Counsel, First Liberty Institute
In February 2022, Ryan Gardner joined the First Liberty Institute as Counsel after spending over four years at large Dallas law firm handling complex commercial disputes at both before both trial and appellate courts. Before his time in private practice, Ryan worked in Washington D.C. as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ryan graduated as Valedictorian from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where he served as the Lead Articles Editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the President of the Pepperdine chapter of the Federalist Society. While in law school, Ryan also externed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta and worked in Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Clinic. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Harding University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Ryan is a member of the Texas State Bar and is admitted to practice in various federal district and appellate courts.
WFFC Distinguished Chair, Spring Arbor University; Counselor of the Ministry & President Emeritus, Salt & Light Global; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Following distinguished service as a federal judge and tenured university professor, William Wagner dedicated his life to full-time ministry. Now holding the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus, he is the Founder and President Emeritus of Salt & Light Global. He currently holds the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University.
Seasoning the public dialog with Truth, Wagner fights to protect free expression, religious conscience, and good governance under the rule of law. A frequent speaker at world conferences, his writing is published in a number of articles, books, and other publications, including an Amazon national best seller (#1in its category). As lead amicus counsel in many matters before the United States Supreme Court, he authored briefs on behalf of various organizations. He also authored written testimony, evidence, and briefs in such forums as the Swedish Supreme Court, the U.S. Congress, and the U.K. Parliament. He has further addressed many executive, legislative, parliamentary, and judicial audiences throughout the world, and presented at various diplomatic forums including the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
As a Federal Judge, Wagner adjudicated cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Prior to his appointment on the federal bench, he served as the chief American diplomat for the Department of Justice at an American Embassy in Africa. There he led a diplomatic mission charged with strengthening good governance and the rule of law.
During his career in public service, he provided international assistance to the justice sector institutions of numerous countries on five continents. Professor Wagner also served as Senior Assistant United States Attorney, litigating hundreds of federal cases and serving as chief of appellate litigation for the Office of the United States Attorney. Professor Wagner served as legal counsel in the United States Senate and as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Michigan legislature. Most recently he served as Senior Advisor for Global Criminal Justice at the Department of State.
Counsel, First Liberty Institute
In February 2022, Ryan Gardner joined the First Liberty Institute as Counsel after spending over four years at large Dallas law firm handling complex commercial disputes at both before both trial and appellate courts. Before his time in private practice, Ryan worked in Washington D.C. as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ryan graduated as Valedictorian from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where he served as the Lead Articles Editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the President of the Pepperdine chapter of the Federalist Society. While in law school, Ryan also externed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta and worked in Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Clinic. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Harding University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Ryan is a member of the Texas State Bar and is admitted to practice in various federal district and appellate courts.
WFFC Distinguished Chair, Spring Arbor University; Counselor of the Ministry & President Emeritus, Salt & Light Global; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Following distinguished service as a federal judge and tenured university professor, William Wagner dedicated his life to full-time ministry. Now holding the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus, he is the Founder and President Emeritus of Salt & Light Global. He currently holds the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University.
Seasoning the public dialog with Truth, Wagner fights to protect free expression, religious conscience, and good governance under the rule of law. A frequent speaker at world conferences, his writing is published in a number of articles, books, and other publications, including an Amazon national best seller (#1in its category). As lead amicus counsel in many matters before the United States Supreme Court, he authored briefs on behalf of various organizations. He also authored written testimony, evidence, and briefs in such forums as the Swedish Supreme Court, the U.S. Congress, and the U.K. Parliament. He has further addressed many executive, legislative, parliamentary, and judicial audiences throughout the world, and presented at various diplomatic forums including the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
As a Federal Judge, Wagner adjudicated cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Prior to his appointment on the federal bench, he served as the chief American diplomat for the Department of Justice at an American Embassy in Africa. There he led a diplomatic mission charged with strengthening good governance and the rule of law.
During his career in public service, he provided international assistance to the justice sector institutions of numerous countries on five continents. Professor Wagner also served as Senior Assistant United States Attorney, litigating hundreds of federal cases and serving as chief of appellate litigation for the Office of the United States Attorney. Professor Wagner served as legal counsel in the United States Senate and as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Michigan legislature. Most recently he served as Senior Advisor for Global Criminal Justice at the Department of State.
Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Senior Counsel Hannah Smith joined Becket in 2007 following two clerkships at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Ms. Smith was a member of the Becket legal team that secured victories in key U.S. Supreme Court religious liberty cases, including Holt v. Hobbs, 574 U.S. ___ (Jan. 20, 2015), where a unanimous Court held in an opinion authored by Justice Alito that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act requires prison officials to accommodate peaceful expressions of religious devotion; Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 134 S. Ct. 2751 (June 30, 2014), where the Court held in a 5-4 opinion authored by Justice Alito that family-owned businesses enjoy religious liberty rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and that the HHS mandate violated the Act; and Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 132 S. Ct. 694 (2012), where a unanimous Court held in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts that the “ministerial exception” under the First Amendment protects a church’s right to choose its own ministers.
