Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
Gabriel Collins is the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs at Rice University's Baker Institute. He was previously an associate attorney at Baker Hostetler, LLP, and is the co-founder of the China SignPost™ (洞察中国) analysis portal. Collins has worked in the Department of Defense as a China analyst and as a private sector global commodity researcher, authoring more than 100 commodity analysis reports, both for private clients and for publication.
Collins’ research portfolio is global. His work currently focuses on legal, environmental and economic issues relating to water — including the food-water-energy nexus — as well as unconventional oil and gas development, and the intersection between global commodity markets and a range of environmental, legal and national security issues. His analysis draws from a broad swath of geospatial and other data streams, and often incorporates insights from sources in Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
Collins received his B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He is licensed to practice law in Texas.
Managing Director, SCF Partners
Daniel G. West invests in energy services, equipment, and technology companies at SCF Partners in Houston, Texas. He provides equity capital and strategic growth assistance to entrepreneurs and leaders of both start-up ventures and established, growing businesses.
Prior to joining the private sector, Mr. West served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. As a platoon commander with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Mesa Verde, he led the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel force in support of the NATO aerial campaign over Libya. He then served as executive officer of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines as it mentored Afghan forces to assume lead security responsibility and executed counter-narcotics missions in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He also served as a clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Mr. West holds degrees in law, business administration, and economics from Harvard University, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught undergraduate courses in economics and government. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the International & National Security Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
Gabriel Collins is the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs at Rice University's Baker Institute. He was previously an associate attorney at Baker Hostetler, LLP, and is the co-founder of the China SignPost™ (洞察中国) analysis portal. Collins has worked in the Department of Defense as a China analyst and as a private sector global commodity researcher, authoring more than 100 commodity analysis reports, both for private clients and for publication.
Collins’ research portfolio is global. His work currently focuses on legal, environmental and economic issues relating to water — including the food-water-energy nexus — as well as unconventional oil and gas development, and the intersection between global commodity markets and a range of environmental, legal and national security issues. His analysis draws from a broad swath of geospatial and other data streams, and often incorporates insights from sources in Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
Collins received his B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He is licensed to practice law in Texas.
Managing Director, SCF Partners
Daniel G. West invests in energy services, equipment, and technology companies at SCF Partners in Houston, Texas. He provides equity capital and strategic growth assistance to entrepreneurs and leaders of both start-up ventures and established, growing businesses.
Prior to joining the private sector, Mr. West served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. As a platoon commander with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Mesa Verde, he led the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel force in support of the NATO aerial campaign over Libya. He then served as executive officer of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines as it mentored Afghan forces to assume lead security responsibility and executed counter-narcotics missions in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He also served as a clerk for Judge Laurence H. Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Mr. West holds degrees in law, business administration, and economics from Harvard University, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught undergraduate courses in economics and government. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the International & National Security Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Clark is a Senior Advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He has extensive experience in energy and utility policy at the federal and state level. He provides clients with analysis and strategic advice on a variety regulatory and public policy matters affecting their businesses. He specializes in working with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and at the nexus of state and federal jurisdictional issues.
Having been appointed by President Obama, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Clark served from 2012 to 2016 as a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While at the FERC, Mr. Clark worked on matters that are at the forefront of energy policy, such as: electricity reliability, electricity-natural gas industry coordination, oversight of the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations, electricity grid cyber and physical security regulations, major enforcement actions, energy infrastructure permitting, the integration of renewables and energy storage, FERC Order 1000 implementation, and wholesale electricity market reforms. From 2001 to 2012 he was a Commissioner of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, including over 5 years as its Chairman. During his tenure at the North Dakota Commission, Mr. Clark oversaw numerous proceedings related to the state’s historic emergence as a leader in American energy production. In 2010, he was selected by his regulatory peers across the nation to serve a term as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He also served a three-year term as Chairman of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee. Through his various regulatory positions, he has testified multiple times before Committees of both the US House and US Senate on matters related to energy and telecommunications.
