Senior Resident Scholar, Institute of Government Studies, UC Berkeley
Steven Hayward is currently senior resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, and a visiting lecturer at Berkeley Law School. He was previously the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy, and was the inaugural visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2013-14. From 2002 to 2012 he was the F.K Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, and has been senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco since 1991.
He writes frequently for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Review, the Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review of Books, and other publications. The author of six books including a two-volume chronicle of Reagan and his times entitled The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980, and The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1980-1989, and the Almanac of Environmental Trends. His most recent book is Patriotism is Not Enough: Harry Jaffa, Walter Berns, and the Arguments That Redefined American Conservatism.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Founder and Faculty Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University Law School
The founder and faculty director of the groundbreaking Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and one of the foremost environmental lawyers in the nation, Michael Gerrard is an advocate, litigator, teacher, and scholar who has pioneered cutting-edge legal tools and strategies for addressing climate change. He writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation. He was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s renowned Earth Institute from 2015 to 2018 and now holds a joint appointment to the faculty of its successor, the Columbia Climate School.
For three decades, before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 2009, Gerrard practiced law in New York, most recently as the partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold & Porter. As an environmental lawyer, he tried numerous cases and argued many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals. He also handled the environmental aspects of diverse transactions and development projects and provided regulatory compliance advice to an array of clients in the private and public sectors. Several publications rated him the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leaders in the world.
President, Yale Student Chapter
David Haungs is a student at Yale Law School, where he serves as President of the Yale Federalist Society chapter.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Rob Johnson is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he litigates to protect private property, free speech, and other individual rights. Rob is a nationally-recognized expert on civil forfeiture. He previously represented a series of small business owners who had their entire bank accounts seized by the IRS, and he launched an initiative that resulted in the IRS reopening hundreds of closed forfeiture cases and returning millions of dollars. He has also litigated cases challenging the constitutionality of civil forfeiture procedures, and he scored a victory striking down a forfeiture program as a violation of due process.
Beyond civil forfeiture, Rob has litigated cases defending a range of constitutional rights. He was part of teams that successfully challenged occupational licensing requirements for tour guides in Savannah and Charleston. He also developed a class action lawsuit fighting the NYPD’s use of a draconian “no-fault eviction” statute to coerce residents to waive their constitutional rights, which led New York City to reform the challenged law.
Rob’s writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and Reason, among other venues. Rob has testified about occupational licensing before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and has twice testified about civil forfeiture before the House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee. He has also testified before state legislatures across the country.
From 2014-2017, Rob served as IJ’s first Elfie Gallun Fellow for Freedom and the Constitution. In that role, Rob wrote and spoke about the vital role the U.S. Constitution plays in protecting our most precious freedoms. He is currently at work on a book about the Fourteenth Amendment.
Rob studied literature and anthropology at Columbia University, and he studied law at Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he clerked for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
Rob lives in Cleveland with his wife and two daughters—all named after characters in Shakespeare plays—and is an amateur large format photographer.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Hon. Jennifer Mascott served as Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Separation of Powers Institute at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law before her appointment to the federal bench. On July 16, 2025, President Donald J. Trump nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Delaware), and she was confirmed on October 9, 2025.
Prior to her confirmation, Judge Mascott wrote extensively in administrative and constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and the separation of powers. Her scholarship—published in leading journals including the Stanford Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Supreme Court Review—was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal courts. She also contributed Supreme Court commentary for NBC Universal.
Before joining Catholic Law, she was an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of The C. Boyden Gray Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. In 2022 she became co-author of Beermann, Cass & Diver’s Administrative Law: Cases and Materials (9th ed.). In 2023 she received the Justice Joseph Story Award for excellence in scholarship, teaching, and advancing the rule of law.
Judge Mascott also served as a Council Member of the ABA’s Administrative Law Section and as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. She frequently testified before Congress on executive power, regulatory reform, and judicial jurisdiction, and participated in multiple Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
From 2019 to 2021, she took leave from academia to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and later as Associate Deputy Attorney General, where she argued federal cases and assisted with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation. Earlier in her career, she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and for then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit.
Judge Mascott earned her J.D. summa cum laude from the George Washington University Law School and her B.A. from the same institution.