Ms. Smith contributed to Becket's Supreme Court filings in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell (2015); Houston Baptist University v. Burwell (2015); Stormans v. Wiesman (2015); Michigan Catholic Conference v. Burwell (2015); Obergefell v. Hodges (2015); University of Notre Dame v. Burwell (2014); Wheaton College v. Burwell, 134 S. Ct. 2806 (2014); Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius, 134 S. Ct. 1022 (2014); Bronx Household of Faith v. New York City Board of Education (2014), Elmbrook School District v. Doe (2014), Big Sky Colony v. Montana Department of Labor and Industry (2013), Sossamon v. Texas (2011), Arizona Christian School Tuition Association v. Winn (2011), Bronx Household of Faith v. New York City Board of Education (2011), Utah Highway Patrol Association v. American Atheists (2011), Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010), and Salazar v. Buono (2010).
Ms. Smith has been featured on CNN, Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, The Sean Hannity Show, C-Span, EWTN, Al Jazeera America, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News and World Report, the Associated Press, National Review Online, Bloomberg News, NPR, BBC, the Laura Ingraham Show, the Rush Limbaugh Show, the Hugh Hewitt Show, BYU Radio, and many other publications and radio shows. She has been invited to speak on religious liberty at Harvard Law School, Princeton University, Stanford Law School, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Southern Methodist University Law School, Brigham Young University Law School, American University Washington College of the Law, and Central European University. And she has given briefings on religious liberty issues at the U.S. Capitol, the State Department, the Heritage Foundation, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, the American Bar Association, and the National Constitution Center.
Ms. Smith received her B.A. from Princeton University, concentrating in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She graduated with honors from Brigham Young University Law School and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as Executive Editor of the BYU Law Review, as a research assistant for the BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies, and as president of the BYU Federalist Society. BYU awarded her its Alumni Achievement Award for her work in the defense of religious freedom. Ms. Smith also received the J. Reuben Clark Law Society's Women-in-Law Leadership Award for her national leadership in defending religious liberty and advancing the contributions of Mormon women to the law.
Following law school and in between clerkships, she was an associate in private practice at Williams & Connolly and Sidley Austin in Washington D.C., representing clients before state and federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court in civil, criminal, and constitutional cases. Her private practice religious liberty work included the U.S. Supreme Court petition for certiorari in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints v. First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City (2003), as well as matters on behalf of Brigham Young University, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington D.C.
Ms. Smith served as a full-time volunteer missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Switzerland. She currently serves as a member of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society International Board and as a member of the Deseret News Editorial Advisory Board. She writes on religious liberty issues in the Deseret News. Hannah and her husband John are happily married with 4 wonderful children.
Counsel, First Liberty Institute
In February 2022, Ryan Gardner joined the First Liberty Institute as Counsel after spending over four years at large Dallas law firm handling complex commercial disputes at both before both trial and appellate courts. Before his time in private practice, Ryan worked in Washington D.C. as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Ryan graduated as Valedictorian from the Pepperdine University School of Law, where he served as the Lead Articles Editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the President of the Pepperdine chapter of the Federalist Society. While in law school, Ryan also externed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta and worked in Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Clinic. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Harding University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Ryan is a member of the Texas State Bar and is admitted to practice in various federal district and appellate courts.
WFFC Distinguished Chair, Spring Arbor University; Counselor of the Ministry & President Emeritus, Salt & Light Global; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Following distinguished service as a federal judge and tenured university professor, William Wagner dedicated his life to full-time ministry. Now holding the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus, he is the Founder and President Emeritus of Salt & Light Global. He currently holds the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University.
Seasoning the public dialog with Truth, Wagner fights to protect free expression, religious conscience, and good governance under the rule of law. A frequent speaker at world conferences, his writing is published in a number of articles, books, and other publications, including an Amazon national best seller (#1in its category). As lead amicus counsel in many matters before the United States Supreme Court, he authored briefs on behalf of various organizations. He also authored written testimony, evidence, and briefs in such forums as the Swedish Supreme Court, the U.S. Congress, and the U.K. Parliament. He has further addressed many executive, legislative, parliamentary, and judicial audiences throughout the world, and presented at various diplomatic forums including the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
As a Federal Judge, Wagner adjudicated cases arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Prior to his appointment on the federal bench, he served as the chief American diplomat for the Department of Justice at an American Embassy in Africa. There he led a diplomatic mission charged with strengthening good governance and the rule of law.
During his career in public service, he provided international assistance to the justice sector institutions of numerous countries on five continents. Professor Wagner also served as Senior Assistant United States Attorney, litigating hundreds of federal cases and serving as chief of appellate litigation for the Office of the United States Attorney. Professor Wagner served as legal counsel in the United States Senate and as chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee of the Michigan legislature. Most recently he served as Senior Advisor for Global Criminal Justice at the Department of State.
Litigation Update: Bethesda University v. Cho
Ryan Gardner, William Robert Wagner
Bethesda University, a private Christian university founded around Pentecostal theology, faced an internal leadership dispute,...
Litigation Update: Bethesda University v. Cho
Ryan Gardner, William Robert Wagner
Bethesda University, a private Christian university founded around Pentecostal theology, faced an internal leadership dispute,...
Litigation Update: Bethesda University v. Cho
When a Pastor’s House Is a Church Home: Why the Parsonage Allowance Is Desirable Under the Establishment Clause
Daniel Benson, Hannah C. Smith
Note from the Editor: This article discusses the parsonage allowance, whereby the value of a...
Update: Overview of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Brought to you by the Religious Liberties Practice GroupThe Federalist Society takes no position on particular...
An Overview of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Brought to you by the Religious Liberties Practice GroupPresident Barack Obama announced President Bush’s White House...