Deputy Commissioner, Nassau County Department of Social Services and Human Services
Partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak PLLC
Abhishek (Abhi) Kambli is a partner at Holtzman Vogel who represents clients in high-stakes appellate and complex litigation, constitutional challenges, and matters involving state attorneys general and federal agencies. He is one of a handful of lawyers nationally who has both led federal litigation from inside the Department of Justice and multi-state coalition work from a State Attorney General’s office—giving clients a 360-degree perspective on government enforcement, regulatory challenges, and constitutional advocacy.
Prior to joining Holtzman Vogel, Abhi served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, where he acted as lead counsel in high-priority matters for the Trump Administration, oversaw the Department’s civil components on behalf of the Associate Attorney General, advised the White House Counsel’s Office and federal agencies on litigation risk and strategy, and developed the Department’s national affirmative civil litigation strategy.
Earlier, he served as Deputy Attorney General and Division Chief of the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division at the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, where he launched the division and led multi-state coalitions in trial and appellate courts nationwide, including the United States Supreme Court. He began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, prosecuting more than 100 federal cases from investigation through appeal.
Abhi is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps, having served on active duty and in the reserves since 2013. His military service includes criminal trials as both prosecutor and defense attorney, appellate representation before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and representation of a high-profile detainee before the Military Commissions at Guantánamo Bay.
Attorney and Legal Commentator
John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator. His focus areas include constitutional law, securities & corporate law, antitrust law, administrative law, politics, and international affairs. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on a wide variety of issues.
Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
Mr. Shu is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.
Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime. Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas
Lee Philip Rudofsky is a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Prior to his 2019 appointment by President Trump, Judge Rudofsky served as the Solicitor General of Arkansas, an Assistant General Counsel at Walmart, a Senior Litigation Associate at Kirkland & Ellis, and counsel to several Republican political campaigns. Today, in addition to his judicial service, Judge Rudofsky teaches law school classes on founding-era constitutional history and, separately, speaks to students across the country about the October 7th Massacre and the subsequent Israeli response. In 2024, Judge Rudofsky helped establish an annual judicial education mission to Israel that offers American judges the opportunity to learn first-hand about the Israeli legal system, Israeli society, and legal issues related to the Israel-Hamas war.
Welpton & Wise Professor of Law, University of Nebraska College of Law
Professor Rick Duncan is the Welpton & Wise Professor of Law at the University Of Nebraska College Of Law. He is a graduate of the Cornell Law School and served as an editor of the Cornell Law Review. He teaches Constitutional Law with a special emphasis on the law of religious freedom, free speech, and federalism. Duncan has written numerous books, articles, and commentaries on a wide variety of legal topics. His recent publications include an article on Justice Scalia’s legacy, another on Kermit Gosnell and Roe v. Wade, a piece on the Electoral College and Federalism, a 2019 piece on Masterpiece Cakeshop and the First Amendment, and three recent articles on the “no compelled speech” doctrine as a First Amendment defense against authoritarianism and tyranny. His most recent article, on School Choice and the First Amendment, will be published in 2023 in Case Western Law Review. He is also the co-author of a book on Secured Transactions under Article 9 of the UCC. He served as Chairman of the Nebraska Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during the Reagan Administration. He also loves to speak at Federalist Society meetings around the country on life, liberty, and the pursuit of federalism.
Duncan has five children, five grandchildren, and a wonderful wife who help him pursue happiness. He loves lifting weights (particularly going heavy on the incline bench press), attending Broadway musicals and plays, including Hamilton: An American Musical which he has seen 12 times (possibly a Nebraska record). He regularly reads both the Bible and the New York Times because it is important to keep up with what both sides have to say. He loves following major league baseball, especially the San Diego Padres. And his favorite legal aphorism is “first come rights then comes government to secure those rights.”
