diversity.
Before the FCC, Mr. Adelstein served at the U.S. Senate, in a number of legislative staff positions, culminating as a senior policy advisor to the Senate Majority Leader.
Mr. Adelstein received an M.A. in History and a B.A., with Distinction, in Political Science from Stanford University. He instructed undergraduates in history as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and a Teaching Assistant at Stanford University. He is a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover.
Assistant Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Gregory Ablavsky’s scholarship focuses on early American legal history, particularly on issues of sovereignty, territory, and property in the early American West. A lawyer and historian, his publications explore a range of topics including the history of the Indian Commerce Clause and the importance of Indian affairs in shaping the U.S. Constitution and the balance of power between states and the federal government. In 2015, the American Society of Legal History named him a Kathryn T. Preyer Scholar. He is currently writing a book based on his dissertation, “The Adjudicatory State: Sovereignty, Property, and the Law in the U.S. Territories, 1783-1803.”
Prior to joining the Stanford Law faculty in 2015, Professor Ablavsky was the Sharswood Fellow in Law and History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught courses on land use law and the legal history of empire and race. He clerked for Judge Anthony Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was also a law clerk for the Native American Rights Fund in Washington, D.C.
Vice President, Global Policy, BSA | The Software Alliance
Aaron Cooper serves as Vice President, Global Policy with BSA | The Software Alliance. In this role, Cooper leads BSA’s global policy team and contributes to the advancement of BSA members’ policy priorities: data privacy and security, intellectual property, and trade. Cooper joined BSA in February 2016 as Vice President, Strategic Policy Initiatives.
Prior to joining BSA, Cooper served as the Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law for Chairman Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Most recently, Cooper was of counsel at Covington and Burling, where he provided strategic counseling and policy advice on a range of intellectual property, communications, and privacy issues. Cooper has also served as Legal Counsel to Senator Paul Sarbanes.
Cooper is a graduate of Princeton University and Vanderbilt Law School. He clerked for Judge Gerald Tjoflat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP
Brian Pandya is Partner at Duane Morris LLP. A member of the firm’s Trial Practice Group, Brian represents technology, manufacturing, and healthcare companies in high-stakes litigation, arbitrations, investigations and appeals. He has served as lead trial counsel in a range of intellectual property, antitrust, complex commercial and white-collar matters. He also regularly counsels clients on cybersecurity and national security issues, particularly matters concerning emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.
Before joining Duane Morris, Brian served at the U.S. Department of Justice as Deputy Associate Attorney General from 2019-21, where he oversaw investigations and litigation undertaken by the Antitrust Division and Civil Division and served on several high-profile task forces and trial teams. Brian was also previously a litigation and IP partner at another prominent Washington, DC firm.
Brian clerked for Judge Leonard Davis on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is a two-time recipient of the Federal Circuit Bar Association’s Pro Bono Advocacy Award for work on behalf of military veterans and has served as volunteer federal public defender in the Eastern District of Virginia, among many other bar and community engagements.
Brian graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was articles editor of the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, and with honors and high distinction in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, where he received the Ralph Dorn Hetzel Memorial Award.
Partner, Shore Chan Depumpo LLP
Michael W. Shore practices in the areas of intellectual property commercialization, business litigation, and other select litigation matters. His intellectual property practice is multifaceted, aiding clients in commercializing their patent and copyright portfolios through strategic development, licensing and litigation. Mr. Shore currently represents clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individuals located in the United States, Japan, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Taiwan (ROC) and the People's Republic of China. Prior to forming Shore Chan DePumpo LLP, Mr. Shore headed the Intellectual Property Licensing and Litigation Practice Group as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Joe Davis joined Becket in 2017 as Legal Counsel. His work at Becket has included appellate litigation in both federal and state courts, including representing religious entities and governments sued because of their openness to religious expression in precedent-setting victories before the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits. Joe has appeared in national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including on Fox News and numerous radio and print outlets, and his academic work on topics related to religious liberty has been published at venues including the Yale Law Journal Forum and the Notre Dame Law Review Online.