From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clark was Labor Commissioner of the State of North Dakota and a member of the Cabinet of Gov. Ed Schafer. In 1994 he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the North Dakota legislature, representing a portion of the City of Fargo for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He is a graduate, with honor, from North Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. In addition to his work at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, Mr. Clark serves as a non-employee independent director on the Board of Directors of NorthWestern Energy Corporation. Having attained the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth, Mr. Clark has been a long-time volunteer with and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce
Kate O’Connor is the Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. O’Connor previously served as the Chief of Staff for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she worked on legislative and communications policy focused on spectrum and broadband issues. She also worked in NTIA’s Office of Congressional Affairs and engaged with Congress, state government officials, and other federal agencies to advance the Administration’s legislative initiatives on broadband and 5G.
Prior to joining NTIA, O’Connor worked in the United States Senate. She began her Senate career working in the office of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and then served as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), where she handled issues before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, including telecommunications policy.
Ms. O’Connor attended the University of Chicago, and is originally from Chicago, IL.
Founder and President, Salt Point Strategies
David Redl is the Founder and President of Salt Point Strategies, a strategic advising firm focused on the technology and telecom sectors. David is an attorney and former government executive with experience in both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government in the telecommunications, media, and technology fields.
David previously served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. During his tenure, he led U.S. efforts to ensure American leadership in 5G, to bring broadband to more rural Americans, and to promote a free, open, and secure Internet around the world.
David also represented the United States in international forums, including leading U.S. efforts before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Telecommunication Union.
In the legislative branch, David served as Chief Counsel for Communications and Technology on the majority staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. While at Energy and Commerce, he worked extensively on telecommunications, media, and technology laws, including the successful passage of laws authorizing the first-ever spectrum incentive auction, the creation of the First Responder Network Authority, and reauthorization of the satellite television laws.
Prior to his government service, David started his career as Director of Regulatory Affairs at CTIA, an international trade association of the wireless communications industry.
Mr. Redl received his B.A. in Journalism and his B.A. in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Catholic University of America with a certificate from the Institute for Communications Law Studies. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars.
John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Christopher S. Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law and a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and in the Computer & Information Science Department of School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also the Founding Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly works and has taught at over a dozen universities around the world. Professor Yoo received his A.B. from Harvard, his M.B.A. from UCLA, and his J.D. from Northwestern University. Before entering the academy, Professor Yoo clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and practiced law with the predecessor firm to Hogan Lovells under the supervision of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania, he taught for eight years at the Vanderbilt Law School. He is frequently called to testify before the U.S. Congress, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Communications Commission, foreign governments, and international organizations.
Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP
Mr. Clark is a Senior Advisor at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP. He has extensive experience in energy and utility policy at the federal and state level. He provides clients with analysis and strategic advice on a variety regulatory and public policy matters affecting their businesses. He specializes in working with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and at the nexus of state and federal jurisdictional issues.
Having been appointed by President Obama, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mr. Clark served from 2012 to 2016 as a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While at the FERC, Mr. Clark worked on matters that are at the forefront of energy policy, such as: electricity reliability, electricity-natural gas industry coordination, oversight of the nation’s Regional Transmission Organizations, electricity grid cyber and physical security regulations, major enforcement actions, energy infrastructure permitting, the integration of renewables and energy storage, FERC Order 1000 implementation, and wholesale electricity market reforms. From 2001 to 2012 he was a Commissioner of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, including over 5 years as its Chairman. During his tenure at the North Dakota Commission, Mr. Clark oversaw numerous proceedings related to the state’s historic emergence as a leader in American energy production. In 2010, he was selected by his regulatory peers across the nation to serve a term as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. He also served a three-year term as Chairman of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee. Through his various regulatory positions, he has testified multiple times before Committees of both the US House and US Senate on matters related to energy and telecommunications.
From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Clark was Labor Commissioner of the State of North Dakota and a member of the Cabinet of Gov. Ed Schafer. In 1994 he was one of the youngest people ever elected to the North Dakota legislature, representing a portion of the City of Fargo for two terms in the State House of Representatives. He is a graduate, with honor, from North Dakota State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of North Dakota. In addition to his work at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, Mr. Clark serves as a non-employee independent director on the Board of Directors of NorthWestern Energy Corporation. Having attained the rank of Eagle Scout in his youth, Mr. Clark has been a long-time volunteer with and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America.
Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce
Kate O’Connor is the Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. O’Connor previously served as the Chief of Staff for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she worked on legislative and communications policy focused on spectrum and broadband issues. She also worked in NTIA’s Office of Congressional Affairs and engaged with Congress, state government officials, and other federal agencies to advance the Administration’s legislative initiatives on broadband and 5G.
Prior to joining NTIA, O’Connor worked in the United States Senate. She began her Senate career working in the office of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and then served as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), where she handled issues before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, including telecommunications policy.
Ms. O’Connor attended the University of Chicago, and is originally from Chicago, IL.
Founder and President, Salt Point Strategies
David Redl is the Founder and President of Salt Point Strategies, a strategic advising firm focused on the technology and telecom sectors. David is an attorney and former government executive with experience in both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government in the telecommunications, media, and technology fields.
David previously served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. During his tenure, he led U.S. efforts to ensure American leadership in 5G, to bring broadband to more rural Americans, and to promote a free, open, and secure Internet around the world.
David also represented the United States in international forums, including leading U.S. efforts before the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Telecommunication Union.
In the legislative branch, David served as Chief Counsel for Communications and Technology on the majority staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. While at Energy and Commerce, he worked extensively on telecommunications, media, and technology laws, including the successful passage of laws authorizing the first-ever spectrum incentive auction, the creation of the First Responder Network Authority, and reauthorization of the satellite television laws.
Prior to his government service, David started his career as Director of Regulatory Affairs at CTIA, an international trade association of the wireless communications industry.
Mr. Redl received his B.A. in Journalism and his B.A. in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Catholic University of America with a certificate from the Institute for Communications Law Studies. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars.
John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Founding Director, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Christopher S. Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law and a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and in the Computer & Information Science Department of School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also the Founding Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly works and has taught at over a dozen universities around the world. Professor Yoo received his A.B. from Harvard, his M.B.A. from UCLA, and his J.D. from Northwestern University. Before entering the academy, Professor Yoo clerked for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States and practiced law with the predecessor firm to Hogan Lovells under the supervision of now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania, he taught for eight years at the Vanderbilt Law School. He is frequently called to testify before the U.S. Congress, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Federal Communications Commission, foreign governments, and international organizations.
Partner and Co-Chair, Constitutional and Appellate Law Practice Group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Allyson N. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and co‐chair of the Firm’s nationwide Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group.
Mrs. Ho is “undoubtedly one of the premier appellate lawyers in the United States” (Chambers). She has presented over 100 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide, including multiple high‐stakes cases on behalf of business before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Her most significant winning arguments include a U.S. Supreme Court reversal worth billions of dollars for unionized employers in the Sixth Circuit; a U.S. Supreme Court reversal limiting the power of federal regulators; a multi‐billion dollar environmental win in the Fifth Circuit; a multi‐billion dollar commercial victory for the founder of a technology company in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court; a billion dollar environmental win in the Houston Court of Appeals; a nine‐figure commercial victory in the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals; and a nine‐figure arbitration win in the Fifth Circuit.
Among her numerous accolades, Mrs. Ho is one of only a small group of appellate lawyers nationwide, and the only one in Texas, to be nationally ranked by Chambers every year for the past ten years (2012‐21). She is also one of the few appellate lawyers nationwide to be named to the BTI Client Service All‐Stars List, an honor bestowed by the corporate counsel community for lawyers “who stand above all the others in delivering the absolute best in client service.” She is also routinely named as a leading appellate lawyer by Benchmark, The Best Lawyers in America®, The Legal 500, Texas Super Lawyers, and D Magazine.
