Director, Independent Women's Law Center, Independent Women's
Jennifer C. Braceras, a member of the Federalist Society Board of Visitors, is the director of Independent Women’s Law Center and a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ms. Braceras is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Law Review. After law school, she clerked for two federal judges and practiced labor and employment law with the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.
A long time political columnist and editor, Ms. Braceras's writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Hill, and National Review Online. She co-hosts At the Bar, a bimonthly virtual happy hour discussion about issues at the intersection of law, politics, and culture.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
Michael B. Brennan was confirmed and sworn in as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in May 2018.
He previously worked as a partner in the Milwaukee law firm of Gass Weber Mullins LLC, where he tried cases and handled appeals in federal and state courts, as a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit, where he presided over a variety of criminal and civil calendars, and as an assistant district attorney in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.
Brennan’s undergraduate degree is from the University of Notre Dame, and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was an editor on the law review and the moot court champion. He served as a law clerk on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Solicitor General, Montana Attorney General's Office
Christian is currently Solicitor General of Montana, where he serves as the chief litigator and principal legal advisor to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. In that capacity, he manages litigation before the federal district courts, courts of appeal, and the United States Supreme Court, as well as the Montana Supreme Court. He previously served in the Trump Administration as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to government service, he was a public interest constitutional litigator at Mountain States Legal Foundation and a fellow at the Institute for Justice. He clerked for Justice Caleb Stegall on the Kansas Supreme Court. He also served as Director of Publications for the Federalist Society's national headquarters.
Christian earned his B.A. in Political Science in 2009 from the University of Pennsylvania before attending the University of Kansas School of Law. Christian is admitted to practice law in Kansas and Montana. A Kansas native, he is a die-hard fan of the Kansas Jayhawks, Kansas City Chiefs, and Kansas City Royals.
Christian is a member of the Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group's Executive Committee.
Senior Vice President for Social Policy, Education, & Politics, Third Way
Lanae Erickson is the Senior Vice President for Social Policy, Education, and Politics at Thirdway, where she aims to help policymakers and advocates better understand the complexities of how voters in the middle approach topics that are often perceived politically as black and white, including immigration, crime, abortion, and guns, as well as driving crucial policy conversations like how we can ensure our higher education system is delivering for students and taxpayers. Working closely with leaders in the LGBT movement, she led Third Way’s Commitment Campaign, which mobilized moderate Americans to support marriage for gay couples by changing the conversation from legal rights and benefits to the importance of making a lifetime commitment in front of family and friends.
Lanae served as a member of President Obama's third Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Before coming to Third Way, she was Legislative Counsel at Alliance for Justice, where she investigated the backgrounds of federal judicial nominees on civil and human rights and advocated for progress on issues from detention and interrogation policy to equal pay. Her analysis has been featured in a variety of news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Politico, The New Yorker, and PBS News Hour. She has also appeared on MSNBC, NPR, Fox News, CSPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, and her home state’s Minnesota Public Radio. She earned her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota, and her Bachelor's degree as a first generation college student and Pell grant recipient at Mount Holyoke College.
Partner, McGuireWoods LLP
Farnaz is a skilled litigator with extensive experience in representing employers and institutions of higher education, including academic medical centers, in breach of contract, constitutional, discrimination, and tort litigation. She has conducted investigations, advised clients on employment and education laws, and represented them before federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Education.
Farnaz successfully has defended employers, state agencies, government officials, and institutions of higher education in over 30 civil actions as first chair before federal and state courts as well as trial and appellate courts. Farnaz also has advised clients on investigations under civil rights laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (discrimination based on race, color, or national origin), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (discrimination based on sex). Her deep knowledge of education laws and regulations includes the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended; accreditation; borrower defense to repayment; gainful employment; financial responsibility standards; FERPA and other privacy laws; the Clery Act; and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
Farnaz is experienced with student and employee disciplinary issues, including under Title IX, and has represented institutions in such matters in several of her previous roles. Representing institutions in Title IX cases requires a nuanced approach, as the institution must balance legal compliance with compassion and care, supporting victims while providing a fair process for both parties, including the accused. Farnaz strikes this balance and is a trusted resource for her clients.