Partner, Keller Postman LLP
JJ Snidow is a Partner at Keller Postman where he specializes in civil litigation in the trial courts. His area of practice focuses on product liability, consumer protection, and antitrust. Before joining Keller Postman, he practiced in DC at Wilkinson Stekloff, a defense-side trial firm. He clerked for Judge Raymond M. Kethledge on the Sixth Circuit, Judge Amul R. Thapar on the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He was formerly chairman of the Federalist Society's emerging leaders council, and in law school he served as president of the Yale chapter.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Assistant General Counsel for Litigation, Exxon Mobil Corporation
Justin Anderson is the Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at ExxonMobil. As head of litigation, Justin is responsible for protecting ExxonMobil’s interests in disputes arising around the world. That litigation portfolio includes a variety of commercial disputes, investment treaty arbitrations, long-running climate lawsuits, environmental claims, and a diverse range of other matters. Justin has led the litigation department at ExxonMobil since July 2023.
Prior to joining ExxonMobil, Justin was a partner in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP. At the law firm, Justin represented clients in a variety of litigation and regulatory matters, including class actions, white collar matters, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and complex business litigation.
Justin previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2015. He led the investigation, prosecution, and trial of federal crimes, including financial fraud, public corruption, narcotics trafficking, identity theft, and money laundering. For his work on one of those matters, he received the John Marshall Award, the Justice Department’s highest award for trial litigators.
Earlier in his career, Justin was a law clerk to Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Justin earned his B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Deputy Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency
David Fotouhi was sworn in as Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on June 16, 2025.
Fotouhi is an experienced environmental attorney who previously served in senior roles at EPA. During the first term of the Trump Administration, Fotouhi served as EPA’s Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to rejoining the agency, Fotouhi was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP practicing environmental law.
Fotouhi grew up in Oklahoma and holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Before entering private legal practice, Fotouhi served as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
State Auditor & Securities Commissioner, West Virginia
John “JB” McCuskey is West Virginia’s 21st State Auditor. He is currently in his second term, first elected in 2016. Previously, he served two terms in the House of Delegates and practiced law in Charleston.
As Auditor, McCuskey has made it his mission to ensure an efficient, effective, and transparent government. On his watch, McCuskey has turned West Virginia into the most transparent state in the country by allowing citizens to access real-time data about how their tax dollars are spent through WVCheckbook.gov. He also established the Public Integrity and Fraud Unit which has opened more than 200 investigations into local governments, uncovering fraud totaling more than $2.5 million.
A tool to fight fraud and abuse is the use of the state Purchasing Card. Over the past five years, McCuskey has pushed for more agencies, boards and commissions, and institutions of higher education to use the P-Card, which offers an efficient method for streamlining the payment process. The P-Card program nets the state tens of millions each year in cost avoidance savings. Since Auditor McCuskey took office, the state and local governments have earned more than $41 million in rebates from the use of the P-Card.
McCuskey is also leading the nation in using augmented intelligence and machine learning to streamline government processes and mitigate fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. The Auditor’s Office has established a platform, the first of its kind, to be used to track government spending and highlight fraud and important trends.
Additionally, the Auditor is the Land Commissioner for the state of West Virginia. McCuskey pushed to rewrite decades old tax laws, to streamline the property tax process for taxpayers and collectors across the state. This will help speed up the process to prevent houses from becoming dilapidated during what was a very lengthy process. The legislation also created, for the first time, a payment plan for homeowners who fall on hard times.
McCuskey is a native of Harrison County, West Virginia. His parents, John and Anne McCuskey, cultivated his deep love of the Mountain State and instilled in him the values of public service.
He is a graduate of The George Washington University with a degree in Political Communication. He is also a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. Before attending law school, McCuskey worked as a civilian for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon in the offices of the Army and Department of Defense General Counsels.
Auditor McCuskey lives in Charleston with his wife, Wendy, and daughters, Charlotte Anne and Martha Elizabeth, and their dog Pearl, where they own a small business.
Executive Director, Alliance For Consumers
O.H. leads Alliance For Consumers, which fights to ensure that consumer protection efforts, class action lawsuits, and attorney general enforcement actions are consistent with the rule of law and benefit everyday consumers, not just class action lawyers and career bureaucrats.
His work with AFC builds off his time with the Arizona Attorney General's Office under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, where he not only defended constitutional questions and served as the State's lead counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court, but also had the privilege of leading Arizona's consumer protection lawsuit against Google over the tracking of consumers' location, and the successful case against Volkswagen over well-publicized diesel-related consumer deception.
