James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is author of the Foundation Press casebook Law and Religion: Cases and Materials (5th edition, 2022) with Andrew L. Seidel. Practicing Bioethics Law (2d ed. 2021) is co-authored with Joan H. Krause, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She and University of Pennsylvania Professor Marci Hamilton published Learning Constitutional Law (Cognella Press, 2023).
She wrote the recent book chapter, Bambi Trauma—Surviving TBI Twice, in Traumatic Brain Injury—Challenges (Dr. Ioannis Mavroudis & Alin Ciobica, eds., IntechOpen, 2024), https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1179800#. And Catholic Sexual Abuse in Louisiana is in the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review, volume 101, p. 375 (2024).
Another article is What Did Those Sixteen Justices Say?, 58 Willamette L. Rev. 163 (2022). A book chapter entitled Rewritten Opinion, Means v. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is in the book Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Health Law Opinions (S. Mohapatra & L. Wiley, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2022). Other recent articles include What is Ethical Discharge?, 10:3 Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 193 (2020); What Can We Expect of Law and Religion in 2020?, 79 SMU L. Rev. F. 73 (2020); Traumatic Brain Injury: Compassionate Care, Not Clinical Nihilism, 6:2 Journal of Hospital Ethics 87 (Fall 2019) (with Carole S. Anhalt); Conquering Brain Injury, 34:5 Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 366 (2019), Religious Freedom, Human Rights, and Peaceful Coexistence, 50 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 77 (2018), Pre-or Post Mortem?, 18 Nevada Law Journal 221 (2017). Her rewritten opinion about the abortion funding case, Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297 (1980), is in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (L. Berger, B. Crawford & K. Stanchi, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Griffin has written numerous amicus briefs defending children's and employees' religious freedom. She blogs for Justia's Verdict column, and posts occasionally on Petrie-Flom’s health law blog.
Other writings include Marriage Rights and Religious Exemptions in the United States, Oxford Handbooks Online (2017), Beyond the Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner’s In My Skin Illustrates Title IX’s Failure to Protect LGBT Athletes at Religious Institutions, 34 Law and Inequality 489 (2016), A Word of Warning from A Woman: Arbitrary, Categorical, and Hidden Religious Exemptions Threaten LGBT Rights, 7 Ala. C.R. & C.L.L. Rev. 97 (2015), and The Catholic Bishops vs. the Contraceptive Mandate, Religions 2015, 6, 1411–1432.
Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Alex Luchenitser is the Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Alex has litigated church-state cases throughout the country for Americans United since January 2001. He has led lawsuits challenging religious proselytization of students in public schools, public funding of religious institutions, discriminatory governmental prayer practices, and government-sponsored religious displays. His successful cases include:
Alex has also authored and edited numerous friend-of-the-court briefs filed on behalf of Americans United. After the Covid-19 pandemic began, Alex led Americans United’s efforts to fight lawsuits that sought religious exemptions from public-health orders, filing fifty friend-of-the-court briefs in such cases around the country, including six in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alex was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1969 and immigrated to the United States in 1977. He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in government and economics from Harvard University in 1991, and he received his Juris Doctor with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1994. After finishing law school, Alex served two one-year judicial clerkships, with Justice Warren W. Matthews Jr. of the Alaska Supreme Court and U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Alex then spent four years in private practice in Northern California, participating in the prosecution of class actions on behalf of investors, consumers, and trust beneficiaries.
Alex has spoken about church-state issues in many television and radio appearances and public presentations and has been quoted in numerous major newspapers. His published articles include:
Alex is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar, is an inactive member of the State Bar of California, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Federal, and District of Columbia Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Northern District of California, the District of Colorado, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Branton Nestor is an associate in the Orange County office of Gibson Dunn. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group.
Branton has represented clients in appellate, regulatory, and complex litigation matters across various industries. His experience spans a wide range of subject matters, including constitutional law and administrative law.
He clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Julius N. Richardson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2019, and Westmont College in 2016. His scholarship has been cited at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Branton is a member of the California bar.
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Amanda Salz is counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Executive Committee.
Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is author of the Foundation Press casebook Law and Religion: Cases and Materials (5th edition, 2022) with Andrew L. Seidel. Practicing Bioethics Law (2d ed. 2021) is co-authored with Joan H. Krause, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She and University of Pennsylvania Professor Marci Hamilton published Learning Constitutional Law (Cognella Press, 2023).
She wrote the recent book chapter, Bambi Trauma—Surviving TBI Twice, in Traumatic Brain Injury—Challenges (Dr. Ioannis Mavroudis & Alin Ciobica, eds., IntechOpen, 2024), https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1179800#. And Catholic Sexual Abuse in Louisiana is in the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review, volume 101, p. 375 (2024).
