Senior Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Thomas L. Jipping is a Senior Legal Fellow for the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and a senior legal fellow in the Center, which is part of the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage.
Tom joined Heritage in May 2018 after 15 years on the staff of U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), including several as his chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He spent the previous 13 years at two public policy organizations: Concerned Women for America, where he was senior fellow in legal studies; and the Free Congress Foundation, where Tom served as Vice President for Policy and Director of the Center for Law and Democracy.
Tom’s scholarship includes articles in law and public policy journals as well as hundreds of op-eds and articles in both print and online publications. He has presented papers at conferences including the American Political Science Association and testified before legislative committees in the U.S. Senate and House and in several states.
Tom received a B.A. with honors from Calvin College and both an M.A. in political science and a J.D., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo. While at SUNY-Buffalo Law School, Tom was a founding member of the Buffalo Federalist Society and served as the Head Note and Comment Editor of the Buffalo Law Review. Before coming to Washington, Tom clerked for Judge William D. Hutchinson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Tom lives in Fairfax, Virginia, and is an active member of New Hope Presbyterian Church.
President, March for Life Education and Defense Fund
Jennie Bradley Lichter is President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, the iconic organization committed to restoring a culture of life in the United States most notably through the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. – the world’s largest annual human rights event – and through the growing State March for Life program.
Jennie has wide-ranging legal and policy experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including at the highest levels of the federal government. In the first Trump Administration, she served in the White House as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC). In that role she supervised rulemaking and policy efforts on a vast array of issues arising from the Departments of Education, Labor, Health & Human Services, Justice, Housing & Urban Development, Interior, and others. Jennie led policy initiatives across the federal government to protect religious liberty, encourage faith-based partnerships, and defend the dignity of life. She also led DPC’s work on regulatory and administrative state reform.
Prior to her White House service, Jennie worked on policy issues and federal judicial (including Supreme Court) confirmation efforts in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jennie has worked in higher education as Deputy General Counsel for The Catholic University of America, where was also a Fellow at the Center for Religious Liberty in the University’s Columbus School of Law. She previously served as in-house counsel for the Archdiocese of Washington, and as an associate at Jones Day.
Jennie clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle on the D.C. Circuit and for Judge Steven M. Colloton on the Eighth Circuit in Des Moines. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and from Harvard Law School. Prior to law school she was a research assistant in Bioethics at a D.C. think tank, and earned a graduate degree in Theology & Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Partner, Jenner & Block LLP
Adam Unikowsky is a partner in Jenner & Block LLP’s Appellate & Supreme Court Practice Group, where he has worked since 2011.
Prior to his time at Jenner & Block, Mr. Unikowsky served as a Judicial Law Clerk to former Justice Antonin Scalia. He also previously clerked for Judge Douglas Ginsberg at the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Mr. Unikowsky got his JD from Harvard University, following achieving his Masters of Engineering & Bachelors of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk serves as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
He previously served in the (1) private, (2) government, and (3) nonprofit sectors:
Judge Kacsmaryk is an Honors graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he joined the Federalist Society and served as an Executive Editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Judge Kacsmaryk co-founded the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter in 2012, coordinated the 2018 Texas Chapters Conference hosted by the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter, and presently serves on its Advisory Board.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erik Baptist serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, focusing on administrative litigation and regulatory advocacy.
Before joining ADF, Baptist was a partner at Wiley Rein LLP—one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C.—where he employed his expertise in administrative and environmental law to represent clients on litigation, regulatory, and enforcement matters.
Prior to working at Wiley, Baptist served as a senior executive service appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the senior deputy general counsel and deputy assistant administrator, he directed EPA’s litigation, implemented groundbreaking rulemakings and policies, represented EPA and defended witnesses in response to congressional inquiries, and collectively helped oversee the work of more than 1,100 EPA lawyers, scientists, and staff.
Baptist began his career in the Trial Department of the international law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. He earned his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. During law school, Baptist externed for the Honorable Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, interned for the Honorable Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals, and served on The George Washington International Law Review.
Baptist is an active member of the D.C. Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeal.
Faculty Fellow, Center for Law, Science & Innovation, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Dr. Klein is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is also Principal at Roger D. Klein, MD JD Consulting and Klein & Klein Co., L.P.A. He was formerly Chief Medical Officer at OmniSeq, an oncology focused genomic profiling company that was recently acquired by LabCorp. Previously, Roger was the Medical Director at the Molecular Oncology division at the Cleveland Clinic. He was also the Chair of the Professional Relations Committee at the Association for Molecular Pathology. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, he served as Medical Director of Molecular Oncology at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin where he led the center’s Diagnostic Laboratories’ initiative focused on DNA- and RNA-based testing for evaluation of cancer patients.