Mrs. Ho has received the Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award (Texas Bar Foundation, June 22, 2018), been named a “Distinguished Leader” (Texas Lawyer, Sep. 1, 2017) and “Appellate MVP” (Law360, Nov. 23, 2015), and been recognized on the “Appellate Hot List” (National Law Journal, Nov. 16, 2015). In addition, she has been profiled in “Texas Powerhouse” (Law360, Aug. 2, 2021), “Texas Appellate Power Couple” (Texas Lawbook, January 7, 2021), “Litigators of the Week” (The American Lawyer, May 8, 2020), “Litigation Powerhouse” (Law360, Aug. 10, 2016), “Supreme Court Insider” (National Law Journal, July 21, 2016), “Supreme Court Specialists, Mostly Male, Dominated Arguments This Term” (National Law Journal, May 11, 2016), “Attorney of the Year Finalist” (Texas Lawyer, Nov. 2, 2015), “Litigation Department of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 1, 2015), “Employment Group of the Year” (Law360, Jan. 13, 2015), “A Supreme Month: Lawyer Credits Preparedness in Ability to Argue Two U.S. High Court Cases in Three Weeks” (Texas Lawyer, Dec. 8, 2014), “High Court Debuts for Two Lawyers” (National Law Journal, Nov. 3, 2014), “Women in Business Awards” (Dallas Business Journal, Aug 29, 2014), “Litigation Departments of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 2, 2014), “Winning Women” (Texas Lawyer, Aug. 22, 2011), and “High court practitioners: increasingly diverse” (National Law Journal, June 6, 2011).
Federal and State Appellate Practice
Mrs. Ho has argued a series of high stakes, landmark cases on behalf of the business community before the U.S. Supreme Court. National Law Journal called her a “Veteran SCOTUS Advocate” in the “upper echelons of Supreme Court practice.” Law360 named her a “Supreme Court Star” and “one of the nation’s preeminent appellate lawyers.” And EmpiricalSCOTUS.com ranked her among “the most successful attorneys that currently practice before the Court.” Mrs. Ho once argued two significant business cases before the Court within the span of 21 days—including a “significant ruling for employers” that “paved a new path for companies paying millions of dollars in retiree health care benefits” (Law360), as well as a landmark administrative law dispute in which “several justices agreed with Ho’s contention that SCOTUS should revisit and overrule its own precedent” (Law360). She also prevailed against the EEOC in a case that the employment defense bar called “good news for employers across the country.” And in “the most important patent case in modern history” according to patent law experts, her argument before the Court was credited for “pick[ing] up two votes that pundits thought unreachable.”
She has appeared before every federal court of appeals in the country, including en banc arguments before the Fourth and Sixth Circuits. She has successfully represented business clients in every circuit, including the First (Pruco Life Insurance Company), Second (Swiss Federation; Rite Aid), Third (Johnson & Johnson), Fourth (Genex Services), Fifth (United Space Alliance LLC; Elliott Co.; MERSCORP; 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc.; Stream Energy; Health Management Systems), Sixth (Deutsche Bank; American Airlines; M&G Polymers), Seventh (Expedia), Eighth (Cotter), Ninth (Boeing; JP Morgan Chase Bank), Tenth (Mitchell International), Eleventh (AstraZeneca), D.C. (FedEx), and Federal (Repros Therapeutics) Circuits.
In addition, Mrs. Ho regularly appears in state appellate courts across the country. She has argued numerous cases in the Texas Supreme Court, Texas appellate courts in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Eastland, and state appellate courts in Arizona, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, prevailing on behalf of Ford Motor Company, PepsiCo, International Paper, Tenet, GameStop, Deutsche Bank, and Unit.
Government and Public Service Experience
Mrs. Ho has a distinguished record of experience at the highest levels of the federal government. She served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft, and law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Her record of public service also includes appointments to various boards and commissions. Among the most notable are her election as a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a trustee of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society, and a trustee of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. She is also vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, appointed by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to evaluate potential appointments of all federal judges and U.S. Attorneys in Texas, and has previously served on the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas.
Other Background Information
An active pro bono litigator, Mrs. Ho works most frequently with the First Liberty Institute and as amicus counsel for the State and Local Legal Center, the National Organization for Victim Assistance, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute. She is a frequent public speaker and active member of the Federalist Society, the American Law Institute, and the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Policy Advisory Board.