Before joining Becket, Joe worked as a litigator at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he worked on a variety of matters from commercial and criminal litigation to bankruptcy. From 2014 to 2015, he clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Joe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2014, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Joe studied religious liberty law with one of the top religious liberty scholars and litigators in the nation. He also worked as a researcher for the law school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Before going to law school, Joe received his B.A. in Economics with a minor in Religion, summa cum laude, from Mississippi State University.
Joe is married to his high school sweetheart. When he’s not helping her corral their four young children, he tends to be reading the classics, watching college football, or listening to his vinyl collection.
Professor Emeritus, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
In memoriam
Dr. John Baker is Professor Emeritus of Law, and previously the Dale E. Bennett Professor of Law, at Louisiana State University Law School. He is currently Visiting Professor at Peking University School of Transnational Law (via Zoom) and has been Visiting Professor at The Center for the Constitution, Georgetown Law School (2013-2020). He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Oriel College, the University of Oxford (2012-2014) and taught at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford in 2014. Dr. Baker has also been an adjunct Fellow at the Heritage Foundation (Spring, 2008) and a Distinguished Scholar at the Catholic University of America Law School (2011-12). He has taught at Tulane Law School, George Mason Law School, Pepperdine Law School, New York Law School, Hong Kong University, and the University of Dallas, School of Management and also taught and/or lectured in 17 foreign countries. Notable among his foreign visits are the
following: Visiting Professor at the University of Lyon III (France) (1999-2011); Visiting Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Chile (2012), as a Fulbright Specialist (2006); and a Fulbright Scholar at various universities in the Philippines. Dr. Baker received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Dallas. He also earned a Ph.D. in Political Thought from the University of London. Baker has taught over a dozen different subjects, mostly courses in public law. His main areas of interest are Constitutional Law (particularly federalism and separation of powers), Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, International Law, Health Care Law, Mediation, and Comparative Law.
In addition to law review articles and book chapters, Dr. Baker’s academic publications include Hall's Criminal Law: Cases and Materials (with Benson, Force and George; 5th ed. Michie, 1993); An Introduction to the Law of the United States (ed. with Levasseur; University Press of America, 1992). He has also published on Forbes.com, FoxNews.com, in The Washington Times, and a number of times in The Wall Street Journal. He argues in federal court, including two oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. For many years, he co-taught courses for the Federalist Society on separation of powers with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In September 2016, he co-taught a Supreme Court seminar in China with Justice Samuel Alito. Following law school, he served as a law clerk in federal district court and as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans before joining LSU in 1975. While a professor, he has been as a consultant to USAID, USIA (since rolled into the State Department), the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, and the Office of Planning in the White House. He served on an ABA Task Force which issued the report, The Federalization of Crime (1998) and later as a consultant to the “Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Over- federalization of Crime” (2012-2014) created by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Dr. Baker was a co-founder of the first iteration (1995) of Stratfor Inc., a global intelligence agency. He co-authored its first book: The Intelligence Edge (with Friedman, Friedman and Chapman; Crown Books/Random House 1997). In 2022, he began a short, weekly video podcast available on YouTube and Rumble, The Baker Brief.
Assistant Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Gregory Ablavsky’s scholarship focuses on early American legal history, particularly on issues of sovereignty, territory, and property in the early American West. A lawyer and historian, his publications explore a range of topics including the history of the Indian Commerce Clause and the importance of Indian affairs in shaping the U.S. Constitution and the balance of power between states and the federal government. In 2015, the American Society of Legal History named him a Kathryn T. Preyer Scholar. He is currently writing a book based on his dissertation, “The Adjudicatory State: Sovereignty, Property, and the Law in the U.S. Territories, 1783-1803.”
Prior to joining the Stanford Law faculty in 2015, Professor Ablavsky was the Sharswood Fellow in Law and History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught courses on land use law and the legal history of empire and race. He clerked for Judge Anthony Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was also a law clerk for the Native American Rights Fund in Washington, D.C.