Dr. Klein has been an advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has participated in and assumed leadership roles in many professional society committees and corporate advisory boards and is a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute.
Dr. Klein is licensed to practice medicine in Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin. Additionally, he is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Ohio. Roger obtained his Molecular Genetic Pathology certification at Mayo Medical School following completion of his M.D. Yale University School of Medicine. He obtained his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Partner, Jackson Walker
A former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Freel advises businesses and individuals under investigation by the government and conducts internal investigations for companies. Drawing on her extensive courtroom experience, Jennifer also represents clients in civil disputes at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal court.
In her previous role as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, Jennifer prosecuted cases involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes. Her practice focused on appellate matters, defending convictions from across the district. She has argued more than 20 times before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Jennifer clerked for Judge Fortunato Benavides, who served on the Fifth Circuit. She has been appointed to the Western District of Texas Attorney Discipline Committee and the Criminal Justice Act appellate panel for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. Jennifer is an elected Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Mentorship Chair of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, a past chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Austin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Prior to attending law school, Jennifer worked as a broadcast news reporter at the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri and the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Alexa Gervasi is Executive Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Alexa is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She completed law school through Georgetown Law’s evening program, spending her days working as the Program Manager for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, directed by Professor Randy E. Barnett. After law school, Alexa spent some time in private practice before jumping ship to clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She then had the distinct privilege of clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the liberty-loving Honorable Don R. Willett before joining the Institute for Justice.
Alexa is licensed to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to practice before the Third Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
With more than 20 years government experience, Johnny Sutton has acquired expertise as a front-line trial prosecutor and a top policy advisor to a Governor and a President. Mr. Sutton runs the Austin office of the Ashcroft Law Firm which specializes in internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense and helping companies comply with federal law.
From November 2001 to April 2009, Sutton led one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the nation. The Western District of Texas covers 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and 660 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sutton managed more than 300 employees, a $28 million annual budget and directed 43,000 federal prosecutions and thousands of civil cases. Under Mr. Sutton’s leadership, the office led the nation in drug convictions, was second in illegal alien prosecutions, won more than 105 public corruption convictions and sent nearly 400 violent criminal gang members to prison.
In 2003, then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Mr. Sutton to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee—a panel of 17 U.S. Attorneys that advise the General and help carry out the President’s national goals. Sutton served from 2003 until 2009 and was chairman for nearly two years.
After leading the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice Transition Team in 2000, Mr. Sutton was named Associate Deputy Attorney General. He held the position until becoming U.S. Attorney.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Sutton was the chief policy advisor to the Governor on all criminal justice issues.
From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Sutton was a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, TX) where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials and had only three acquittals. He also successfully tried 17 murder jury trials, including seven for capital murder.
Mr. Sutton attended the University of Texas at Austin on a baseball scholarship where he was a two year lettermen and the starting left fielder for the 1983 University of Texas National Championship baseball team. Mr. Sutton was voted the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament in 1983. Mr. Sutton is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.
Mr. Sutton has dedicated his career to defending the innocent and standing up for the rule of law.
Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Justice Jane Bland has served on the Supreme Court of Texas since 2019. Before that, she served for six years as a state district judge in Houston and 15 years as a justice on the First Court of Appeals.
Justice Bland is the Court’s liaison to the Judicial Commission on Mental Health, the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. She is the deputy liaison to the Court’s Rules Advisory Committee.
She earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas. In law school, she was Vice-Chancellor, an editor of the Texas Law Review, and a member of the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Justice Bland clerked for the Honorable Thomas Gibbs Gee on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Justice Bland is board-certified in civil appellate law and civil trial law. She began her practice at Baker Botts, where she handled trial and appellate matters. Before her appointment to the Court, she was a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Houston. She is a member of the American Law Institute.
Throughout her career, Justice Bland has been recognized for her work to improve our state’s judiciary. In 2010, Chief Justice John Roberts presented her with the William H. Rehnquist Award, given to a state court judge who exemplifies the highest level of judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics. The Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists has recognized her as the judge of the year four times. She has received several President’s Awards for her work with the Houston Bar Association and the Houston Young Lawyers Association.
Justice Bland previously chaired the board of Houston Volunteer Lawyers and the Oversight Committee for the Texas Pattern Jury Charges. She served on the Court’s Commission to Expand Civil Legal Services and the Board of Legal Specialization’s Civil Appellate Law Advisory Commission. She is a senior trustee of the UT Law School Foundation.