O.H. is a 2010 graduate of Harvard Law School. Before joining Attorney General Brnovich in 2016, O.H. practiced at WilmerHale and Ropes & Gray in Boston and clerked for the Hon. J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
Judge Tymkovich, of Denver, Colorado, was nominated to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush, and confirmed in April 2003. On October 1, 2015 he became Chief Circuit Judge and held this position until October 2022. He was Chair of the US Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Resources from 2011 to 2015. Since 2008 he has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado School of Law, teaching Election Law. He is a member of the Doyle Inn of Court, the American Law Institute, and the International Society of Barristers. Since he joined the Circuit, Judge Tymkovich has hosted judicial delegations from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan, and has also represented the United States in programs at Kiev and Yalta in Ukraine.
Partner, Torridon Law
Pat Cipollone most recently served as Counsel to the President for President Donald J. Trump, where he managed and led legal strategy on matters throughout the Administration and provided counsel on issues of highest national importance in the federal government.
Pat has a distinguished record of service as counsel in a broad variety of complex legal matters. For most of his career, Pat was a senior partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. After Kirkland & Ellis, Pat became a member of the Management Committee and head of the litigation practice at Stein Mitchell Cipollone Beato & Missner LLP, a leading litigation firm based in Washington, D.C.
Throughout his career, Pat has served as counsel in a broad variety of cases including complex litigation matters and class actions; significant investigations and regulatory disputes involving state and federal agencies; consumer fraud and insurance litigation and investigations; product liability cases; constitutional cases; complex contract and commercial disputes; business torts; campaign finance; corporate crisis matters; health care matters; and large construction disputes. Most recently, Pat served as lead counsel for the defense in the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history.
Pat graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was managing editor of the Chicago Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University.
Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs, Boeing
Adam Gustafson is a Senior Counsel for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs at Boeing.
Prior to joining Boeing, he served as Deputy General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to that, he was a partner at Boyden Gray & Associates, where he represented States, federal judges, environmental groups, biofuel producers, agricultural interests, and public policy organizations, on such issues as the constitutional separation of powers, the First Amendment, automotive regulations, environmental computer models, healthcare regulation, and judicial deference to federal agencies.
Mr. Gustafson received his J.D. in 2009 from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, a managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and an executive editor of the symposium issue of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Mr. Gustafson served as a Vice President of the Yale Law School Federalist Society. He was a Coker Fellow, and his legal writing won the Joseph A. Chubb Competition Prize and the Edward D. Robbins Memorial Prize.
Mr. Gustafson graduated with high distinction in 2005 from the University of Virginia, where he was an Echols Scholar, a member of the Raven Society, a member of the rowing team, and a Lawn resident.
Before joining Boyden Gray & Associates, Mr. Gustafson was an associate at Cooper & Kirk, where he specialized in appellate litigation. Mr. Gustafson served as a law clerk to Judge Richard R. Clifton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Executive Counsel - Issues and Advocacy, Exxon Mobil Corporation Law Department
Robert Levy serves as Executive Counsel at ExxonMobil, where he leads the company’s legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice reform. His work includes representing ExxonMobil in state and national organizations dedicated to improving the legal system and the rule of law, coordinating amicus support on key policy and litigation matters, and advising on data privacy and information governance. He previously oversaw the company’s eDiscovery compliance and cybersecurity law initiatives.
Robert currently chairs the Board of the American Tort Reform Association and previously served as President of the Civil Justice Reform Group. He is Treasurer of Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ), chairs its Discovery Committee, and serves on its Amicus Committee. He is also actively involved with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and Litigation Center and sits on the Executive Committee of the Texas Civil Justice League. Additionally, he is an active member of the Federalist Society and its In-House Counsel Network.
A long-standing member of the Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee, Robert has served for over 14 years and currently chairs one of its subcommittees. He also sits on the Advisory Councils of the Atlantic Legal Foundation, the Center for Law & Public Policy, and the Mountain States Legal Foundation. In recognition of his leadership, LCJ awarded him with the Al Cortese Award for his contributions to civil justice reform. Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Civil Justice League have honored Robert for his years of service to TCJL and Texas civil justice reform.
He has also been deeply engaged in community and bar activities, serving for over a decade on the board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers and on the board of the Houston Jewish Federation. He is a former Chair of the Board of Robert M. Beren Academy, where he was honored with the Dena and Baruch Brody Award for his leadership and service. Additionally, he served as President of United Orthodox Synagogues, reflecting his longstanding commitment to faith-based and civic leadership.
Robert is a frequent speaker at legal conferences and continuing legal education (CLE) programs. Early in his career, he served as a briefing attorney for the Honorable Judge Robert Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He has practiced law for over 39 years and earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1986.
Before joining ExxonMobil, Robert was a partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP for over 14 years, where he practiced in the Business Litigation Section. He also held positions at Johnson & Gibbs and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
Robert and his wife Barbara reside in Houston, Texas, where they raised four children and now enjoy their role as proud grandparents to three grandchildren.