Mrs. Ho graduated from Duke University magna cum laude with a B.A. in English, Rice University with an M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors. She was a member of the Law Review and Order of the Coif. She and her husband Jim, a federal judge, have a twin daughter and son.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
Edith Jones graduated from Alamo Heights High School, where she was a National Merit Scholar. In 1971, she received her B.A. in Economics from Cornell University, graduating with honors. In 1974, she was awarded her J.D. at the University of Texas Law School, where she was a law review editor and received the Order of the Coif.
Judge Jones was the first female partner at Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Jones (now Hunton Andrews Kurth) where she practiced various types of litigation and bankruptcy cases. Judge Jones went on the federal bench on June 1, 1985.
Judge Jones served as a former member of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, and as a member of the Judicial Conference Commission on Bankruptcy Rules. Judge Jones served on the White House Fellows Commission. Judge Jones served on the board of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She has been a member of the Garland Walker Inn of Court in Houston for more than 20 years and its President for at least ten years. Judge Jones is also on the Board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation.
Partner, Clinton & Peed
Greg Lipper litigates both trials and appeals. He has extensive experience in criminal defense, business litigation, and First Amendment and media law, among many other areas of practice. Greg has represented a diverse set of clients, including financial institutions, media and technology companies, small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals. And he has represented parties or amici in over two-dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Greg is known for his lively writing, skillful oral advocacy, and ability to explain complex and technical concepts simply and clearly.
Previously, Greg spent over five years as Senior Litigation Counsel at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. There, he represented the plaintiffs in a class-action challenge to Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage; student-intervenors opposing the University of Notre Dame’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive-coverage regulations; and the plaintiffs in a major Supreme Court case addressing the constitutionality of prayer before government meetings. He previously practiced white-collar criminal defense, commercial litigation, and media law at Covington & Burling.
Greg regularly writes and speaks about the law and legal news. He has spoken or guest lectured at law schools including Harvard, University of Michigan, Northwestern, and Georgetown—on topics ranging from the First Amendment to federal jurisdiction to advocacy. He has participated in panels hosted by the National Constitution Center, the United States Military Academy, and the American Political Science Association, among many others. His writing has appeared in both the popular and academic press, including articles in the American Criminal Law Review and the University of Illinois Law Review and chapters in two books published by Cambridge University Press. And he is regularly quoted on legal issues in national publications such as CNN, Reuters, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Slate, and the New Republic.
Director, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief
Daniel Mach is the director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. He leads a wide range of religious-liberty litigation, advocacy, and public education efforts nationwide, and often writes, teaches, and speaks publicly on religious freedom issues. Mach currently serves as an adjunct professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, focusing on constitutional law and religious liberty. Prior to his work at the ACLU, Mach was a partner in the Washington office of Jenner & Block, where he specialized in First Amendment law.
Vice President of Domestic and Economic Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Roger Severino is Vice President of Economic and Domestic Policy, and the Joseph C. and Elizabeth A. Anderlik Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Severino is a national authority on civil rights, conscience and religious freedom, the administrative state, and information privacy, particularly as applied to health care law and policy. Find his tweets at @RogerSeverino_.
Severino spearheaded the HHS Accountability Project while a Senior Fellow at EPPC from 2021 to 2023. Previously, Severino was Director of HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, where he led a team of over 250 staff enforcing our nation’s civil rights, conscience and religious freedom, and health information privacy laws. He served from 2017 to 2021 and was the longest-serving OCR director of the past three decades.
Prior to joining HHS, Severino served for two years as Director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at Heritage, advocating for life, family, and religious-freedom policies. Before that, he was a trial attorney for seven years at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division where he enforced the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Severino started his legal career at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where he was Legal Counsel and Chief Operations Officer and defended the rights of people of all faiths under federal and international law.
Severino has been profiled in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and The Hill and has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS, among others. In 2020, The New York Times dubbed him and his wife Carrie, “a conservative power couple” to be reckoned with.