Justice Bland and her husband, Doug, have two children.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
James C. Ho is a Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before taking the bench on January 4, 2018, he was a partner and co-chair of the national Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
As an appellate litigator for over a decade, including three years as the Solicitor General of Texas, Judge Ho presented 50 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide. He won numerous appeals, including three merits cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. He was routinely ranked among the nation’s leading lawyers by Benchmark, Chambers, Law360, The Legal 500, and The National Law Journal, among other publications. His work has been cited favorably by courts at every level of both the federal and state judiciaries. He won a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General for every year that he served as solicitor general, and he is the only state solicitor general in history to be invited by the U.S. Supreme Court to express the views of a state.
Judge Ho has served in all three branches of the federal government. On the Senate Judiciary Committee, he served as chief counsel of the Subcommittees on the Constitution and Immigration under Senator John Cornyn. At the Justice Department, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and an attorney-advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel. He clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.
His record of public service also includes appointments as vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee in Texas and co-chair of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Judiciary Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas, the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Continuity of Government Commission.
In addition, Judge Ho has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, where he taught seminars on U.S. Supreme Court Litigation and Religious Liberty. He has authored numerous articles in respected law reviews nationwide, including an annual feature on exemplary judicial writing for The Green Bag Almanac & Reader. He previously served as senior editor of The Green Bag and as co-editor of Pub. L. Misc.
Judge Ho graduated from Stanford University with honors and a B.A. in Public Policy in 1995, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors in 1999. Before law school, he was a legislative aide to California State Senator Quentin Kopp. He and his wife Allyson live in Dallas, Texas, with their twin daughter and son.
Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Judge Sean Jordan is a federal district judge for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Jordan worked on complex civil litigation and appellate cases for twenty-five years in both government service and private practice. He has managed the appellate sections of two large law firms and also previously served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General of Texas.
Judge Jordan received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to attending UT Austin, he served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
Matthew J. Kacsmaryk serves as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
He previously served in the (1) private, (2) government, and (3) nonprofit sectors:
Judge Kacsmaryk is an Honors graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he joined the Federalist Society and served as an Executive Editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Judge Kacsmaryk co-founded the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter in 2012, coordinated the 2018 Texas Chapters Conference hosted by the Fort Worth Lawyers Chapter, and presently serves on its Advisory Board.
District Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Judge Brantley Starr was appointed to United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in August 2019. Before his appointment, Judge Starr was the Deputy First Assistant Attorney General of Texas. Prior to that appointment, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel. From 2011 to 2015, Judge Starr served as career staff attorney to Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. From 2008 to 2011, he practiced at King & Spalding, LLP. He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Judge Starr clerked for then-Justice Don Willett on the Texas Supreme Court after serving at the Office of the Attorney General. Judge Starr received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree from Abilene Christian University in 2001. Judge Starr has taught the Origins of the Constitution Class at the University of Texas law, Texas A&M law, and SMU law.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erik Baptist serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, focusing on administrative litigation and regulatory advocacy.
Before joining ADF, Baptist was a partner at Wiley Rein LLP—one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C.—where he employed his expertise in administrative and environmental law to represent clients on litigation, regulatory, and enforcement matters.
Prior to working at Wiley, Baptist served as a senior executive service appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the senior deputy general counsel and deputy assistant administrator, he directed EPA’s litigation, implemented groundbreaking rulemakings and policies, represented EPA and defended witnesses in response to congressional inquiries, and collectively helped oversee the work of more than 1,100 EPA lawyers, scientists, and staff.
Baptist began his career in the Trial Department of the international law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. He earned his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. During law school, Baptist externed for the Honorable Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, interned for the Honorable Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals, and served on The George Washington International Law Review.
Baptist is an active member of the D.C. Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeal.
Faculty Fellow, Center for Law, Science & Innovation, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Dr. Klein is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is also Principal at Roger D. Klein, MD JD Consulting and Klein & Klein Co., L.P.A. He was formerly Chief Medical Officer at OmniSeq, an oncology focused genomic profiling company that was recently acquired by LabCorp. Previously, Roger was the Medical Director at the Molecular Oncology division at the Cleveland Clinic. He was also the Chair of the Professional Relations Committee at the Association for Molecular Pathology. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, he served as Medical Director of Molecular Oncology at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin where he led the center’s Diagnostic Laboratories’ initiative focused on DNA- and RNA-based testing for evaluation of cancer patients.
Dr. Klein has been an advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has participated in and assumed leadership roles in many professional society committees and corporate advisory boards and is a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute.