General Counsel, Saronic Technologies
Tobi Young is the General Counsel of Saronic Technologies. Her responsibilities include managing global legal affairs, regulatory compliance, litigation, risk management, and government security, and corporate governance.
Tobi brings over 20 years of experience with sophisticated legal, regulatory, and compliance issues through leadership roles in all three branches of the federal government and in Fortune 500 companies. Among other governmental positions, she has been an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice and in the Office of the White House Counsel; a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch; and a press secretary for Congressman J.C. Watts. Tobi also currently serves as the Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee on the Halliburton Board of Directors (NYSE: HAL).
Tobi grew up in Oklahoma and is a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation. She recently became the youngest inductee into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame. Tobi now lives in Austin with her husband Evan, a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, and their daughter Romilly.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Independent Consultant
Since 2001, Dr. Richard Belzer has been an independent consultant in regulation, risk, economics and information quality. Previously he was a visiting professor of public policy at Washington University in St. Louis and economist in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (1989), Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (now Harvard Kennedy School) (1982), and MS and BS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis (1979, 1980). He is a regular contributor to scholarly professions through journal peer review and service to professional societies. He was elected Treasurer of the Society for Risk Analysis (1998, 2000) elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (2008, 2010, 2012). He earned multiple awards for exemplary performance at OMB, the SRA’s Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the SBCA’s Richard O. Zerbe, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (2017). In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society. In 2017, Dr. Belzer completed a 2-year term as a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-wide Modeling. He serves as a member of the RTP Energy and Environment Working Group.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is a partner at Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Laura Stanley is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group. Laura previously served as an economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she developed regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
Laura graduated with high honors from The George Washington University Law School and was awarded Order of the Coif. Laura served as an Articles Editor of the George Washington Law Review, and she was awarded the ABA Gellhorn-Sargentich Award for the best student essay in administrative law. Laura received a Master of Arts degree in Economics from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from James Madison University.
She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ryan D. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Stephen S. Schwartz of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Founder and Faculty Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University Law School
The founder and faculty director of the groundbreaking Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and one of the foremost environmental lawyers in the nation, Michael Gerrard is an advocate, litigator, teacher, and scholar who has pioneered cutting-edge legal tools and strategies for addressing climate change. He writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation. He was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s renowned Earth Institute from 2015 to 2018 and now holds a joint appointment to the faculty of its successor, the Columbia Climate School.
For three decades, before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 2009, Gerrard practiced law in New York, most recently as the partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold & Porter. As an environmental lawyer, he tried numerous cases and argued many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals. He also handled the environmental aspects of diverse transactions and development projects and provided regulatory compliance advice to an array of clients in the private and public sectors. Several publications rated him the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leaders in the world.
President, Yale Student Chapter
David Haungs is a student at Yale Law School, where he serves as President of the Yale Federalist Society chapter.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Rob Johnson is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he litigates to protect private property, free speech, and other individual rights. Rob is a nationally-recognized expert on civil forfeiture. He previously represented a series of small business owners who had their entire bank accounts seized by the IRS, and he launched an initiative that resulted in the IRS reopening hundreds of closed forfeiture cases and returning millions of dollars. He has also litigated cases challenging the constitutionality of civil forfeiture procedures, and he scored a victory striking down a forfeiture program as a violation of due process.
Beyond civil forfeiture, Rob has litigated cases defending a range of constitutional rights. He was part of teams that successfully challenged occupational licensing requirements for tour guides in Savannah and Charleston. He also developed a class action lawsuit fighting the NYPD’s use of a draconian “no-fault eviction” statute to coerce residents to waive their constitutional rights, which led New York City to reform the challenged law.
Rob’s writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and Reason, among other venues. Rob has testified about occupational licensing before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and has twice testified about civil forfeiture before the House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee. He has also testified before state legislatures across the country.
From 2014-2017, Rob served as IJ’s first Elfie Gallun Fellow for Freedom and the Constitution. In that role, Rob wrote and spoke about the vital role the U.S. Constitution plays in protecting our most precious freedoms. He is currently at work on a book about the Fourteenth Amendment.
Rob studied literature and anthropology at Columbia University, and he studied law at Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he clerked for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
Rob lives in Cleveland with his wife and two daughters—all named after characters in Shakespeare plays—and is an amateur large format photographer.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Hon. Jennifer Mascott served as Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Separation of Powers Institute at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law before her appointment to the federal bench. On July 16, 2025, President Donald J. Trump nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Delaware), and she was confirmed on October 9, 2025.