Vice President, Global Policy, BSA | The Software Alliance
Aaron Cooper serves as Vice President, Global Policy with BSA | The Software Alliance. In this role, Cooper leads BSA’s global policy team and contributes to the advancement of BSA members’ policy priorities: data privacy and security, intellectual property, and trade. Cooper joined BSA in February 2016 as Vice President, Strategic Policy Initiatives.
Prior to joining BSA, Cooper served as the Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law for Chairman Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Most recently, Cooper was of counsel at Covington and Burling, where he provided strategic counseling and policy advice on a range of intellectual property, communications, and privacy issues. Cooper has also served as Legal Counsel to Senator Paul Sarbanes.
Cooper is a graduate of Princeton University and Vanderbilt Law School. He clerked for Judge Gerald Tjoflat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Partner, Duane Morris LLP
Brian Pandya is Partner at Duane Morris LLP. A member of the firm’s Trial Practice Group, Brian represents technology, manufacturing, and healthcare companies in high-stakes litigation, arbitrations, investigations and appeals. He has served as lead trial counsel in a range of intellectual property, antitrust, complex commercial and white-collar matters. He also regularly counsels clients on cybersecurity and national security issues, particularly matters concerning emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.
Before joining Duane Morris, Brian served at the U.S. Department of Justice as Deputy Associate Attorney General from 2019-21, where he oversaw investigations and litigation undertaken by the Antitrust Division and Civil Division and served on several high-profile task forces and trial teams. Brian was also previously a litigation and IP partner at another prominent Washington, DC firm.
Brian clerked for Judge Leonard Davis on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is a two-time recipient of the Federal Circuit Bar Association’s Pro Bono Advocacy Award for work on behalf of military veterans and has served as volunteer federal public defender in the Eastern District of Virginia, among many other bar and community engagements.
Brian graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was articles editor of the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, and with honors and high distinction in mechanical engineering from Penn State University, where he received the Ralph Dorn Hetzel Memorial Award.
Partner, Shore Chan Depumpo LLP
Michael W. Shore practices in the areas of intellectual property commercialization, business litigation, and other select litigation matters. His intellectual property practice is multifaceted, aiding clients in commercializing their patent and copyright portfolios through strategic development, licensing and litigation. Mr. Shore currently represents clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to individuals located in the United States, Japan, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Taiwan (ROC) and the People's Republic of China. Prior to forming Shore Chan DePumpo LLP, Mr. Shore headed the Intellectual Property Licensing and Litigation Practice Group as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Deep Dive Episode 54 – Department of Interior Considers Rulemaking on the Right to Use Eagle Feathers in Religious Exercise
Joseph Davis
It is currently a federal crime, under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, for...
Litigation Update: Department of Interior Considers Rulemaking on the Right to Use Eagle Feathers in Religious Exercise
Joseph Davis
It is currently a federal crime, under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, for...
Litigation Update: Department of Interior Considers Rulemaking on the Right to Use Eagle Feathers in Religious Exercise
Religious Liberties Practice Group and Regulatory Transparency Project Teleforum
TeleforumCan a New Establishment Clause Jurisprudence Succeed in Protecting Religious Minorities Where Lemon Has Failed?
Alexandra M. Lightfoot
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
The Deep State: A By-Product of the Administrative State
Orange County Lawyers Chapter
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Liberty Month Revisited: American Exceptionalism
This month we are sharing a selection of paired pieces from The Federalist Society's Liberty...
Topics
Clarifying the Approach to Tribal Consultations for Wireless Infrastructure Siting
Today, the Federalist Society published an article co-written by Jonathan Adelstein, President & CEO of the...
Modernizing the Tribal Consultation Process for Wireless Infrastructure Siting
Jonathan Adelstein, Wade Lindsay
Note from the Editor: This article discusses barriers to establishing wireless infrastructure, particularly with respect...
New Frontiers for Tribal Immunity: Patents, Pharmaceuticals, and the PTAB
Gregory Ablavsky, Aaron Cooper, Brian Pandya, Michael Shore
The courts and Congress have long acknowledged the sovereign status of Native American tribes. Tribes,...
New Frontiers for Tribal Immunity: Patents, Pharmaceuticals, and the PTAB
Teleforum