Senior Fellow, Civitas Institute, University of Texas, Austin
Linda Denno is a senior fellow at the Civitas Institute. She is also Associate Dean of the University of Arizona, College of Applied Science and Technology headquartered at the branch campus in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Dr. Denno’s strategic vision and commitment to academic excellence is demonstrated by the fact that two of the College’s academic programs—Cyber Operations and Intelligence & Information Operations—have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence.
Dr. Denno has earned numerous awards for teaching and for university and community service in her more than 35 years in higher education, including multiple outstanding teaching awards. She was awarded the Silver Rose for Outstanding Contributions to the US Army Military Intelligence Corps; and the Meritorious Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award given by the US Army.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Solicitor General, Iowa Office of the Attorney General
Eric Wessan serves as Iowa’s Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In that role, Wessan leads Iowa’s litigation before State and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts. Before that role, Wessan worked on complex commercial litigation at two large law firms in Chicago. Wessan also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable John F. Kness on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wessan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with honors, and of the University of Chicago.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Senior Research Fellow, School of Civic Leadership, Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law. He is also Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Civic Leadership and Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
His most recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court, co-authored with Robert Delahunty, was published in 2023. Professor Yoo’s other books include Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power; Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War, Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare, and Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George Bush.
Professor Yoo has published more than 100 articles in academic journals on subjects including national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He also regularly contributes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review, among others.
Professor Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. He has been a visiting professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, Keio University in Japan, Trento University in Italy, the University of Chicago, and the Free University of Amsterdam.
Professor Yoo supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center. He also serves on the boards of the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Federalist Society’s Separation of Powers and Federalism Division, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur Law School, and the Asia-Pacific Law Institute at Seoul National University. He is a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul Bator award and been the Edwin Meese III Originalism Lecturer at the Heritage Foundation.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Senior Fellow, Civitas Institute, University of Texas, Austin
Linda Denno is a senior fellow at the Civitas Institute. She is also Associate Dean of the University of Arizona, College of Applied Science and Technology headquartered at the branch campus in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Dr. Denno’s strategic vision and commitment to academic excellence is demonstrated by the fact that two of the College’s academic programs—Cyber Operations and Intelligence & Information Operations—have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence.
Dr. Denno has earned numerous awards for teaching and for university and community service in her more than 35 years in higher education, including multiple outstanding teaching awards. She was awarded the Silver Rose for Outstanding Contributions to the US Army Military Intelligence Corps; and the Meritorious Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award given by the US Army.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Solicitor General, Iowa Office of the Attorney General
Eric Wessan serves as Iowa’s Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In that role, Wessan leads Iowa’s litigation before State and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts. Before that role, Wessan worked on complex commercial litigation at two large law firms in Chicago. Wessan also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable John F. Kness on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wessan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with honors, and of the University of Chicago.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Senior Research Fellow, School of Civic Leadership, Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law. He is also Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Civic Leadership and Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
His most recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court, co-authored with Robert Delahunty, was published in 2023. Professor Yoo’s other books include Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power; Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War, Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare, and Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George Bush.
Professor Yoo has published more than 100 articles in academic journals on subjects including national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He also regularly contributes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review, among others.
Professor Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. He has been a visiting professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, Keio University in Japan, Trento University in Italy, the University of Chicago, and the Free University of Amsterdam.
Professor Yoo supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center. He also serves on the boards of the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Federalist Society’s Separation of Powers and Federalism Division, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur Law School, and the Asia-Pacific Law Institute at Seoul National University. He is a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul Bator award and been the Edwin Meese III Originalism Lecturer at the Heritage Foundation.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Judge Menashi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 14, 2019. Previously, he served as special assistant and associate counsel to the President in the White House and as acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. He was assistant professor of law at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where he taught administrative law and civil procedure, and a research fellow at New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He was also a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, where he practiced appellate and commercial litigation, and served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, and from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
President and Co-Founder, America First Legal Foundation
Gene Hamilton is the President of America First Legal, which he co-founded, and where he was previously the Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel. He most recently served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, Gene served as Counselor to Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. He also served as General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, including with U.S. Immigration Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of the General Counsel. He holds a B.A. from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
Judge Menashi was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on November 14, 2019. Previously, he served as special assistant and associate counsel to the President in the White House and as acting general counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. He was assistant professor of law at Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where he taught administrative law and civil procedure, and a research fellow at New York University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He was also a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York, where he practiced appellate and commercial litigation, and served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court of the United States and to Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Law Review, and from Dartmouth College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
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.