Prior to her confirmation, Judge Mascott wrote extensively in administrative and constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and the separation of powers. Her scholarship—published in leading journals including the Stanford Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Supreme Court Review—was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal courts. She also contributed Supreme Court commentary for NBC Universal.
Before joining Catholic Law, she was an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of The C. Boyden Gray Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. In 2022 she became co-author of Beermann, Cass & Diver’s Administrative Law: Cases and Materials (9th ed.). In 2023 she received the Justice Joseph Story Award for excellence in scholarship, teaching, and advancing the rule of law.
Judge Mascott also served as a Council Member of the ABA’s Administrative Law Section and as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. She frequently testified before Congress on executive power, regulatory reform, and judicial jurisdiction, and participated in multiple Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
From 2019 to 2021, she took leave from academia to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and later as Associate Deputy Attorney General, where she argued federal cases and assisted with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation. Earlier in her career, she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and for then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit.
Judge Mascott earned her J.D. summa cum laude from the George Washington University Law School and her B.A. from the same institution.
Partner, Keller Postman LLP
JJ Snidow is a Partner at Keller Postman where he specializes in civil litigation in the trial courts. His area of practice focuses on product liability, consumer protection, and antitrust. Before joining Keller Postman, he practiced in DC at Wilkinson Stekloff, a defense-side trial firm. He clerked for Judge Raymond M. Kethledge on the Sixth Circuit, Judge Amul R. Thapar on the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He was formerly chairman of the Federalist Society's emerging leaders council, and in law school he served as president of the Yale chapter.
Partner, Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC
Ben Flowers, a partner at Ashbrook Byrne Kresge Flowers LLC, is an accomplished litigator with experience briefing, arguing, and winning high-stakes cases in courts throughout the country.
Before joining the law firm, Ben served as Ohio's 10th Solicitor General. In that role he regularly represented the State of Ohio before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. Most prominently, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Ben led a multi-state challenge to OSHA's vaccine mandate, ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court.
Ben is a graduate of The Ohio State University and the University of Chicago Law School. Following law school, Ben clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of this United States. Ben lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Denise and their three very active children.
Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice and Founder and Faculty Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University Law School
The founder and faculty director of the groundbreaking Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and one of the foremost environmental lawyers in the nation, Michael Gerrard is an advocate, litigator, teacher, and scholar who has pioneered cutting-edge legal tools and strategies for addressing climate change. He writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation. He was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s renowned Earth Institute from 2015 to 2018 and now holds a joint appointment to the faculty of its successor, the Columbia Climate School.
For three decades, before joining the Columbia Law School faculty in 2009, Gerrard practiced law in New York, most recently as the partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold & Porter. As an environmental lawyer, he tried numerous cases and argued many appeals in federal and state courts and administrative tribunals. He also handled the environmental aspects of diverse transactions and development projects and provided regulatory compliance advice to an array of clients in the private and public sectors. Several publications rated him the leading environmental lawyer in New York and one of the leaders in the world.
President, Yale Student Chapter
David Haungs is a student at Yale Law School, where he serves as President of the Yale Federalist Society chapter.
Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Rob Johnson is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he litigates to protect private property, free speech, and other individual rights. Rob is a nationally-recognized expert on civil forfeiture. He previously represented a series of small business owners who had their entire bank accounts seized by the IRS, and he launched an initiative that resulted in the IRS reopening hundreds of closed forfeiture cases and returning millions of dollars. He has also litigated cases challenging the constitutionality of civil forfeiture procedures, and he scored a victory striking down a forfeiture program as a violation of due process.
Beyond civil forfeiture, Rob has litigated cases defending a range of constitutional rights. He was part of teams that successfully challenged occupational licensing requirements for tour guides in Savannah and Charleston. He also developed a class action lawsuit fighting the NYPD’s use of a draconian “no-fault eviction” statute to coerce residents to waive their constitutional rights, which led New York City to reform the challenged law.
Rob’s writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Politico, and Reason, among other venues. Rob has testified about occupational licensing before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and has twice testified about civil forfeiture before the House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee. He has also testified before state legislatures across the country.
From 2014-2017, Rob served as IJ’s first Elfie Gallun Fellow for Freedom and the Constitution. In that role, Rob wrote and spoke about the vital role the U.S. Constitution plays in protecting our most precious freedoms. He is currently at work on a book about the Fourteenth Amendment.
Rob studied literature and anthropology at Columbia University, and he studied law at Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he clerked for Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
Rob lives in Cleveland with his wife and two daughters—all named after characters in Shakespeare plays—and is an amateur large format photographer.
