Michael J. and Jane R. Horvitz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
Daniel Ortiz, who came to Virginia in 1985, has a wide variety of interests. A Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude Yale graduate, he earned a triple major in mathematics, English and history, the arts and letters. Now as a member of the Virginia law faculty, he teaches constitutional law, administrative law, electoral law, civil procedure and legal theory. In 1992 he received the Z Society Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Virginia. He served as the Harrison Foundation Research Professor in 1992-95, the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Research Professor in 1996-99, and the Joseph C. Carter, Jr., Research Professor in 2000-03.
After graduation from Yale, Ortiz spent two years on a Marshall Scholarship at the University of Oxford, where he completed a Master of Philosophy degree in English studies. Then he returned to Yale for law school and received his J.D. in 1983. He clerked for Judge Stephen G. Breyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. He was a visiting professor at the University of Southern California in 1991 and 1994-96 and at the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1999.
Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding LLP
William focuses his practice on government investigations, internal investigations, voluntary self-disclosures, and white collar criminal litigation. William advises clients on a range of white collar matters, including: the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and whistleblower cases.
William has experience representing companies and individuals in investigations conducted by federal and state authorities, including the Department of Justice, multiple United States Attorney’s offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Election Commission, and multiple investigative committees of the United States Congress.
William previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. William graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he served as the Managing Articles Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding LLP
William focuses his practice on government investigations, internal investigations, voluntary self-disclosures, and white collar criminal litigation. William advises clients on a range of white collar matters, including: the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and whistleblower cases.
William has experience representing companies and individuals in investigations conducted by federal and state authorities, including the Department of Justice, multiple United States Attorney’s offices, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Election Commission, and multiple investigative committees of the United States Congress.
William previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. William graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where he served as the Managing Articles Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute
Matthew Cavedon is the Director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. He focuses on reforming plea-driven mass adjudication, ensuring police accountability, and defending constitutional criminal originalism. Cavedon’s scholarship has been published (or is forthcoming in) publications including the Arizona State Law Journal, Cato Supreme Court Review, Seattle University Law Review, and Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. Formerly a Georgia public defender and fellow at the Institute for Justice, Cavedon has taught law school courses on criminal law and procedure, as well as the First Amendment. Cavedon clerked for a U.S. district court and the Supreme Court of Georgia. He came to Cato following a fellowship at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion.
Assistant Attorney General & Senior Trial Counsel to the Criminal Bureau, Massachusetts Attorney General
Vice President, Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, Advancing American Freedom
John G. Malcolm oversees Advancing American Freedom’s work to increase understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law as Vice President of the organization’s Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law. Malcolm brings to the challenge a wealth of legal expertise and experience in both the public and private sectors.
Prior to joining Advancing American Freedom in 2025, Malcolm was the Vice President of the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2012, Malcolm was general counsel at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, as well as a distinguished practitioner in residence at Pepperdine Law School. From 2004 to 2009, Malcolm was executive vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the Motion Picture Association.
Malcolm served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division from 2001 to 2004, where he oversaw sections on computer crime and intellectual property, domestic security, child exploitation and obscenity, and special investigations. Immediately prior to that, he was a founding partner in the Atlanta law firm of Malcolm & Schroeder, LLP.
From 1990 to 1997, Malcolm was an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta, assigned to the fraud and public corruption section, and also an associate independent counsel, investigating fraud and abuse in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was honored with the Director’s Award for Superior Performance for his work in connection with the successful prosecution of Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who assassinated an 11th Circuit judge and the head of the Savannah chapter of the NAACP.
A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia College, Malcolm began his career as a law clerk to a federal district court judge and a federal appellate court judge, and as an associate at the Atlanta-based law firm of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan (new Eversheds Sutherland).
Malcolm, who resides in Washington, D.C., serves on the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera and is a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the United States.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Thomas Smith Senior Research Fellow, The Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also the Thomas Smith 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.
He is a co-author of volumes 1 and 2 of R. Rossum, G. Tarr, V. Munoz & J. Yoo American Constitution Law (Routledge, 2026), and a co-editor of the eight-volume series on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, We Hold These Truths, with Yuval Levin and Adam White of the American Enterprise Institute.
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 the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Civic Leadership, Seoul National University, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Keio University, Trento University, 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 Founding Forward, the Washington Legal Foundation, the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Ulysses Grant Institute, 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 the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Originalism Lectureship.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument Teleforum: Minerva Surgical Inc. v. Hologic Inc.
Daniel Ortiz
On April 21, 2021, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Minerva Surgical Inc. v....
Edwards v. Vannoy - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
William S. McClintock
On December 2, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Edwards v. Vannoy. The...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument Teleforum: Edwards v. Vannoy
William S. McClintock
The case of Edwards v. Vannoy will have oral arguments before the Supreme Court on...
Supreme Court Criminal Law Roundup: A Look Back and a Look Ahead
Matthew P. Cavedon, Dean A. Mazzone
Join Dean Mazzone and Matt Cavedon for a discussion of major criminal cases at the...
The Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, and More
John G. Malcolm, John C. Yoo
Join us as John Malcolm and John Yoo discuss recent Supreme Court news, the 25th...