Former Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
Senior Fellow for Homeland Security at The Center for Renewing America, Mr. Cuccinelli has been a trial and appellate litigator, including constitutional law, for over 25 years. Additionally, Mr. Cuccinelli served in state government in the Virginia State Senate from 2002-2010, and as Virginia’s Attorney General from 2010-2014. As Virginia’s Attorney General, Mr. Cuccinelli led national litigation against Obamacare and other illegal and unconstitutional federal overreach. He also led Virginia from being among the worst states in fighting human trafficking to becoming one of the best; and his successful prosecutorial efforts resulted in record enforcement against gangs, health care fraud and child predators, all while protecting life and constitutional rights.
Mr. Cuccinelli also served in the federal government, first as the Acting Director of
United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, and then as the Acting Deputy
Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. During his tenure, Mr. Cuccinelli
was a leading spokesman for the administration on immigration, election security and
homeland security issues. He was responsible for planning and managing a budget of
over $50 billion per year, while serving as the chief operating officer for the Department
of the federal government responsible for responding to most forms of crises in the
United States. Mr. Cuccinelli was appointed by the President to serve as an original
member of the Coronavirus Task Force upon the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following his time in federal service, Mr. Cuccinelli assumed leadership of the joint
Susan B. Anthony List/American Principles Project Election Transparency Initiative, in
which position Mr. Cuccinelli seeks to fend off a federal takeover of state elections while
at the same time advancing election reforms to achieve security, transparency and
accountability in our elections.
Mr. Cuccinelli continues to be a frequent media contributor on the wide array of
subjects in which he is an expert.
Mr. Cuccinelli and his wife, Teiro, grew up and live in Virginia and they have seven
children, two sons-in-law and most joyously of all – four grandchildren (so far).
In his spare time, Mr. Cuccinelli enjoys spending time with his family, reading, shooting,
playing ultimate frisbee and watching college basketball.
Senior Staff Attorney, Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, ACLU
Brian Hauss is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, where he focuses on free expression issues. Since joining the ACLU in 2012, he has litigated cases defending the First Amendment rights of writers, journalists, media organizations, activists, advocacy groups, labor unions and private citizens. He has authored or co-authored numerous Supreme Court amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the ACLU and other groups. He also regularly discusses First Amendment issues in the media and at law schools throughout the country. Brian was a 2021-22 Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Marsha S. Berzon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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.
Partner, Clement & Murphy, PLLC
Paul served as the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States from June 2005 until June 2008. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General for over three years.
Paul has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, United States v. Booker, MGM v. Grokster, Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Rucho v. Common Cause, Facebook v. Duguid, and TransUnion v. Ramirez. Paul has argued more Supreme Court cases since 2000 than any lawyer in or out of government. He has also argued many important cases in the lower courts, including Walker v. Cheney, United States v. Moussaoui and NFL v. Brady.
Paul’s practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional litigation and strategic counseling. He represents a broad array of clients in the Supreme Court and in federal and state appellate courts. Last year, for example, he successfully argued Supreme Court cases involving significant issues of energy regulation, statutory interpretation, state sovereign immunity and Article III standing, and successfully argued a trademark appeal in the Fourth Circuit, and a constitutional appeal before the en banc Eleventh Circuit.
Paul focuses on high-stakes appeals. In recent years, he successfully defended a $1.2 billion jury verdict for clients in a Tenth Circuit case, while securing the reversal of an over $2 billion jury verdict for another client in the Seventh Circuit and the approval of a nearly $1 billion dollar class action settlement in the Third Circuit. He has initiated major administrative law challenges and constitutional litigation against the federal government, such as the successful challenge to the HHS drug-pricing rule and threatened challenges that led to the withdrawal of the Treasury Department’s proposed cryptocurrency regulations. He also counsels clients on a variety of strategic legal questions, whether arising from pending legislation, government inquiries or ongoing litigation.
Paul has undertaken substantial pro bono engagements in the Supreme Court, such as twice successfully representing the defendant in Bond v. United States and successfully representing the Omaha Tribe in Nebraska v. Parker, the guardian ad litem in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the defendant in Sekhar v. United States, a high school football coach in Kennedy v. Bremerton, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Paul’s pro bono representation also precipitated the federal government’s confession of error in United States v. Rojas.
Following law school, Paul clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, he went on to serve as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights.
Paul is a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught in various capacities since 1998. He also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute. He is the Justice Joseph Story Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Gray Center at Scalia Law School.
Dean & CEO, Ave Maria School of Law
Dean Czarnetzky is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., 1982, Chemistry) and the University of Virginia (J.D., 1989).
Before law school, Dean Czarnetzky was an officer in the United States Army, where he served as an intelligence analyst, specializing in foreign chemical, biological and nuclear capabilities. After law school, he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago, and McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe in Richmond, Virginia.