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Hon. Jennifer Mascott served as Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Separation of Powers Institute at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law before her appointment to the federal bench. On July 16, 2025, President Donald J. Trump nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Delaware), and she was confirmed on October 9, 2025.
Prior to her confirmation, Judge Mascott wrote extensively in administrative and constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and the separation of powers. Her scholarship—published in leading journals including the Stanford Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, and Supreme Court Review—was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal courts. She also contributed Supreme Court commentary for NBC Universal.
Before joining Catholic Law, she was an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of The C. Boyden Gray Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. In 2022 she became co-author of Beermann, Cass & Diver’s Administrative Law: Cases and Materials (9th ed.). In 2023 she received the Justice Joseph Story Award for excellence in scholarship, teaching, and advancing the rule of law.
Judge Mascott also served as a Council Member of the ABA’s Administrative Law Section and as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. She frequently testified before Congress on executive power, regulatory reform, and judicial jurisdiction, and participated in multiple Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
From 2019 to 2021, she took leave from academia to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and later as Associate Deputy Attorney General, where she argued federal cases and assisted with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation. Earlier in her career, she clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and for then-Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit.
Judge Mascott earned her J.D. summa cum laude from the George Washington University Law School and her B.A. from the same institution.
Partner, Keller Postman LLP
JJ Snidow is a Partner at Keller Postman where he specializes in civil litigation in the trial courts. His area of practice focuses on product liability, consumer protection, and antitrust. Before joining Keller Postman, he practiced in DC at Wilkinson Stekloff, a defense-side trial firm. He clerked for Judge Raymond M. Kethledge on the Sixth Circuit, Judge Amul R. Thapar on the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court. He was formerly chairman of the Federalist Society's emerging leaders council, and in law school he served as president of the Yale chapter.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Assistant General Counsel for Litigation, Exxon Mobil Corporation
Justin Anderson is the Assistant General Counsel for Litigation at ExxonMobil. As head of litigation, Justin is responsible for protecting ExxonMobil’s interests in disputes arising around the world. That litigation portfolio includes a variety of commercial disputes, investment treaty arbitrations, long-running climate lawsuits, environmental claims, and a diverse range of other matters. Justin has led the litigation department at ExxonMobil since July 2023.
Prior to joining ExxonMobil, Justin was a partner in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP. At the law firm, Justin represented clients in a variety of litigation and regulatory matters, including class actions, white collar matters, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and complex business litigation.
Justin previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2015. He led the investigation, prosecution, and trial of federal crimes, including financial fraud, public corruption, narcotics trafficking, identity theft, and money laundering. For his work on one of those matters, he received the John Marshall Award, the Justice Department’s highest award for trial litigators.
Earlier in his career, Justin was a law clerk to Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Justin earned his B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Deputy Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency
David Fotouhi was sworn in as Deputy Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency on June 16, 2025.
Fotouhi is an experienced environmental attorney who previously served in senior roles at EPA. During the first term of the Trump Administration, Fotouhi served as EPA’s Acting General Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to rejoining the agency, Fotouhi was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP practicing environmental law.
Fotouhi grew up in Oklahoma and holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Before entering private legal practice, Fotouhi served as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
State Auditor & Securities Commissioner, West Virginia
John “JB” McCuskey is West Virginia’s 21st State Auditor. He is currently in his second term, first elected in 2016. Previously, he served two terms in the House of Delegates and practiced law in Charleston.
As Auditor, McCuskey has made it his mission to ensure an efficient, effective, and transparent government. On his watch, McCuskey has turned West Virginia into the most transparent state in the country by allowing citizens to access real-time data about how their tax dollars are spent through WVCheckbook.gov. He also established the Public Integrity and Fraud Unit which has opened more than 200 investigations into local governments, uncovering fraud totaling more than $2.5 million.
A tool to fight fraud and abuse is the use of the state Purchasing Card. Over the past five years, McCuskey has pushed for more agencies, boards and commissions, and institutions of higher education to use the P-Card, which offers an efficient method for streamlining the payment process. The P-Card program nets the state tens of millions each year in cost avoidance savings. Since Auditor McCuskey took office, the state and local governments have earned more than $41 million in rebates from the use of the P-Card.
McCuskey is also leading the nation in using augmented intelligence and machine learning to streamline government processes and mitigate fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. The Auditor’s Office has established a platform, the first of its kind, to be used to track government spending and highlight fraud and important trends.