Dr. Klein is licensed to practice medicine in Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin. Additionally, he is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Ohio. Roger obtained his Molecular Genetic Pathology certification at Mayo Medical School following completion of his M.D. Yale University School of Medicine. He obtained his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Senior Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom
Erik Baptist serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, focusing on administrative litigation and regulatory advocacy.
Before joining ADF, Baptist was a partner at Wiley Rein LLP—one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C.—where he employed his expertise in administrative and environmental law to represent clients on litigation, regulatory, and enforcement matters.
Prior to working at Wiley, Baptist served as a senior executive service appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the senior deputy general counsel and deputy assistant administrator, he directed EPA’s litigation, implemented groundbreaking rulemakings and policies, represented EPA and defended witnesses in response to congressional inquiries, and collectively helped oversee the work of more than 1,100 EPA lawyers, scientists, and staff.
Baptist began his career in the Trial Department of the international law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. He earned his B.A. from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. During law school, Baptist externed for the Honorable Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, interned for the Honorable Eric T. Washington of the D.C. Court of Appeals, and served on The George Washington International Law Review.
Baptist is an active member of the D.C. Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts of appeal.
Faculty Fellow, Center for Law, Science & Innovation, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University
Dr. Klein is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He is also Principal at Roger D. Klein, MD JD Consulting and Klein & Klein Co., L.P.A. He was formerly Chief Medical Officer at OmniSeq, an oncology focused genomic profiling company that was recently acquired by LabCorp. Previously, Roger was the Medical Director at the Molecular Oncology division at the Cleveland Clinic. He was also the Chair of the Professional Relations Committee at the Association for Molecular Pathology. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, he served as Medical Director of Molecular Oncology at the BloodCenter of Wisconsin where he led the center’s Diagnostic Laboratories’ initiative focused on DNA- and RNA-based testing for evaluation of cancer patients.
Dr. Klein has been an advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has participated in and assumed leadership roles in many professional society committees and corporate advisory boards and is a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute.
Dr. Klein is licensed to practice medicine in Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin. Additionally, he is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Ohio. Roger obtained his Molecular Genetic Pathology certification at Mayo Medical School following completion of his M.D. Yale University School of Medicine. He obtained his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Partner, Jackson Walker
A former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Freel advises businesses and individuals under investigation by the government and conducts internal investigations for companies. Drawing on her extensive courtroom experience, Jennifer also represents clients in civil disputes at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal court.
In her previous role as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, Jennifer prosecuted cases involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes. Her practice focused on appellate matters, defending convictions from across the district. She has argued more than 20 times before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Jennifer clerked for Judge Fortunato Benavides, who served on the Fifth Circuit. She has been appointed to the Western District of Texas Attorney Discipline Committee and the Criminal Justice Act appellate panel for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. Jennifer is an elected Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Mentorship Chair of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, a past chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Austin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Prior to attending law school, Jennifer worked as a broadcast news reporter at the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri and the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Alexa Gervasi is Executive Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Alexa is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She completed law school through Georgetown Law’s evening program, spending her days working as the Program Manager for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, directed by Professor Randy E. Barnett. After law school, Alexa spent some time in private practice before jumping ship to clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She then had the distinct privilege of clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the liberty-loving Honorable Don R. Willett before joining the Institute for Justice.
Alexa is licensed to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to practice before the Third Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
With more than 20 years government experience, Johnny Sutton has acquired expertise as a front-line trial prosecutor and a top policy advisor to a Governor and a President. Mr. Sutton runs the Austin office of the Ashcroft Law Firm which specializes in internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense and helping companies comply with federal law.
From November 2001 to April 2009, Sutton led one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the nation. The Western District of Texas covers 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and 660 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sutton managed more than 300 employees, a $28 million annual budget and directed 43,000 federal prosecutions and thousands of civil cases. Under Mr. Sutton’s leadership, the office led the nation in drug convictions, was second in illegal alien prosecutions, won more than 105 public corruption convictions and sent nearly 400 violent criminal gang members to prison.
In 2003, then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Mr. Sutton to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee—a panel of 17 U.S. Attorneys that advise the General and help carry out the President’s national goals. Sutton served from 2003 until 2009 and was chairman for nearly two years.
After leading the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice Transition Team in 2000, Mr. Sutton was named Associate Deputy Attorney General. He held the position until becoming U.S. Attorney.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Sutton was the chief policy advisor to the Governor on all criminal justice issues.
From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Sutton was a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, TX) where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials and had only three acquittals. He also successfully tried 17 murder jury trials, including seven for capital murder.
Mr. Sutton attended the University of Texas at Austin on a baseball scholarship where he was a two year lettermen and the starting left fielder for the 1983 University of Texas National Championship baseball team. Mr. Sutton was voted the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament in 1983. Mr. Sutton is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.