Prior to joining McGuireWoods, Farnaz served as the Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education and also as in-house counsel at the University of Virginia. She advised the U.S. Department of Education on litigation strategy and worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice in cases arising under federal antidiscrimination laws and the Administrative Procedure Act. Government officials also relied on her close counsel in preparation for congressional investigations and hearings. At the University of Virginia, she advised University officials on federal education and employment laws and represented the University and its academic medical center in litigation. She also drafted the University’s antidiscrimination and conduct policies, including free speech policies.
She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Eric G. Bruggink, Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and later as a law clerk to the Honorable Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr., the former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Virginia.
Vice President, yes. every kid. foundation.
Michael Donnelly is vice president for yes. every kid. foundation., guiding national legal strategy and education transformation initiatives to advance family first learner centered educational freedom.
Prior to joining Yes Foundation, Donnelly was HSLDA Senior Counsel and Director of Global Outreach coordinating support of homeschooling freedom around the world where he also founded the Global Home Education Exchange, a global network dedicated to education freedom for all. He has participated in litigation in state, national and international tribunals. Donnelly has extensive legislative advocacy experience improving homeschool laws in numerous states and countries and has testified before many legislative committees at state, national and international levels.
Donnelly was an adjunct professor of government at Patrick Henry College where he taught constitutional law and is an adjunct professor of law at Regent University teaching international human rights law and international criminal law. He served in combat as a cavalry officer in the United States Army during the first Persian Gulf War after which he ran a successful FirstService franchise, founded a nationally ranked internet marketing firm, and worked in private legal practice.
In addition to being a frequent contributor in national media, Donnelly has authored hundreds of web and print articles along with scholarly publications regarding educational freedom, homeschooling, parental rights, and human rights. His published articles and chapters appear in The Journal of Law and Education, The International Journal of Human Rights, Homeschooling in the 21st Century, International Journal of School Choice and Reform, Homeschooling in New View, Balancing Freedom, Autonomy, and Accountability in Education, Religious Freedom in Education, The International Journal of Religious Freedom, Homeschooling in America and Europe: A Litmus Test of Democracy, and Parental Rights in Peril.
He holds a juris doctor with honors from the Boston University School of Law as a Paul J. Liacos Scholar and an LLM with merit in Constitutional and Human Rights Law from the London School of Economics. He is a member of six federal and state bars.
Mike and his wife Patricia are homeschooling parents of seven children and one grandchild (so far).
John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Associate Dean for External Engagement, University of Notre Dame Law School
Nicole Stelle Garnett is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where she also serves as the Associate Dean for External Engagement and directs the Notre Dame Education Law Project. Her teaching and research focus on education law and policy, religious liberty, and topics related to property law (especially land use and urban development policies). In addition to dozens of articles on these subjects, she is the author of Lost Classroom, Lost Community: Catholic Schools' Importance in Urban America (University of Chicago Press, 2014) and Ordering the City: Land Use, Policing and the Restoration of Urban America (Yale University Press, 2009).
Garnett received her B.A. with distinction in Political Science from Stanford University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Morris S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining the law school faculty in 1999, she worked for two years as a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a non-profit public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., where she helped to defend the constitutionality of the nation's first private-school-choice programs.
At Notre Dame, Garnett is a faculty fellow in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, and deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She also is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Senior National Advisor for Legal Affairs, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Renita Thukral is the Senior National Advisor for Legal Affairs for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, where she leads and grows the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys; addresses civil rights, fiscal equity, and labor/employment issues confronting charter schools; assists with federal legal questions challenging the charter school community; provides legal technical assistance to state partners considering litigation; and offers support to state partners seeking to improve their regulatory and authorizing environments. Prior to her work with the National Alliance, she was the policy director at the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and, prior to that, the director of policy and advocacy at New Schools for New Orleans. Renita was an adjunct professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and has been invited to speak at Harvard Law School, Columbia University Teachers College, and Johns Hopkins School of Education. In 2010, she published a law review article in the Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law titled “The Unique System of Charter Schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Distinctive Structure, Familiar Challenges,” which examined the New Orleans charter school community. In 2013, she published a law review article in the ABA Journal of Labor and Employment Law titled “Federal Regulations of State Pension Plans: The Governmental Plan Revisited,” which explored the impact of federal rulemaking on the eligibility of quasi-public entities to offer state pension benefits to their employees. Before entering the charter school world, Renita was a public defender in New York City, practicing at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts. She clerked for the Honorable Robert W. Sweet in federal district court in the Southern District of New York. She earned her juris doctorate from Yale Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during her junior year. She taught junior high school math in Los Altos, California, before attending law school. Renita proudly serves on three nonprofit boards. She is a founding board member of Harmony School of Excellence-DC, a charter school based in Washington, D.C. She serves on the board of Charter Board Partners, a national nonprofit that designs and drives high-quality governance for charter school operators around the country. And she is the vice president of the board of Global Charity Foundation, a United States-based nonprofit that provides health care and education services to women and children in India.
Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor
Jonathan Berry is Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor, in service to President Trump’s agenda to put American workers first. He leads the Department’s lawyers in advising the Secretary and agency leadership on all aspects of law and in representing the Department in court. He was previously managing partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, where he provided strategic counsel and litigated on issues at the intersection of law, politics, and public policy. Earlier, he headed the regulatory office at Labor, and also served at the Department of Justice, in the first Trump Administration. Mr. Berry served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and to Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Michael T. Hartney is a Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, an adjunct fellow at
the Manhattan Institute, and an associate professor of political science at Boston College.
Hartney’s scholarly expertise is in American politics and public policy. His work has been
published in top academic journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American
Journal of Political Science and Perspectives on Politics and garnered media coverage from
the Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Hartney also writes
regularly for popular outlets including City Journal, Education Next, National Review, and the
Washington Post.
Hartney’s first book, How Policies Make Interest Groups: Governments, Unions, and American
Education was published late last year by the University of Chicago Press. The book examines
the origins, power, and activities of America’s teachers’ unions and shows how governments
have long subsidized the unions’ political organizing efforts, enabling them to wield outsized
influence in American education. Before his academic career, he worked as a policy analyst for
the National Governors Association, where he provided analysis to state policymakers on a wide
range of school reform issues, from teacher and principal quality to high school redesign.
Hartney earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and his bachelor’s degree from
Vanderbilt University.
President and General Counsel, The Fairness Center
David R. Osborne is President & General Counsel of the Fairness Center. David helped to launch the Fairness Center in 2014 and provides advice and counsel to clients, directs the Fairness Center’s legal strategy, and oversees all litigation efforts. Prior to joining the Fairness Center, David practiced law in Florida, where he had previously served as clerk to a Florida Supreme Court justice.
David received his Juris Doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law, graduating magna cum laude. He enrolled in law school after working as official staff for a Member of Congress from Orlando, Florida.
David is a member of the Pennsylvania and Florida state bars and has been admitted to the federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He is based in central Pennsylvania, where he is also president of the Harrisburg Chapter of the Federalist Society and a State Advisory Committee Member for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. David and his wife have been happily married for 11 years and have four children together.
Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute.
Shapiro is the author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites (2025) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, writes the Shapiro’s Gavel newsletter on Substack, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.
Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court. He lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, is a member of the board of fellows of the Jewish Policy Center, was an inaugural Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute, and has been an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University and University of Mississippi. He is also the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a barrister in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Earlier in his career, Shapiro was a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Eric Stahlfeld has been Chief Litigation Counsel and head of the legal team since 2018 for the Freedom Foundation, whose mission is to free public sector employees from union bondage. Eric graduated in 1992 from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, after which he moved to Washington State to practice law. Prior to law school, Eric worked in the Office of Presidential Personnel under President Ronald Reagan.
Eric and his wife, Susan, live outside Seattle. They have two children, daughter Marta teaches American and world history, and son Karl who is a law student. Eric’s principal hobby involves birds: watching them, taking pictures of them, shooting them, and eating them.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
John K. Bush is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His chambers are in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to joining the court, Judge Bush was a partner in the Louisville office of Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP, where he also was co-chair of the firm’s litigation department. He began his legal practice in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
Judge Bush served as a law clerk for Judge J. Smith Henley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He was graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1986, and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1989.
Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, The White House
Ryan Baasch serves as the Deputy Director of President Trump's National Economic Council (NEC), and as Deputy Assistant to the President on Economic Policy, where he focuses on cutting-edge technology issues at the frontier of AI regulation, space commercialization, and telecommunications networks. Before joining NEC, Ryan occupied multiple positions in the Texas Attorney General's office where he supervised all of the office's offensive civil litigation and maintained a heavy appellate caseload touching First Amendment and technology issues. Ryan began his career as a law clerk to Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson and spent five years at a large law firm in Washington D.C. and New York.
Independent Analyst, None
Allison Hayward most recently served as the Head of Case Selection at the Oversight Board. Previously, she was a Commissioner at the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a Board Member at the Office of Congressional Ethics, and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. She also previously worked as Chief of Staff and Counsel in the office of Federal Election Commission Commissioner Bradley A. Smith and practiced election law in California and in Washington DC.
In 1994-1995, Professor Hayward was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit.
She is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.
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.
Legal Advocacy Counsel, Chamber of Progress
Jess Miers is Legal Advocacy Counsel at Chamber of Progress. As a lawyer and technologist, Jess primarily focuses on the intersection of law and the Internet. She is widely considered an expert on U.S. intermediary liability law and has written, spoken, and taught extensively about topics such as speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cyber crime. Jess is also currently an advisor to the Trust & Safety Professional Association, and an industry mentor for Santa Clara Law’s Tech Edge J.D. certificate program.
Jess joins Chamber of Progress from Google where she was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst. At Google, Jess oversaw the state and federal content policy portfolios. In addition to monitoring emerging U.S. content policy, Jess also worked closely with Google’s Litigation teams to influence the courts on key online speech issues, many of which are currently pending U.S. Supreme Court review.
Before law school, Jess received her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from George Mason University. She spent four years as a Software Engineer for a defense contractor in Northern Virginia. Throughout law school, Jess interned at Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google Trust & Safety. She also founded the SCU Internet Law Student Organization, with the goal of encouraging students to explore and pursue careers in Internet law and policy.
Jess currently resides in the heart of Silicon Valley in California. When she’s not advocating for online speech, Jess enjoys climbing peaks and exploring the many beautiful California coastal trails with her husband and her dog.
Vice President, yes. every kid. foundation.
Michael Donnelly is vice president for yes. every kid. foundation., guiding national legal strategy and education transformation initiatives to advance family first learner centered educational freedom.
Prior to joining Yes Foundation, Donnelly was HSLDA Senior Counsel and Director of Global Outreach coordinating support of homeschooling freedom around the world where he also founded the Global Home Education Exchange, a global network dedicated to education freedom for all. He has participated in litigation in state, national and international tribunals. Donnelly has extensive legislative advocacy experience improving homeschool laws in numerous states and countries and has testified before many legislative committees at state, national and international levels.
Donnelly was an adjunct professor of government at Patrick Henry College where he taught constitutional law and is an adjunct professor of law at Regent University teaching international human rights law and international criminal law. He served in combat as a cavalry officer in the United States Army during the first Persian Gulf War after which he ran a successful FirstService franchise, founded a nationally ranked internet marketing firm, and worked in private legal practice.
In addition to being a frequent contributor in national media, Donnelly has authored hundreds of web and print articles along with scholarly publications regarding educational freedom, homeschooling, parental rights, and human rights. His published articles and chapters appear in The Journal of Law and Education, The International Journal of Human Rights, Homeschooling in the 21st Century, International Journal of School Choice and Reform, Homeschooling in New View, Balancing Freedom, Autonomy, and Accountability in Education, Religious Freedom in Education, The International Journal of Religious Freedom, Homeschooling in America and Europe: A Litmus Test of Democracy, and Parental Rights in Peril.
He holds a juris doctor with honors from the Boston University School of Law as a Paul J. Liacos Scholar and an LLM with merit in Constitutional and Human Rights Law from the London School of Economics. He is a member of six federal and state bars.
Mike and his wife Patricia are homeschooling parents of seven children and one grandchild (so far).