Additionally, the Auditor is the Land Commissioner for the state of West Virginia. McCuskey pushed to rewrite decades old tax laws, to streamline the property tax process for taxpayers and collectors across the state. This will help speed up the process to prevent houses from becoming dilapidated during what was a very lengthy process. The legislation also created, for the first time, a payment plan for homeowners who fall on hard times.
McCuskey is a native of Harrison County, West Virginia. His parents, John and Anne McCuskey, cultivated his deep love of the Mountain State and instilled in him the values of public service.
He is a graduate of The George Washington University with a degree in Political Communication. He is also a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. Before attending law school, McCuskey worked as a civilian for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon in the offices of the Army and Department of Defense General Counsels.
Auditor McCuskey lives in Charleston with his wife, Wendy, and daughters, Charlotte Anne and Martha Elizabeth, and their dog Pearl, where they own a small business.
Executive Director, Alliance For Consumers
O.H. leads Alliance For Consumers, which fights to ensure that consumer protection efforts, class action lawsuits, and attorney general enforcement actions are consistent with the rule of law and benefit everyday consumers, not just class action lawyers and career bureaucrats.
His work with AFC builds off his time with the Arizona Attorney General's Office under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, where he not only defended constitutional questions and served as the State's lead counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court, but also had the privilege of leading Arizona's consumer protection lawsuit against Google over the tracking of consumers' location, and the successful case against Volkswagen over well-publicized diesel-related consumer deception.
O.H. is a 2010 graduate of Harvard Law School. Before joining Attorney General Brnovich in 2016, O.H. practiced at WilmerHale and Ropes & Gray in Boston and clerked for the Hon. J.L. Edmondson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
Judge Tymkovich, of Denver, Colorado, was nominated to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush, and confirmed in April 2003. On October 1, 2015 he became Chief Circuit Judge and held this position until October 2022. He was Chair of the US Judicial Conference’s Committee on Judicial Resources from 2011 to 2015. Since 2008 he has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado School of Law, teaching Election Law. He is a member of the Doyle Inn of Court, the American Law Institute, and the International Society of Barristers. Since he joined the Circuit, Judge Tymkovich has hosted judicial delegations from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan, and has also represented the United States in programs at Kiev and Yalta in Ukraine.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Independent Consultant
Since 2001, Dr. Richard Belzer has been an independent consultant in regulation, risk, economics and information quality. Previously he was a visiting professor of public policy at Washington University in St. Louis and economist in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (1989), Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (now Harvard Kennedy School) (1982), and MS and BS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis (1979, 1980). He is a regular contributor to scholarly professions through journal peer review and service to professional societies. He was elected Treasurer of the Society for Risk Analysis (1998, 2000) elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (2008, 2010, 2012). He earned multiple awards for exemplary performance at OMB, the SRA’s Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the SBCA’s Richard O. Zerbe, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (2017). In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society. In 2017, Dr. Belzer completed a 2-year term as a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-wide Modeling. He serves as a member of the RTP Energy and Environment Working Group.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is a partner at Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Laura Stanley is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group. Laura previously served as an economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she developed regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
Laura graduated with high honors from The George Washington University Law School and was awarded Order of the Coif. Laura served as an Articles Editor of the George Washington Law Review, and she was awarded the ABA Gellhorn-Sargentich Award for the best student essay in administrative law. Laura received a Master of Arts degree in Economics from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from James Madison University.
She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ryan D. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Stephen S. Schwartz of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Tazewell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor, William & Mary Law School
Jonathan H. Adler joined the William & Mary law faculty as the Tazwell Taylor Professor of Law and William H. Cabell Research Professor in 2025. Prior to joining the faculty, he was the inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Professor Adler is the author or editor of seven books, including Climate Liberalism: Perspectives on Liberty, Property and Pollution (Palgrave, 2023), Marijuana Federalism: Uncle Sam and Mary Jane (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), Business and the Roberts Court (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Rebuilding the Ark: New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform (AEI Press, 2011).
His articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Harvard Environmental Law Review and Yale Journal on Regulation to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. He has testified before Congress a dozen times, and his work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court. A 2024 study identified Professor Adler as the seventh most cited legal academic in administrative and environmental law from 2019 to 2023.
Professor Adler is a contributing editor to Civitas Outlook and a regular contributor to the popular legal blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. A regular commentator on constitutional and regulatory issues, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, ranging from the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio to the Fox News Channel and Entertainment Tonight.