Associate Professor, Regent University School of Law
Professor Jeremy M. Christiansen is an Associate Professor of Law at Regent
University School of Law, where he teaches federal courts, civil procedure, natural law
jurisprudence, and intellectual property. His scholarship has been published or is
forthcoming in the Catholic University Law Review, the Notre Dame Journal of Law,
Ethics & Public Policy, the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Hawai’i Law
Review, and the George Washington University Law Review. He is a co-managing
editor of The New Digest, the preeminent legal blog and publication dedicated to the
revival of the classical legal tradition.
Prior to joining the faculty at Regent, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he practiced in the firm’s appellate and
constitutional law, administrative law, trial litigation, and intellectual property practice
groups. He represented a wide variety of clients in high profile litigation matters in both
trials and appeals at the state and federal levels, including before the United States
Supreme Court.
He is a graduate of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, having
later clerked for the Hon. Thomas R. Lee of the Utah Supreme Court and the Hon. Jay
S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He lives in Virginia Beach,
Virginia with his wife and eight children.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.
Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime. Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Attorney, Hicks Thomas LLP
Associate Justice, New Hampshire Supreme Court
Bryan K. Gould is the 112th Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Justice Gould was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on September 18, 2025 after confirmation by the Executive Council. Justice Gould was nominated to the bench by Governor Kelly Ayotte. Prior to his appointment, Justice Gould practiced law in New Hampshire for more than 35 years, primarily in the field of civil litigation. He represented a diverse array of clients before state and federal courts and state administrative tribunals. Justice Gould’s law practice included commercial litigation, appellate litigation, state and federal constitutional law, municipal law, land-use law, election law, and environmental law. He also represented clients before the New Hampshire legislature with respect to legislation affecting their interests. Justice Gould previously served as special counsel both to New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson and to the New Hampshire Executive Council. Justice Gould received his Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University in 1980 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Utah College of Law in 1984.
Senior Research Fellow, Pembroke College, University of Oxford; Director, the Quill Project
Dr. Nicholas Cole (MA MPhil DPhil Oxf) studies the political thought of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and is working on a digitial project that looks at the way constitutions and treaties have been negotiated over the last two hundred years.
Justice, Florida Supreme Court
John D. Couriel is the 90th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Justice Couriel was born in Miami, Florida in 1978. He is married to Rebecca L. Toonkel, M.D. They have two children.
Justice Couriel received his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2000 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2003. He clerked for the Honorable John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before joining Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. His practice there included securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy matters, and investigations. In 2009, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He prosecuted hundreds of federal offenses, including international money laundering, public integrity, healthcare fraud, and human trafficking crimes. In 2013, he joined Kobre & Kim LLP, where he specialized in cross-border disputes and investigations relating to financial products and services, asset recovery, and government enforcement defense, with an emphasis on clients in Latin America.
Justice Couriel is a native speaker of Spanish. His parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1960s, his father as one of approximately 14,000 unaccompanied minors welcomed to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan.
He was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 1, 2020.
Attorney General, Alaska
Stephen J. Cox serves as the 28th Attorney General of the State of Alaska, where he oversees the state’s legal affairs and serves as the chief prosecutor with oversight of all district attorneys, general counsel to the Governor and executive branch, and represents the State in all civil and criminal cases in federal and state court. He brings to the role a proven record of public service at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice, combined with deep experience in Alaska’s private sector and community life.
Before his appointment, he was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer of Bristol Bay Industrial—an investment platform of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation—acting as the chief legal officer for the industrial services portfolio on behalf of the Alaska Native shareholders in the Bristol Bay region. In that role, he led legal, compliance, and strategic planning for major energy, infrastructure, and utility projects across the State and in the Lower 48.
Earlier in his career, beginning in 2011, Cox served as in-house counsel for Apache Corporation, where he was the principal attorney for Apache Alaska and focused on new ventures and exploratory work in Cook Inlet, including seismic initiatives and ongoing regulatory coordination with state agencies.
Cox is deeply rooted in Anchorage’s community and faith life. He and his family attend Holy Family Old Cathedral in downtown Anchorage and support Mission Alaska, the Dominican friars’ outreach ministry under the Western Dominican Province. He was the founding board president and chairman of a new classical school in South Anchorage.