John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Associate Dean for External Engagement, University of Notre Dame Law School
Nicole Stelle Garnett is the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where she also serves as the Associate Dean for External Engagement and directs the Notre Dame Education Law Project. Her teaching and research focus on education law and policy, religious liberty, and topics related to property law (especially land use and urban development policies). In addition to dozens of articles on these subjects, she is the author of Lost Classroom, Lost Community: Catholic Schools' Importance in Urban America (University of Chicago Press, 2014) and Ordering the City: Land Use, Policing and the Restoration of Urban America (Yale University Press, 2009).
Garnett received her B.A. with distinction in Political Science from Stanford University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Morris S. Arnold of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before joining the law school faculty in 1999, she worked for two years as a staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a non-profit public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C., where she helped to defend the constitutionality of the nation's first private-school-choice programs.
At Notre Dame, Garnett is a faculty fellow in the Institute for Educational Initiatives, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, and deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture. She also is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Senior National Advisor for Legal Affairs, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Renita Thukral is the Senior National Advisor for Legal Affairs for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, where she leads and grows the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys; addresses civil rights, fiscal equity, and labor/employment issues confronting charter schools; assists with federal legal questions challenging the charter school community; provides legal technical assistance to state partners considering litigation; and offers support to state partners seeking to improve their regulatory and authorizing environments. Prior to her work with the National Alliance, she was the policy director at the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and, prior to that, the director of policy and advocacy at New Schools for New Orleans. Renita was an adjunct professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and has been invited to speak at Harvard Law School, Columbia University Teachers College, and Johns Hopkins School of Education. In 2010, she published a law review article in the Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law titled “The Unique System of Charter Schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Distinctive Structure, Familiar Challenges,” which examined the New Orleans charter school community. In 2013, she published a law review article in the ABA Journal of Labor and Employment Law titled “Federal Regulations of State Pension Plans: The Governmental Plan Revisited,” which explored the impact of federal rulemaking on the eligibility of quasi-public entities to offer state pension benefits to their employees. Before entering the charter school world, Renita was a public defender in New York City, practicing at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts. She clerked for the Honorable Robert W. Sweet in federal district court in the Southern District of New York. She earned her juris doctorate from Yale Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during her junior year. She taught junior high school math in Los Altos, California, before attending law school. Renita proudly serves on three nonprofit boards. She is a founding board member of Harmony School of Excellence-DC, a charter school based in Washington, D.C. She serves on the board of Charter Board Partners, a national nonprofit that designs and drives high-quality governance for charter school operators around the country. And she is the vice president of the board of Global Charity Foundation, a United States-based nonprofit that provides health care and education services to women and children in India.
Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor
Jonathan Berry is Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor, in service to President Trump’s agenda to put American workers first. He leads the Department’s lawyers in advising the Secretary and agency leadership on all aspects of law and in representing the Department in court. He was previously managing partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, where he provided strategic counsel and litigated on issues at the intersection of law, politics, and public policy. Earlier, he headed the regulatory office at Labor, and also served at the Department of Justice, in the first Trump Administration. Mr. Berry served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and to Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Hoover Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Michael T. Hartney is a Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, an adjunct fellow at
the Manhattan Institute, and an associate professor of political science at Boston College.
Hartney’s scholarly expertise is in American politics and public policy. His work has been
published in top academic journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American
Journal of Political Science and Perspectives on Politics and garnered media coverage from
the Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Hartney also writes
regularly for popular outlets including City Journal, Education Next, National Review, and the
Washington Post.
Hartney’s first book, How Policies Make Interest Groups: Governments, Unions, and American
Education was published late last year by the University of Chicago Press. The book examines
the origins, power, and activities of America’s teachers’ unions and shows how governments
have long subsidized the unions’ political organizing efforts, enabling them to wield outsized
influence in American education. Before his academic career, he worked as a policy analyst for
the National Governors Association, where he provided analysis to state policymakers on a wide
range of school reform issues, from teacher and principal quality to high school redesign.
Hartney earned his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and his bachelor’s degree from
Vanderbilt University.
President and General Counsel, The Fairness Center
David R. Osborne is President & General Counsel of the Fairness Center. David helped to launch the Fairness Center in 2014 and provides advice and counsel to clients, directs the Fairness Center’s legal strategy, and oversees all litigation efforts. Prior to joining the Fairness Center, David practiced law in Florida, where he had previously served as clerk to a Florida Supreme Court justice.
