Legal Fellow, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
Brent Skorup is a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
Before joining Cato, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at the George Mason University. His research areas include free speech, technology law, Fourth Amendment protections, regulation, and property law. Skorup has published pieces in economics and law journals and in popular media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, and Wired. He’s appeared as a TV and radio interview guest for news outlets like C‑SPAN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, and CNBC Asia.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a dissenting opinion at the Illinois Supreme Court, and the ALI's Restatement of the Law of Property have cited his legal research and he has testified as a technology and legal expert in legislative hearings in several states. Skorup has been appointed to several federal and state advisory bodies and he is currently a member of the Texas Advanced Air Mobility Advisory Committee.
Skorup has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and a law degree from the George Mason University School of Law, where he was articles editor for the Civil Rights Law Journal. He was a legal clerk at the FCC’s wireless bureau and Office of General Counsel and at the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Assistant Solicitor General, Office of the Texas Attorney General
Research Fellow, CATO Institute
Jay Schweikert is a research fellow with the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. His research and advocacy focuses on accountability for prosecutors and law enforcement, plea bargaining, Sixth Amendment trial rights, and the provision and structuring of indigent defense.
Before joining Cato, Schweikert spent four years doing civil and criminal litigation at Williams & Connolly LLP. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was an articles editor for the Harvard Law Review, and chaired the Harvard Federalist Society’s student colloquium program. Following law school, Schweikert clerked for Judge Diane Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
He holds a BA in political science and economics from Yale University.
Legal Director & General Counsel, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Kent S. Scheidegger has been the Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation since December 1986. He also served as Chairman of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society 2003 to 2005. His articles on criminal and constitutional law have been published in law reviews, national legal publications, and congressional reports. Legal arguments authored by Mr. Scheidegger have been cited and incorporated in several precedent-setting United States Supreme Court decisions.
After receiving a degree in physics with honors from New Mexico State University in 1976, Mr. Scheidegger served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer. He took his law degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1982 and practiced civil law in Northern California. He was general counsel of California Cooler, Inc. from 1984 until 1986, when he joined the Foundation.
Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Ohio Attorney General
Zachery joined the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in 2013. He started in the Constitutional Offices Section, a division that represents Ohio’s elected officials. In 2019, Zachery became a Deputy Solicitor General. In this role, he represents the State of Ohio—along with its agencies and officials—in appeals before the Ohio Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before working for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Zachery clerked for District Judge Edmund A. Sargus and Magistrate Judge Elizabeth P. Deavers in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He received his J.D. from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2010.
Any opinions expressed in Zachery’s posts represent his own views, which do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Assistant Attorney General & Senior Trial Counsel to the Criminal Bureau, Massachusetts Attorney General
Reverse Keyword Search Warrant Upheld at Colorado Supreme Court
Brent Skorup
A house fire in August 2020 in Denver killed a Senegalese family—three adults, a toddler,...
State Court Docket Watch: Washington v. Palla Sum
Daniel Ortner
In Washington v. Palla Sum, the Washington Supreme Court considered whether courts in Washington should...
Torres v. Madrid [SCOTUSbrief]
Jay R. Schweikert
When New Mexico police officers fired on Roxanne Torres in 2014, Torres attempted to sue...
Torres v. Madrid - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Kent Scheidegger
On October 14, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding Torres v. Madrid. The...
State Court Docket Watch: State v. Nettles
Zachery Keller
The Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Nettles[1] illustrates what happens when decades-old law...
Carpenter v. United States: A Reevaluation of First Principles, One Year On
Dean A. Mazzone
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...