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
John D. Couriel is the 58th Chief Justice of the State of Florida and 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.
Vice President and Counsel for Public Policy, D.R. Horton, Inc.
Charbel J Barakat is Vice President and Counsel for Public Policy, with D.R. Horton, Inc., the nation's largest homebuilder, where he coordinates the company’s interactions with federal and state governments.
Previously, for over 10 years, he served as Chief Counsel for the company’s Florida, Gulf Coast, and Mid-Atlantic Regions. During that time, he oversaw legal affairs for an area that included 9 states and 2,000+ employees.
He was formerly associated with Akerman LLP in Miami and Milbank LLP in New York City, where he specialized in complex corporate, real estate, and project finance transactions.
Charbel currently serves as a member of the University of South Florida Board of Trustees and the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, positions to which he was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis in February 2025 and July 2023, respectively.
From July 2023 to February 2025, Charbel served as Vice Chair and acting Chair of the Board of Supervisors for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the special district governing Walt Disney World Resort). As acting board chair, he presided over the successful settlement of litigation challenging the District’s governing structure and the subsequent negotiation of a 15-year, $17 billion theme park master development agreement.
He previously served on the board of directors of the Florida Development Finance Corporation, a state authorized issuer of industrial revenue bonds, and as Chair of the 2nd District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission.
Since 2022, he has served as an advisor to the Board of Directors of the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association.
In 2023, Florida Trend magazine recognized Charbel as one of 11 inaugural “Notable General Counsel” throughout the state. In 2018 and 2019, Charbel was recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as one of the city’s Top Corporate Counsel.
Active in his church and community, Charbel is a member of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, a Catholic order of chivalry dedicated to charitable support of Christians in the Holy Land, and of the Krewe of the Knights of Sant’ Yago, dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of Tampa's rich Latin heritage and culture.
Charbel is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and The Johns Hopkins University. While in law school, he was a founding managing editor of the NYU Journal of Law and Liberty.
In 2018, Charbel became a Jeopardy! champion.
A native Floridian, Charbel lives in Tampa with his wife, Daira, and their three children.
Senior Fellow, Civitas Institute, University of Texas, Austin
Linda Denno is a senior fellow at the Civitas Institute. She is also Associate Dean of the University of Arizona, College of Applied Science and Technology headquartered at the branch campus in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Dr. Denno’s strategic vision and commitment to academic excellence is demonstrated by the fact that two of the College’s academic programs—Cyber Operations and Intelligence & Information Operations—have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence.
Dr. Denno has earned numerous awards for teaching and for university and community service in her more than 35 years in higher education, including multiple outstanding teaching awards. She was awarded the Silver Rose for Outstanding Contributions to the US Army Military Intelligence Corps; and the Meritorious Public Service Medal, the highest civilian award given by the US Army.
Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
Solicitor General, Iowa Office of the Attorney General
Eric Wessan serves as Iowa’s Solicitor General in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In that role, Wessan leads Iowa’s litigation before State and federal appellate courts, including the Iowa and U.S. Supreme Courts. Before that role, Wessan worked on complex commercial litigation at two large law firms in Chicago. Wessan also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and for the Honorable John F. Kness on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Wessan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with honors, and of the University of Chicago.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Senior Research Fellow, School of Civic Leadership, Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law. He is also Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Civic Leadership and Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
His most recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court, co-authored with Robert Delahunty, was published in 2023. Professor Yoo’s other books include Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power; Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War, Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare, and Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George Bush.
Professor Yoo has published more than 100 articles in academic journals on subjects including national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He also regularly contributes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review, among others.
Professor Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. He has been a visiting professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, Keio University in Japan, Trento University in Italy, the University of Chicago, and the Free University of Amsterdam.
Professor Yoo supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center. He also serves on the boards of the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Federalist Society’s Separation of Powers and Federalism Division, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur Law School, and the Asia-Pacific Law Institute at Seoul National University. He is a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul Bator award and been the Edwin Meese III Originalism Lecturer at the Heritage Foundation.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Shareholder, Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC
Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Technology and the Human Person, The Heritage Foundation
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