Severino holds a JD from Harvard Law School, a master’s degree in public policy, with highest distinction, from Carnegie Mellon University, and a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Southern California. He was appointed by President Trump to the Administrative Conference of the United States and is a member of the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia bars.
As OCR director, Severino founded the federal government’s first division dedicated exclusively to conscience and religious freedom compliance and enforcement. He enforced the Weldon Amendment for the first time against a state (California) after it coerced families and religious organizations into paying for abortion insurance coverage, leading to a $200 million federal funding disallowance. He also enforced laws protecting pro-life pregnancy resource centers from discrimination by states hostile to their message and enforced laws prohibiting forced participation in abortions by medical professionals.
With respect to civil rights, Severino protected older persons and people with disabilities from being denied life-saving care due to discriminatory “quality of life” judgments, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also achieved a landmark sexual harassment resolution with Michigan State University in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal and protected the rights of non-English speakers to have equal access to health and human services.
In the area of health privacy, he secured the largest HIPAA monetary settlement in history and achieved the largest number of enforcement resolutions both in a single year and across four years. He also facilitated the transformational use of Skype, Zoom, and Facetime for delivery of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
His regulatory reform activities resulted in a comprehensive conscience protection regulation and proposed a life-affirming disability rights regulation. He achieved regulatory savings of $3.6 billion in health care industry costs over five years and identified and proposed an additional $3.2 billion in cost savings from the repeal of ineffective and unnecessary regulatory burdens.
Severino is a Spanish speaker who teaches salsa and west coast swing in his spare time.
Legal Counsel, Women's Liberation Front
Lauren Adams currently serves as the WoLF Legal Director. She has nearly a decade of legal experience with a focus in serving the needs of women. She recently led WoLF's efforts petitioning the Biden Administration to enforce Title IX, and is an expert source on civil rights law in the United States and its impact on the lives and opportunities of women and girls.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the leading civil rights legal organization fighting against anti-Semitism. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.” He been described, in that paper, as “the single most effective and respected force” to combat anti-Semitism.
During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In academia, he serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University. He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College, served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, and was a Board of Visitors member George Mason University and Distinguished Senior Fellow at that university’s law school. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
Marcus is also author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also serves as Chairman emeritus of the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.
Legal Director, National Center for LGBTQ Rights
Senior Counsel, Litigation, Defense of Freedom Institute
Don Daugherty is Senior Counsel, Litigation, at the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies. He previously served as a Senior Counsel at the Institute for Free Speech and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Before that, he was a partner at three of Wisconsin’s largest firms, with nearly 30 years of trial and appellate litigation experience. He has been consistently recognized as among the “Best Lawyers in America,” as well as Wisconsin’s “Super Lawyers.” He received his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School. After law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable Roger J. Miner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Don is on the Board of Advisors for the Milwaukee Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society, and on the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society’s Litigation Practice Group.
China, the U.S., and Global Climate Policy: Cooperation, or Competition?
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China, the U.S., and Global Climate Policy: Cooperation, or Competition?
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Infrastructure, Broadband, and the New Administration
Anthony T. Clark, Kate O'Connor, David Redl, Christopher S. Yoo
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Infrastructure, Broadband, and the New Administration
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Religious Liberty in Transition?
Allyson Newton Ho, Edith H. Jones, Gregory M. Lipper, Daniel Mach, Roger Severino
Presidential administrations have traditionally acknowledged the important role of religious liberty and pursued executive action...
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Assessing the Nondelegation Challenge in Texas’s Keystone XL Pipeline Lawsuit Against the Biden Administration
Justice Alito’s concurrence in the recent case of Gundy v. United States signaled that the...
Transgender Policy in the Biden Administration
Lauren Adams, Kenneth L. Marcus, Shannon Minter
The national conversation over transgender students’ inclusion in student athletics and school facilities has received unparalleled levels...
Last Hurrah for the Minimalist Court?
Donald A. Daugherty
A review of SCOTUS 2020: Major Decisions and Developments of the U.S. Supreme Court, edited...