Another article is What Did Those Sixteen Justices Say?, 58 Willamette L. Rev. 163 (2022). A book chapter entitled Rewritten Opinion, Means v. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is in the book Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Health Law Opinions (S. Mohapatra & L. Wiley, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2022). Other recent articles include What is Ethical Discharge?, 10:3 Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 193 (2020); What Can We Expect of Law and Religion in 2020?, 79 SMU L. Rev. F. 73 (2020); Traumatic Brain Injury: Compassionate Care, Not Clinical Nihilism, 6:2 Journal of Hospital Ethics 87 (Fall 2019) (with Carole S. Anhalt); Conquering Brain Injury, 34:5 Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 366 (2019), Religious Freedom, Human Rights, and Peaceful Coexistence, 50 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 77 (2018), Pre-or Post Mortem?, 18 Nevada Law Journal 221 (2017). Her rewritten opinion about the abortion funding case, Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297 (1980), is in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (L. Berger, B. Crawford & K. Stanchi, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Griffin has written numerous amicus briefs defending children's and employees' religious freedom. She blogs for Justia's Verdict column, and posts occasionally on Petrie-Flom’s health law blog.
Other writings include Marriage Rights and Religious Exemptions in the United States, Oxford Handbooks Online (2017), Beyond the Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner’s In My Skin Illustrates Title IX’s Failure to Protect LGBT Athletes at Religious Institutions, 34 Law and Inequality 489 (2016), A Word of Warning from A Woman: Arbitrary, Categorical, and Hidden Religious Exemptions Threaten LGBT Rights, 7 Ala. C.R. & C.L.L. Rev. 97 (2015), and The Catholic Bishops vs. the Contraceptive Mandate, Religions 2015, 6, 1411–1432.
Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Alex Luchenitser is the Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Alex has litigated church-state cases throughout the country for Americans United since January 2001. He has led lawsuits challenging religious proselytization of students in public schools, public funding of religious institutions, discriminatory governmental prayer practices, and government-sponsored religious displays. His successful cases include:
Alex has also authored and edited numerous friend-of-the-court briefs filed on behalf of Americans United. After the Covid-19 pandemic began, Alex led Americans United’s efforts to fight lawsuits that sought religious exemptions from public-health orders, filing fifty friend-of-the-court briefs in such cases around the country, including six in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alex was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1969 and immigrated to the United States in 1977. He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in government and economics from Harvard University in 1991, and he received his Juris Doctor with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1994. After finishing law school, Alex served two one-year judicial clerkships, with Justice Warren W. Matthews Jr. of the Alaska Supreme Court and U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Alex then spent four years in private practice in Northern California, participating in the prosecution of class actions on behalf of investors, consumers, and trust beneficiaries.
Alex has spoken about church-state issues in many television and radio appearances and public presentations and has been quoted in numerous major newspapers. His published articles include:
Alex is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar, is an inactive member of the State Bar of California, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Federal, and District of Columbia Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Northern District of California, the District of Colorado, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Branton Nestor is an associate in the Orange County office of Gibson Dunn. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group.
Branton has represented clients in appellate, regulatory, and complex litigation matters across various industries. His experience spans a wide range of subject matters, including constitutional law and administrative law.
He clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Julius N. Richardson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2019, and Westmont College in 2016. His scholarship has been cited at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Branton is a member of the California bar.
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Amanda Salz is counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Executive Committee.
Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
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.
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.
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
Professor of Law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School
James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law
William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. She is author of the Foundation Press casebook Law and Religion: Cases and Materials (5th edition, 2022) with Andrew L. Seidel. Practicing Bioethics Law (2d ed. 2021) is co-authored with Joan H. Krause, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. She and University of Pennsylvania Professor Marci Hamilton published Learning Constitutional Law (Cognella Press, 2023).
She wrote the recent book chapter, Bambi Trauma—Surviving TBI Twice, in Traumatic Brain Injury—Challenges (Dr. Ioannis Mavroudis & Alin Ciobica, eds., IntechOpen, 2024), https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1179800#. And Catholic Sexual Abuse in Louisiana is in the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review, volume 101, p. 375 (2024).