Dean Czarnetzky joined the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1994, teaching courses in bankruptcy, corporate reorganizations, secured transactions, civil procedure, business associations, and international trade. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Elsie M. Hood Award for the “outstanding professor at the University of Mississippi,” the highest honor awarded to faculty members at the University of Mississippi.
Dean Czarnetzky also serves as a legal adviser to the Holy See’s Mission to the United Nations, representing the Holy See in negotiations, including establishing the International Criminal Court and several international treaties, including one on the rights of persons with disabilities.
Dean Czarnetzky is a lay member of the Dominican Order and a third-degree Knight of Columbus.
Co-Founder and President, Defense of Freedom Institute
Bob is a co-founder and President of DFI. He previously served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 2017 through 2020 and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education from 2005 until 2009.
During his most recent tenure at the Department, Bob served on the Secretary’s Leadership Team as a strategic and legal adviser on higher education, civil rights, and congressional oversight matters. As the Department’s Regulatory Reform Officer, he also supervised the implementation of the Secretary’s regulatory agenda and was an architect of the Secretary’s reforms concerning Title IX and the Higher Education Act. As Deputy General Counsel, Bob advised on a wide variety of regulatory, legislative, and oversight matters.
Prior to joining the Department in 2017, Bob was vice president for regulatory compliance matters for several postsecondary institutions and practiced education and employment law in Washington, D.C. Before coming to the Department in 2005, he practiced law in New Orleans, litigating commercial, employment, and bankruptcy cases in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
Bob earned his A.B. in History from Georgetown University, studied British government and international politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received his law degree from Tulane University Law School. His articles have been published by National Review, Real Clear Education, Washington Examiner, and other media outlets. Fox News has featured his work.
Bob is a member of the District of Columbia and Louisiana Bars and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law (Retired)
Gail Heriot is a recently retired law professor from the University of San Diego. She also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2007 to 2025. She is also the chairman of the board of the American Civil Rights Project and the chair emerita of the Civil Rights practice group at the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy.
Professor Heriot is a prolific writer in the area of civil rights. She is the author of many law review articles. She is also the editor (along with Maimon Schwarzschild) of the 2021 anthology, A Dubious Expediency: How Race Preferences Damage Higher Education. Her upcoming book is entitled, Why We Walk on Eggshell: How Our Civil Rights Laws Helped Bring About the Woke Era—And the Trump Era, Too.
Her writings for a general audience have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the National Review and many other newspapers and magazines.
In 1996, she co-chaired the successful “Yes on Proposition 209” campaign, which amended the California Constitution to prohibit state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. In 2020, she co-chaired the “No on Proposition 16” campaign, which successfully prevented Proposition 209’s repeal.
Former principal deputy under secretary, U.S. Department of Education
Diane Auer Jones recently retired from a thirty-year career as an educator, scientist, administrator, and public policy official. Although she began her career as a nursing assistant, upon completion of undergraduate and graduate degrees in biology and applied molecular biology, she worked as a molecular biology research and later as the founding director of an EPA-certified analytical chemistry laboratory. Through an adjunct faculty position at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), she realized that working with students was her true passion and she joined the full-time faculty at CCBC. Over the course of her career, her work in higher education also included leadership positions at Princeton University, The Washington Campus and Career Education Corporation. Despite her passion for teaching, after serving as a program director at the National Science Foundation, Diane’s career focus shifted to science and education policy. She subsequently served as a professional staffer and acting staff director for the Research Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology and as the deputy to the associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She was nominated by President George W. Bush, and confirmed by the Senate, to serve as the assistant secretary for post-secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. She returned to the U.S. Department of Education to conclude her career, serving as the principal deputy undersecretary delegated the duties of undersecretary during the Donald J. Trump administration.
Founder & President, Postsecondary Commission
Stig Leschly is the founder and President of the Postsecondary Commission, a new accreditor of outcomes-focused and innovative colleges. Stig has been a Senior Lecturer teaching entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School on and off for more than 20 years. Formerly, Stig was the CEO of Match Education, an education-related nonprofit that runs charter schools and trains teachers. Early in his career, Stig was a high tech entrepreneur and an executive at Amazon.com. He is also the co-founder and board chair of Duet.org, a hybrid college that operates in partnership with Southern New Hampshire University. Stig has a JD-MBA from Harvard and BA from Princeton.
Stig holds a Bachelor of Arts in comparative literature (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Princeton University (1992) and a combined JD-MBA degree from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School (1998). Stig lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Sherry Riva. They have three daughters.
Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education
Linda E. McMahon was sworn in as the 13th United States Secretary of Education on March 3, 2025, appointed by President Donald J. Trump.
