James C. Dever III serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Dever (then age 39) in May 2002, and the United States Senate unanimously confirmed him. Before serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Dever served as a United States Magistrate Judge for fifteen months. He served as Chief Judge from October 2011 through October 2018.
Judge Dever received his B.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. He attended Notre Dame on a four-year ROTC scholarship. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate, was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and received the Raymond P. Kent Award (which is awarded to the graduating senior with the highest average in finance/economics classes). He received his J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law in 1987. At Duke, he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received numerous academic awards.
After graduating from law school, he served for one year as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Judge Dever was the sole attorney entering active duty in the Air Force selected to serve in the Air Force General Counsel’s Honors Program at the Pentagon. While on active duty, he provided legal advice to and conducted litigation for the Secretary of the Air Force. He served on active duty in the Air Force at the Pentagon from October 1988 until September 1992. At the conclusion of his service, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
Judge Dever then returned to North Carolina and joined Maupin Taylor & Ellis, P.A. in Raleigh. While in private practice, he engaged in a wide variety of complex civil litigation and served on the law firm’s management committee. He was repeatedly listed in the Best Lawyers in America and in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite for Employment Law. Since 1997, Judge Dever has taught employment law and criminal procedure as an adjunct law professor at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Since 2008, Judge Dever has co-taught a seminar on sentencing and punishment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. Since 2009, he has taught criminal procedure as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where Judge Dever served until 2021. Judge Dever also serves as a member of Duke Law School's Board of Visitors.
Judge Dever’s chambers are in Raleigh, North Carolina.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
On April 4, 2019, Judge Altman was confirmed to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. At 36, he became the youngest federal district court judge in the country—and the youngest federal judge ever appointed in the Southern District of Florida.
Judge Altman received a BA from Columbia University, where he played quarterback on the football team and pitched for the baseball team—earning All-Ivy honors. Judge Altman received his JD from the Yale Law School, where he was projects editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, the Judge clerked on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Stanley Marcus.
Judge Altman then became a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, where he twice received the Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys’ Award for Superior Performance by a federal prosecutor. In 2013, Judge Altman was named “Federal Prosecutor of the Year” by the Miami-Dade Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Officers’ Charitable Foundation.
In 2014, Judge Altman became a partner at the Miami law firm of Podhurst Orseck, where he represented the victims of airplane crashes and bank fraud conspiracies.
James C. Dever III serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Dever (then age 39) in May 2002, and the United States Senate unanimously confirmed him. Before serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Dever served as a United States Magistrate Judge for fifteen months. He served as Chief Judge from October 2011 through October 2018.
Judge Dever received his B.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. He attended Notre Dame on a four-year ROTC scholarship. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate, was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and received the Raymond P. Kent Award (which is awarded to the graduating senior with the highest average in finance/economics classes). He received his J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law in 1987. At Duke, he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received numerous academic awards.
After graduating from law school, he served for one year as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Judge Dever was the sole attorney entering active duty in the Air Force selected to serve in the Air Force General Counsel’s Honors Program at the Pentagon. While on active duty, he provided legal advice to and conducted litigation for the Secretary of the Air Force. He served on active duty in the Air Force at the Pentagon from October 1988 until September 1992. At the conclusion of his service, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
Judge Dever then returned to North Carolina and joined Maupin Taylor & Ellis, P.A. in Raleigh. While in private practice, he engaged in a wide variety of complex civil litigation and served on the law firm’s management committee. He was repeatedly listed in the Best Lawyers in America and in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite for Employment Law. Since 1997, Judge Dever has taught employment law and criminal procedure as an adjunct law professor at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Since 2008, Judge Dever has co-taught a seminar on sentencing and punishment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. Since 2009, he has taught criminal procedure as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where Judge Dever served until 2021. Judge Dever also serves as a member of Duke Law School's Board of Visitors.
Judge Dever’s chambers are in Raleigh, North Carolina.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence, Independence Institute
Professor Robert G. Natelson is a constitutional scholar and author.
Rob’s constitutional scholarship has been cited repeatedly by justices and parties at the U.S. Supreme Court—as well as by federal appeals courts, and at least 18 state supreme courts.
Rob’s research into the Constitution’s original meaning has carried him to libraries throughout the United States and in Britain, including four months at Oxford University. His books and articles span many different parts of the Constitution, including groundbreaking studies of the Necessary and Proper Clause, the Indian Commerce Clause, federalism, Founding-Era interpretation, regulation of elections, and the amendment process of Article V. He created the first-ever online bibliography for 18th century materials used in constitutional research. He is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (on Magna Carta). He contributed eight essays to the third edition of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution: five on the amendment procedure and one each on the Guarantee Clause, the Postal Clause, and the Recess Appointments Clause.
U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied explicitly on Rob’s research in 41 citations in 13 separate cases.
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Robert G. Natelson
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