Professor Adler is a senior fellow at the Property & Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana. In 2018, Professor Adler was elected to membership in the American Law Institute and helped co-found the organization Checks and Balances. In 2024, Professor Adler was appointed a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Professor Adler clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Independent Consultant
Since 2001, Dr. Richard Belzer has been an independent consultant in regulation, risk, economics and information quality. Previously he was a visiting professor of public policy at Washington University in St. Louis and economist in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. He received his Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University (1989), Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (now Harvard Kennedy School) (1982), and MS and BS degrees in agricultural economics from the University of California at Davis (1979, 1980). He is a regular contributor to scholarly professions through journal peer review and service to professional societies. He was elected Treasurer of the Society for Risk Analysis (1998, 2000) elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (2008, 2010, 2012). He earned multiple awards for exemplary performance at OMB, the SRA’s Distinguished Service Award (2003), and the SBCA’s Richard O. Zerbe, Jr. Distinguished Service Award (2017). In 1995, he was named a Fellow of the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society. In 2017, Dr. Belzer completed a 2-year term as a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-wide Modeling. He serves as a member of the RTP Energy and Environment Working Group.
Partner, Boyden Gray PLLC
Michael Buschbacher is a partner at Boyden Gray PLLC. He represents public and private companies, trade associations, non-profits, and individuals in high-stakes litigation and administrative proceedings, with a particular focus on environmental and energy matters.
In addition to trial-level work, Mr. Buschbacher maintains an active appellate practice, both as merits counsel and as counsel for amici curiae. He has written amicus briefs quoted by the Seventh and Ninth Circuits. And his Supreme Court advocacy has been cited by The New Yorker, The New York Times, and E&E News. Mr. Buschbacher’s commentary on legal issues has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The American Conservative.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Buschbacher served at the U.S. Department of Justice as counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There, he advised senior Department leadership, served as the lead attorney on several lawsuits, and helped draft policy memoranda for the Department on the proper scope and procedure for environmental enforcement. Prior to serving in the government, Mr. Buschbacher was an associate in the D.C. office of Sidley Austin.
Mr. Buschbacher is a former clerk to Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Magistrate Judge Paul R. Cherry of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.
Mr. Buschbacher holds a B.A. in Music and Germanic Studies from Indiana University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Laura Stanley is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort Practice Group. Laura previously served as an economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she developed regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
Laura graduated with high honors from The George Washington University Law School and was awarded Order of the Coif. Laura served as an Articles Editor of the George Washington Law Review, and she was awarded the ABA Gellhorn-Sargentich Award for the best student essay in administrative law. Laura received a Master of Arts degree in Economics from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from James Madison University.
She previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ryan D. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Stephen S. Schwartz of the United States Court of Federal Claims.
She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
An 'Endangerment Finding' for the Administrative State? Behind the Real-Time Constitutional Counter-Revolution of Our Moment
Seattle Lawyer Chapter
Seattle, WAShowcase Panel 4: Science in the Courts After COVID and Skrmetti
Benjamin M. Flowers, Michael Gerrard, David Andrew Haungs, Robert E. Johnson, Jenn L. Mascott, J.J. James Snidow
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. From litigation challenging COVID regulations to...
Showcase Panel 4: Science in the Courts After COVID and Skrmetti
Benjamin M. Flowers, Michael Gerrard, David Andrew Haungs, Robert E. Johnson, Jenn L. Mascott, J.J. James Snidow
CLE credit for this event is available at On-Demand CLE. From litigation challenging COVID regulations to...
Showcase Panel 4: Science in the Courts After COVID and Skrmetti
2025 National Lawyers Convention
Washington, DCThe Future of Climate Litigation
Jonathan H. Adler, Justin Anderson, David Fotouhi, John B. McCuskey, Oramel H. Skinner, Timothy M. Tymkovich
Climate-related litigation is front and center in a multi-layered campaign against fossil fuels and the...
The Future of Climate Litigation
Energy & Environment Practice Group
Washington, DCClimate Crises? From Public Nuisance, to Plastics, to Climate Homicide, to Preemption and the Endangerment Finding
Businesses in the Courts Conference
Las Vegas, NVConfronting the Questions: A Discussion on the EPA’s Proposed Revisions to Endangerment Finding
Jonathan H. Adler, Richard B. Belzer, Michael Buschbacher, Laura Stanley
Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to regulate emissions...
Confronting the Questions: A Discussion on the EPA’s Proposed Revisions to Endangerment Finding
Jonathan H. Adler, Richard B. Belzer, Michael Buschbacher, Laura Stanley
Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to regulate emissions...
Confronting the Questions: A Discussion on the EPA’s Proposed Revisions to Endangerment Finding