David received his Juris Doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law, graduating magna cum laude. He enrolled in law school after working as official staff for a Member of Congress from Orlando, Florida.
David is a member of the Pennsylvania and Florida state bars and has been admitted to the federal District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He is based in central Pennsylvania, where he is also president of the Harrisburg Chapter of the Federalist Society and a State Advisory Committee Member for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. David and his wife have been happily married for 11 years and have four children together.
Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Previously he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and before that a vice president of the Cato Institute.
Shapiro is the author of Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites (2025) and Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America’s Highest Court (2020), coauthor of Religious Liberties for Corporations? (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and Newsweek. He also regularly provides commentary for various media outlets, writes the Shapiro’s Gavel newsletter on Substack, and once appeared on the Colbert Report.
Shapiro has testified many times before Congress and state legislatures and has filed more than 500 amicus curiae “friend of the court” briefs in the Supreme Court. He lectures regularly on behalf of the Federalist Society, is a member of the board of fellows of the Jewish Policy Center, was an inaugural Washington Fellow at the National Review Institute, and has been an adjunct law professor at the George Washington University and University of Mississippi. He is also the chairman of the board of advisers of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a barrister in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Earlier in his career, Shapiro was a special assistant/adviser to the Multi-National Force in Iraq on rule-of-law issues and practiced at Patton Boggs and Cleary Gottlieb. Before entering private practice, he clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He holds an AB from Princeton University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Eric Stahlfeld has been Chief Litigation Counsel and head of the legal team since 2018 for the Freedom Foundation, whose mission is to free public sector employees from union bondage. Eric graduated in 1992 from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, after which he moved to Washington State to practice law. Prior to law school, Eric worked in the Office of Presidential Personnel under President Ronald Reagan.
Eric and his wife, Susan, live outside Seattle. They have two children, daughter Marta teaches American and world history, and son Karl who is a law student. Eric’s principal hobby involves birds: watching them, taking pictures of them, shooting them, and eating them.
Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, The White House
Ryan Baasch serves as the Deputy Director of President Trump's National Economic Council (NEC), and as Deputy Assistant to the President on Economic Policy, where he focuses on cutting-edge technology issues at the frontier of AI regulation, space commercialization, and telecommunications networks. Before joining NEC, Ryan occupied multiple positions in the Texas Attorney General's office where he supervised all of the office's offensive civil litigation and maintained a heavy appellate caseload touching First Amendment and technology issues. Ryan began his career as a law clerk to Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson and spent five years at a large law firm in Washington D.C. and New York.
Independent Analyst, None
Allison Hayward most recently served as the Head of Case Selection at the Oversight Board. Previously, she was a Commissioner at the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a Board Member at the Office of Congressional Ethics, and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. She also previously worked as Chief of Staff and Counsel in the office of Federal Election Commission Commissioner Bradley A. Smith and practiced election law in California and in Washington DC.
In 1994-1995, Professor Hayward was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit.
She is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.
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.
Legal Advocacy Counsel, Chamber of Progress
Jess Miers is Legal Advocacy Counsel at Chamber of Progress. As a lawyer and technologist, Jess primarily focuses on the intersection of law and the Internet. She is widely considered an expert on U.S. intermediary liability law and has written, spoken, and taught extensively about topics such as speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cyber crime. Jess is also currently an advisor to the Trust & Safety Professional Association, and an industry mentor for Santa Clara Law’s Tech Edge J.D. certificate program.
Jess joins Chamber of Progress from Google where she was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst. At Google, Jess oversaw the state and federal content policy portfolios. In addition to monitoring emerging U.S. content policy, Jess also worked closely with Google’s Litigation teams to influence the courts on key online speech issues, many of which are currently pending U.S. Supreme Court review.
Before law school, Jess received her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from George Mason University. She spent four years as a Software Engineer for a defense contractor in Northern Virginia. Throughout law school, Jess interned at Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google Trust & Safety. She also founded the SCU Internet Law Student Organization, with the goal of encouraging students to explore and pursue careers in Internet law and policy.
Jess currently resides in the heart of Silicon Valley in California. When she’s not advocating for online speech, Jess enjoys climbing peaks and exploring the many beautiful California coastal trails with her husband and her dog.
Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, The White House
Ryan Baasch serves as the Deputy Director of President Trump's National Economic Council (NEC), and as Deputy Assistant to the President on Economic Policy, where he focuses on cutting-edge technology issues at the frontier of AI regulation, space commercialization, and telecommunications networks. Before joining NEC, Ryan occupied multiple positions in the Texas Attorney General's office where he supervised all of the office's offensive civil litigation and maintained a heavy appellate caseload touching First Amendment and technology issues. Ryan began his career as a law clerk to Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson and spent five years at a large law firm in Washington D.C. and New York.
Independent Analyst, None
Allison Hayward most recently served as the Head of Case Selection at the Oversight Board. Previously, she was a Commissioner at the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a Board Member at the Office of Congressional Ethics, and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law. She also previously worked as Chief of Staff and Counsel in the office of Federal Election Commission Commissioner Bradley A. Smith and practiced election law in California and in Washington DC.
In 1994-1995, Professor Hayward was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit.
She is a member of the State Bar of California and the District of Columbia Bar.
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.
Legal Advocacy Counsel, Chamber of Progress
Jess Miers is Legal Advocacy Counsel at Chamber of Progress. As a lawyer and technologist, Jess primarily focuses on the intersection of law and the Internet. She is widely considered an expert on U.S. intermediary liability law and has written, spoken, and taught extensively about topics such as speech and Section 230, content moderation, intellectual property, and cyber crime. Jess is also currently an advisor to the Trust & Safety Professional Association, and an industry mentor for Santa Clara Law’s Tech Edge J.D. certificate program.
Jess joins Chamber of Progress from Google where she was a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst. At Google, Jess oversaw the state and federal content policy portfolios. In addition to monitoring emerging U.S. content policy, Jess also worked closely with Google’s Litigation teams to influence the courts on key online speech issues, many of which are currently pending U.S. Supreme Court review.
Before law school, Jess received her Bachelor’s in Computer Science from George Mason University. She spent four years as a Software Engineer for a defense contractor in Northern Virginia. Throughout law school, Jess interned at Twitter, TechFreedom, The UCLA Technology Law and Policy Institute, and Google Trust & Safety. She also founded the SCU Internet Law Student Organization, with the goal of encouraging students to explore and pursue careers in Internet law and policy.
Jess currently resides in the heart of Silicon Valley in California. When she’s not advocating for online speech, Jess enjoys climbing peaks and exploring the many beautiful California coastal trails with her husband and her dog.
Plenary Session #3 U.S. Department of Education Rulemaking: Hiding Regulatory Elephants in Statutory Mouseholes?
2023 Education Law & Policy Conference
Washington, DCPlenary Session #2 Religious Charter Schools: Protected or Prohibited by the First Amendment?
Michael Donnelly, Nicole Stelle Garnett, Renita K. Thukral
Supporters of charter schools argue that their popularity and proven effectiveness in improving learning outcomes...
Plenary Session #2 Religious Charter Schools: Protected or Prohibited by the First Amendment?
2023 Education Law & Policy Conference
Washington, DCPlenary Session #1 Teacher Unions: Roadblocks to Education Reform or Defenders of Teacher and Student Interests?
Jonathan Berry, Michael Hartney, David R. Osborne, Ilya Shapiro, Eric Stahlfeld
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the powerful influence of teacher unions in public education. As a...
Plenary Session #1 Teacher Unions: Roadblocks to Education Reform or Defenders of Teacher and Student Interests?
2023 Education Law & Policy Conference
Washington, DC2023 Education Law & Policy Conference
Co-Sponsored by the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies
Washington, DCLouisville Happy Hour
Co-Sponsored by the Louisville Lawyer Chapter and the University of Louisville Student Chapter
Louisville, KYNet Choices: Social Media, Content Moderation, and the First Amendment
Ryan Baasch, Allison R. Hayward, Casey Mattox, Jess Miers
In 2021, both Florida and Texas enacted legislation to limit how social media platforms could...
Net Choices: Social Media, Content Moderation, and the First Amendment
Ryan Baasch, Allison R. Hayward, Casey Mattox, Jess Miers
In 2021, both Florida and Texas enacted legislation to limit how social media platforms could...
Net Choices: Social Media, Content Moderation, and the First Amendment
Teleforum