On the national stage, Cox held senior leadership roles in the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump Administration. As Deputy Associate Attorney General, he co-chaired the DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and the Working Group on Corporate Enforcement and Accountability, and helped implement landmark policies aimed at curbing regulatory overreach and aligning enforcement with fairness and oversight. Later, as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, he oversaw prosecutions and civil litigation spanning 43 counties, prioritizing healthcare fraud, elder fraud, and violent crime while ensuring enforcement remained transparent and fair.
Earlier in his career, Cox practiced complex litigation at a major international law firm, served as counselor to the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and helped lead the William H. Webster Commission, which reviewed FBI counterterrorism intelligence and operations following the Fort Hood tragedy.
He began his legal career with a clerkship for Judge J. L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Cox earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center. He and his wife, Cristina, are raising their three children in Anchorage, and have made Alaska their home.
Paul J. Schierl Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Professor Richard W. Garnett teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion. He is a leading authority on questions and debates regarding religious freedom and church-state relations, and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society.
Garnett clerked for the late Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, and also for the late Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Richard S. Arnold. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1995 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Duke University in 1990. He joined the faculty in 1999 after practicing law in Washington, D.C. with Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin.
Editor-in-Chief, The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy
Sean Pigeon is a third-year law student from Texas, who graduated with honors from Yale in 2021. Before law school, he worked for the Manhattan Institute and National Review. He spent his last two summers at Vartabedian, Hester & Haynes, where he will return after clerking for the Texas Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
J.D. Candidate, Notre Dame Law School
Savannah Shoffner is a third-year law student at Notre Dame Law School. She graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2023 with majors in Mathematics and History. During law school, she served as a Managing Senior Editor on the Notre Dame Law Review, as an oralist on the Constitutional Law Moot Court team, and as a student fellow in the school’s Religious Liberty Clinic. Savannah interned with the Alliance Defending Freedom during her 1L summer and spent her 2L summer at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C. Following graduation, she will clerk for Judge Patrick Bumatay on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Senior Research Fellow, Pembroke College, University of Oxford; Director, the Quill Project
Dr. Nicholas Cole (MA MPhil DPhil Oxf) studies the political thought of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and is working on a digitial project that looks at the way constitutions and treaties have been negotiated over the last two hundred years.
Justice, Florida Supreme Court
John D. Couriel is the 90th Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Justice Couriel was born in Miami, Florida in 1978. He is married to Rebecca L. Toonkel, M.D. They have two children.
Justice Couriel received his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2000 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2003. He clerked for the Honorable John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before joining Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. His practice there included securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy matters, and investigations. In 2009, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He prosecuted hundreds of federal offenses, including international money laundering, public integrity, healthcare fraud, and human trafficking crimes. In 2013, he joined Kobre & Kim LLP, where he specialized in cross-border disputes and investigations relating to financial products and services, asset recovery, and government enforcement defense, with an emphasis on clients in Latin America.
Justice Couriel is a native speaker of Spanish. His parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1960s, his father as one of approximately 14,000 unaccompanied minors welcomed to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan.
He was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 1, 2020.
Attorney General, Alaska
Stephen J. Cox serves as the 28th Attorney General of the State of Alaska, where he oversees the state’s legal affairs and serves as the chief prosecutor with oversight of all district attorneys, general counsel to the Governor and executive branch, and represents the State in all civil and criminal cases in federal and state court. He brings to the role a proven record of public service at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice, combined with deep experience in Alaska’s private sector and community life.
Before his appointment, he was Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Strategy Officer of Bristol Bay Industrial—an investment platform of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation—acting as the chief legal officer for the industrial services portfolio on behalf of the Alaska Native shareholders in the Bristol Bay region. In that role, he led legal, compliance, and strategic planning for major energy, infrastructure, and utility projects across the State and in the Lower 48.
Earlier in his career, beginning in 2011, Cox served as in-house counsel for Apache Corporation, where he was the principal attorney for Apache Alaska and focused on new ventures and exploratory work in Cook Inlet, including seismic initiatives and ongoing regulatory coordination with state agencies.