News Editor, Washington Examiner
Marisa Schultz is the news editor at the Washington Examiner, managing the team of politics reporters and editors. She got her start in journalism at the Detroit News, covering local news and earning several awards for her investigative work, including Michigan’s Young Journalist of the Year. She moved to Washington to become a White House and congressional correspondent with a focus on regional news. Marisa went on to cover national politics at the New York Post and then at Fox News. She’s a graduate of Michigan State University.
Co-Founder and President, Defense of Freedom Institute
Bob is a co-founder and President of DFI. He previously served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 2017 through 2020 and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education from 2005 until 2009.
During his most recent tenure at the Department, Bob served on the Secretary’s Leadership Team as a strategic and legal adviser on higher education, civil rights, and congressional oversight matters. As the Department’s Regulatory Reform Officer, he also supervised the implementation of the Secretary’s regulatory agenda and was an architect of the Secretary’s reforms concerning Title IX and the Higher Education Act. As Deputy General Counsel, Bob advised on a wide variety of regulatory, legislative, and oversight matters.
Prior to joining the Department in 2017, Bob was vice president for regulatory compliance matters for several postsecondary institutions and practiced education and employment law in Washington, D.C. Before coming to the Department in 2005, he practiced law in New Orleans, litigating commercial, employment, and bankruptcy cases in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
Bob earned his A.B. in History from Georgetown University, studied British government and international politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and received his law degree from Tulane University Law School. His articles have been published by National Review, Real Clear Education, Washington Examiner, and other media outlets. Fox News has featured his work.
Bob is a member of the District of Columbia and Louisiana Bars and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Professor of Law, Hofstra University School of Law
Professor Colombo joined the Hofstra University School of Law faculty in the Fall of 2006. He teaches courses in corporate, securities, and contract law. His research and scholarship focuses primarily on corporate and securities law and, more specifically, the application of non-economic principles and norms to these fields.
Before coming to Hofstra, Professor Colombo served in the Complex Global Litigation Group of Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., as vice president and counsel. In this position, Professor Colombo supervised investigations, litigations, and regulatory inquiries affecting Morgan Stanley's investment banking franchise. Prior to that, Professor Colombo practiced as a litigation associate at the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell, where, among other things, he represented corporate and banking clients in civil and criminal investigations conducted by the S.E.C., the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Federal Reserve Bank; in matters before state courts, federal courts, and arbitration panels; and in appeals before the Third Circuit, the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. From 2000-2003, Professor Colombo also served on the Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Professor of Law, University of Cincinnatti College of Law
Anne Marie Lofaso is a Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she teaches labor law, employment law, employment discrimination law, and constitutional law. Before arriving at U.C., she was the Arthur B. Hodges Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law, where she taught for over 18 years. Professor Lofaso is a labor law expert. She has authored over seventy law review articles, primarily on labor and employment law, as well as over a dozen scholarly blogs, primarily in the area of human rights, with a focus on socio-economic rights. She has co-authored two casebooks, Modern Labor Law in the Public and Private Sectors and Public Sector Employment, in addition to one textbook, Mastering Labor Law (2d ed. Forthcoming 2025).
She is the author and editor of two labor law treaties, NLRA: Law and Practice and Drafting the Union Contract, and the editor of several other books, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act After 50 Years: Proceedings of the New York University 67th Annual Conference on Labor.
Professor Lofaso is an active public intellectual who has presented nearly two hundred lectures throughout the world and the United States, has testified before Congress on labor law issues, and has appeared in numerous news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, PBS, Bloomberg Radio, the Daily Labor Report, and Law360 to discuss labor law and constitutional law topics. She has also lectured throughout West Virginia on issues related to professionalism and ethics in the practice of law. Professor Lofaso is a former Special Government Employee who served as Vice President of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission for the City of Morgantown.
She is a member of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and affiliated with the Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog. Professor Lofaso earned her A.B. from Harvard University, magna cum laude, J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and D.Phil. from Oxford University, where she wrote her doctoral dissertation comparing the law and underlying jurisprudence of mass economic dismissals in the U.S., Great Britain, and the European Union.
Former Deputy Secretary of Labor; Mayor, Pinehurst, NC
Patrick Pizzella’s professional career includes 28 years in the Federal government and 13 years in the non-profit and private sector. In 2021 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Leadership Institute.
In November 2021 Pizzella was elected to the Pinehurst Village Council in North Carolina. In November 2023 Pizzella was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Pinehurst.
Pizzella recently served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in Washington, DC from 2018—2021. President Donald J. Trump nominated him to serve as Deputy Secretary and the U.S. Senate confirmed Pizzella on April 12, 2018. Pizzella served as Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor from July 20, 2019, until September 27, 2019. DOL's mission is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. DOL administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws and thousands of federal regulations. These mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for over 10 million employers and over 150 million workers. DOL has almost 14,000 employees and a budget of about $12 billion.