Another article is What Did Those Sixteen Justices Say?, 58 Willamette L. Rev. 163 (2022). A book chapter entitled Rewritten Opinion, Means v. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, is in the book Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Health Law Opinions (S. Mohapatra & L. Wiley, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2022). Other recent articles include What is Ethical Discharge?, 10:3 Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 193 (2020); What Can We Expect of Law and Religion in 2020?, 79 SMU L. Rev. F. 73 (2020); Traumatic Brain Injury: Compassionate Care, Not Clinical Nihilism, 6:2 Journal of Hospital Ethics 87 (Fall 2019) (with Carole S. Anhalt); Conquering Brain Injury, 34:5 Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 366 (2019), Religious Freedom, Human Rights, and Peaceful Coexistence, 50 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 77 (2018), Pre-or Post Mortem?, 18 Nevada Law Journal 221 (2017). Her rewritten opinion about the abortion funding case, Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297 (1980), is in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (L. Berger, B. Crawford & K. Stanchi, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Griffin has written numerous amicus briefs defending children's and employees' religious freedom. She blogs for Justia's Verdict column, and posts occasionally on Petrie-Flom’s health law blog.
Other writings include Marriage Rights and Religious Exemptions in the United States, Oxford Handbooks Online (2017), Beyond the Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner’s In My Skin Illustrates Title IX’s Failure to Protect LGBT Athletes at Religious Institutions, 34 Law and Inequality 489 (2016), A Word of Warning from A Woman: Arbitrary, Categorical, and Hidden Religious Exemptions Threaten LGBT Rights, 7 Ala. C.R. & C.L.L. Rev. 97 (2015), and The Catholic Bishops vs. the Contraceptive Mandate, Religions 2015, 6, 1411–1432.
Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Alex Luchenitser is the Associate Vice President & Associate Legal Director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Alex has litigated church-state cases throughout the country for Americans United since January 2001. He has led lawsuits challenging religious proselytization of students in public schools, public funding of religious institutions, discriminatory governmental prayer practices, and government-sponsored religious displays. His successful cases include:
Alex has also authored and edited numerous friend-of-the-court briefs filed on behalf of Americans United. After the Covid-19 pandemic began, Alex led Americans United’s efforts to fight lawsuits that sought religious exemptions from public-health orders, filing fifty friend-of-the-court briefs in such cases around the country, including six in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alex was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1969 and immigrated to the United States in 1977. He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in government and economics from Harvard University in 1991, and he received his Juris Doctor with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1994. After finishing law school, Alex served two one-year judicial clerkships, with Justice Warren W. Matthews Jr. of the Alaska Supreme Court and U.S. Magistrate Judge Wayne D. Brazil of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Alex then spent four years in private practice in Northern California, participating in the prosecution of class actions on behalf of investors, consumers, and trust beneficiaries.
Alex has spoken about church-state issues in many television and radio appearances and public presentations and has been quoted in numerous major newspapers. His published articles include:
Alex is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar, is an inactive member of the State Bar of California, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Federal, and District of Columbia Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Northern District of California, the District of Colorado, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Associate Attorney, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Branton Nestor is an associate in the Orange County office of Gibson Dunn. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group.
Branton has represented clients in appellate, regulatory, and complex litigation matters across various industries. His experience spans a wide range of subject matters, including constitutional law and administrative law.
He clerked for Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Julius N. Richardson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2019, and Westmont College in 2016. His scholarship has been cited at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Branton is a member of the California bar.
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Amanda Salz is counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. She is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Executive Committee.
Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda clerked for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
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.
Topics
Eleventh Circuit Conservatives Split on Gun Sales to Young Adults: Pryor v. Brasher in NRA v. Bondi
Legal debates between leftists and conservatives are rarely as interesting as “intramural” debates between conservatives....
The Roots, Applications, and Trajectory of the Church Autonomy Doctrine
Thomas C. Berg, Leslie C. Griffin, Alex J. Luchenitser, Branton J. Nestor, Amanda Salz
The First Amendment’s Religion Clauses guarantee religious entities the freedom to make certain internal governance...
The Roots, Applications, and Trajectory of the Church Autonomy Doctrine
Thomas C. Berg, Leslie C. Griffin, Alex J. Luchenitser, Branton J. Nestor, Amanda Salz
The First Amendment’s Religion Clauses guarantee religious entities the freedom to make certain internal governance...
The Roots, Applications, and Trajectory of the Church Autonomy Doctrine
Courthouse Steps Decision: Delligatti v. United States
Matthew P. Cavedon
Delligatti v. United States concerned whether a crime that requires proof of bodily injury or...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Delligatti v. United States
Matthew P. Cavedon
Delligatti v. United States concerned whether a crime that requires proof of bodily injury or...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Delligatti v. United States
Topics
Court Appears Split in Racial-Gerrymandering Case: Arguments Heard in Louisiana v. Callais
Louisiana v. Callais, which was before the Supreme Court for oral argument today, involves an...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Louisiana v. Callais
Michael R. Dimino
Louisiana's congressional districts, which it redrew following the 2020 census, currently sit in a state...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Louisiana v. Callais
Michael R. Dimino
Louisiana's congressional districts, which it redrew following the 2020 census, currently sit in a state...