Cox is deeply rooted in Anchorage’s community and faith life. He and his family attend Holy Family Old Cathedral in downtown Anchorage and support Mission Alaska, the Dominican friars’ outreach ministry under the Western Dominican Province. He was the founding board president and chairman of a new classical school in South Anchorage.
On the national stage, Cox held senior leadership roles in the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump Administration. As Deputy Associate Attorney General, he co-chaired the DOJ’s Regulatory Reform Task Force and the Working Group on Corporate Enforcement and Accountability, and helped implement landmark policies aimed at curbing regulatory overreach and aligning enforcement with fairness and oversight. Later, as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, he oversaw prosecutions and civil litigation spanning 43 counties, prioritizing healthcare fraud, elder fraud, and violent crime while ensuring enforcement remained transparent and fair.
Earlier in his career, Cox practiced complex litigation at a major international law firm, served as counselor to the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and helped lead the William H. Webster Commission, which reviewed FBI counterterrorism intelligence and operations following the Fort Hood tragedy.
He began his legal career with a clerkship for Judge J. L. Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Cox earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Houston Law Center. He and his wife, Cristina, are raising their three children in Anchorage, and have made Alaska their home.
Paul J. Schierl Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Professor Richard W. Garnett teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, criminal law, the First Amendment, and law and religion. He is a leading authority on questions and debates regarding religious freedom and church-state relations, and is the founding director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State, and Society.
Garnett clerked for the late Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, and also for the late Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Richard S. Arnold. He earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1995 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Duke University in 1990. He joined the faculty in 1999 after practicing law in Washington, D.C. with Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin.
Editor-in-Chief, The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy
Sean Pigeon is a third-year law student from Texas, who graduated with honors from Yale in 2021. Before law school, he worked for the Manhattan Institute and National Review. He spent his last two summers at Vartabedian, Hester & Haynes, where he will return after clerking for the Texas Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
J.D. Candidate, Notre Dame Law School
Savannah Shoffner is a third-year law student at Notre Dame Law School. She graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2023 with majors in Mathematics and History. During law school, she served as a Managing Senior Editor on the Notre Dame Law Review, as an oralist on the Constitutional Law Moot Court team, and as a student fellow in the school’s Religious Liberty Clinic. Savannah interned with the Alliance Defending Freedom during her 1L summer and spent her 2L summer at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C. Following graduation, she will clerk for Judge Patrick Bumatay on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Justice Antonin Scalia - The Guardian of the Original Meaning of the Constitution
Long Island Lawyer Chapter
Mineola, NYFireside Chat on the BigLaw EOs with Abhishek Kambli and John Shu
Orange County Lawyer Chapter
Irvine, CAMay 26 Lunch with Judge Bumatay
Orange County Lawyer Chapter
Irvine, CACurrent Issues in Judicial Interpretation and the Law: A Q & A with Judge Lee Rudofsky
North Dakota Lawyer Chapter
Bismarck, NDHow the Gorsuch-Kavanaugh-Barrett Court is Making Constitutional Law Great Again
Idaho Lawyer Chapter
Boise, IDOriginalism and State Constitutions
Nicholas Cole, John D. Couriel, Stephen Cox, Richard W. Garnett, Sean-Michael Pigeon, Savannah Shoffner
Originalism has quickly become the leading approach to interpreting the U.S. Constitution, drawing from the...
Originalism and State Constitutions
Nicholas Cole, John D. Couriel, Stephen Cox, Richard W. Garnett, Sean-Michael Pigeon, Savannah Shoffner
Originalism has quickly become the leading approach to interpreting the U.S. Constitution, drawing from the...
What Does Ulpian Have to do with Nebraska?: The Classical Legal Tradition, Originalism, and the American Legal System
Nebraska Lawyer Chapter
Lincoln, NEAmerica 250- The Judicial Branch: A Look at Originalism 250 Years After the Declaration of Independence
San Diego Lawyer Chapter
San Diego, CAA Fireside Chat about Originalism with New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Bryan Gould
New Hampshire Lawyer Chapter
Concord, NH