Pizzella previously served as a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) after being nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate in 2013. On January 23, 2017, President Trump designated Pizzella as Acting FLRA Chairman, a position he held until December 8, 2017.
Prior to joining the FLRA, Pizzella was Principal at Patrick Pizzella LLC. He was confirmed by the Senate and served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Administration and Management DOL from 2001 to 2009. Pizzella was designated by President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation from January 2004 to April 2005.
Previously, he worked at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP as a Government Affairs Counselor from 1998 to 2001 and Director of Coalitions from 1996 to 1997. From 1990 to 1995, Pizzella was Director of the Office of Administration at the Federal Housing Finance Board, and from 1988 to 1989, Deputy Under Secretary for Management at the U.S. Department of Education.
He has previously held positions at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the U.S. General Services Administration.
Pizzella received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of South Carolina and he is a graduate of Iona Preparatory School. He is a native of New Rochelle, New York.
Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Foundation
Aaron Solem is a staff attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, where he represents both private and public sector employees in state and federal courts, as well as before administrative agencies.
Aaron was co-counsel in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), a major Supreme Court case establishing that it violates the First Amendment to force public sector employees to pay compulsory fees. Additionally, Aaron’s track record in federal court includes being co-counsel in Stewart v. NLRB, 851 F.3d 21 (D.C. Cir. 2017); Tamosiunas v. NLRB, 892 F.3d 422 (D.C. Cir. 2018); and UNAP v. NLRB, 975 F.3d 34 (1st Cir. 2020). He was also lead counsel in Sands v. NLRB, 825 F.3d 778 (D.C. Cir. 2016), where he successfully vacated an unfavorable NLRB decision.
Aaron is also experienced in representing employees before the National Labor Relations Board. Aaron won a major victory in NABET, Local 51, 371 NLRB No. 15 (2021), establishing the unlawfulness of threatening evidence preservation letters under the National Labor Relations Act. He also frequently represents and advises decertification petitioners, including the decertification petitioners in Americold Logistics, 362 NLRB 493 (2015); Pinnacle Foods Grp., 368 NLRB No. 97 (2019); and Geodis Logistics, 371 NLRB No. 102 (2022).
Aaron earned his law degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame Law School and currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
The Honorable Whitney Hermandorfer is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was nominated to the court by President Donald Trump (R) on May 12, 2025, and confirmed by the United States Senate on July 14, 2025.
Prior to her appointment, she worked in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General as Director of the Strategic Litigation Unit. In that role, Whitney focused on leading constitutional, statutory, and administrative-law challenges to federal agency action, as well as on defending the State in complex matters at the trial and appellate level.
Whitney previously worked at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC, where she focused on appellate and administrative-law litigation. Whitney clerked for Justice Samuel Alito in the OT 2018 Supreme Court term and for Justice Amy Coney Barrett during her inaugural OT 2020 term. Prior to that, Whitney clerked for then-Judge Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard Leon on the U.S. District Court for D.C. Whitney is a graduate of Princeton University and George Washington University Law School.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
AI Innovation and Law Fellow, University of Texas School of Law
Kevin Frazier is an AI Innovation and Law Fellow with University of Texas School of Law.
Senior Fellow, Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice
Samuel Levine served as Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he oversaw enforcement, rulemaking, and policy work across a wide range of areas, including privacy, data security, marketing, financial services, digital advertising, consumer reporting, algorithmic decision-making, and small business financing. Before his appointment as Director, he served as an attorney advisor to Commissioner Rohit Chopra and as a staff attorney in the Midwest Regional Office. Prior to joining the FTC, Mr. Levine worked for the Illinois Attorney General, where he prosecuted predatory for-profit colleges and participated in rulemaking and other policy initiatives to promote affordability and accountability in higher education.
Mr. Levine is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he spearheaded student-led efforts to challenge illegal foreclosures, and of Washington University in St. Louis. He clerked with The Honorable Milton I. Shadur in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and received the Gary Bellow Public Service Award in recognition of his commitment to social justice.
Book Signing
An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions
Washington, DCDebate - Resolved: Americans should support the Administration's immigration enforcement actions at schools, colleges, and universities
Washington, DCLuncheon Address
Washington, DCReimagining Law School Accreditation: Possibility or Pitfall?
Washington, DCArmchair Conversation
Washington, DCWelcome and Introductions
Washington, DCFree Exercise as Establishment
Long Island Lawyer Chapter
Mineola, NYSpaceX v. NLRB: A New Chapter for Labor Law?
Dinner and Keynote Address
2025 Tennessee Chapters Conference
Nashville, TNLaw For Little Tech: Part 2 - Examining the Little Tech Agenda's Approach to Regulations
Kevin Frazier, Samuel Levine
Over the past 25 years, the rapid growth of Big Tech has raised questions about...