Mr. Sutton has dedicated his career to defending the innocent and standing up for the rule of law.
Partner, Jackson Walker
A former federal prosecutor, Jennifer Freel advises businesses and individuals under investigation by the government and conducts internal investigations for companies. Drawing on her extensive courtroom experience, Jennifer also represents clients in civil disputes at the pre-trial, trial, and appellate levels in state and federal court.
In her previous role as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, Jennifer prosecuted cases involving child exploitation, narcotics conspiracies, gun smuggling, and white collar crimes. Her practice focused on appellate matters, defending convictions from across the district. She has argued more than 20 times before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Jennifer clerked for Judge Fortunato Benavides, who served on the Fifth Circuit. She has been appointed to the Western District of Texas Attorney Discipline Committee and the Criminal Justice Act appellate panel for the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. Jennifer is an elected Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Mentorship Chair of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, a past chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Federal Bar Association, and a past president of the Austin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Prior to attending law school, Jennifer worked as a broadcast news reporter at the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Missouri and the ABC affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
Alexa Gervasi is Executive Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Alexa is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She completed law school through Georgetown Law’s evening program, spending her days working as the Program Manager for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, directed by Professor Randy E. Barnett. After law school, Alexa spent some time in private practice before jumping ship to clerk for the Honorable D. Michael Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She then had the distinct privilege of clerking on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the liberty-loving Honorable Don R. Willett before joining the Institute for Justice.
Alexa is licensed to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to practice before the Third Circuit.
Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Wes Hendrix is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated by President Donald Trump in January 2019 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. He presides over federal civil and criminal cases in the Northern District’s Lubbock, Abilene, and San Angelo Divisions. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit’s Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee and the Northern District of Texas’s Local Rules Committee. He is an adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law.
Prior to his confirmation, Judge Hendrix served as the Appellate Chief for the Northern District of Texas’s United States Attorney’s Office. He served as Chair of the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group and as an ex officio member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. He regularly coordinated with the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Appellate Section and the Office of the Solicitor General regarding cases appealed to and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he represented the United States at trial and on appeal. He helped prosecute Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He also argued over 25 appeals at the Fifth and Seventh Circuits—including two en banc arguments—and served as sole counsel in over 350 appeals. He regularly taught courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center.
Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Judge Hendrix was an associate at the Dallas office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where he focused on complex commercial, oil-and-gas, and intellectual-property litigation. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Judge Hendrix received his law degree from the University of Texas, where he served on the Texas Law Review and graduated with high honors and as a Chancellor-at-Large. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Chicago.
Of Counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Prerak Shah is Of Counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He was most recently the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, leading a team of approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys handling a wide range of cases, including securities fraud, health care fraud, the False Claims Act, computer crime, national security, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, and terrorism. Mr. Shah previously held several leadership positions at the Department of Justice, including Deputy Associate Attorney General in the office overseeing the work of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Shah served as Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and clerked for the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Partner, Ashcroft Law Firm
With more than 20 years government experience, Johnny Sutton has acquired expertise as a front-line trial prosecutor and a top policy advisor to a Governor and a President. Mr. Sutton runs the Austin office of the Ashcroft Law Firm which specializes in internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense and helping companies comply with federal law.
From November 2001 to April 2009, Sutton led one of the largest and busiest United States Attorney’s Offices in the nation. The Western District of Texas covers 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and 660 miles of U.S.-Mexico border. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Sutton managed more than 300 employees, a $28 million annual budget and directed 43,000 federal prosecutions and thousands of civil cases. Under Mr. Sutton’s leadership, the office led the nation in drug convictions, was second in illegal alien prosecutions, won more than 105 public corruption convictions and sent nearly 400 violent criminal gang members to prison.
In 2003, then-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed Mr. Sutton to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee—a panel of 17 U.S. Attorneys that advise the General and help carry out the President’s national goals. Sutton served from 2003 until 2009 and was chairman for nearly two years.
After leading the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice Transition Team in 2000, Mr. Sutton was named Associate Deputy Attorney General. He held the position until becoming U.S. Attorney.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush. Mr. Sutton was the chief policy advisor to the Governor on all criminal justice issues.
From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Sutton was a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, TX) where he tried more than 60 first chair felony jury trials and had only three acquittals. He also successfully tried 17 murder jury trials, including seven for capital murder.
Mr. Sutton attended the University of Texas at Austin on a baseball scholarship where he was a two year lettermen and the starting left fielder for the 1983 University of Texas National Championship baseball team. Mr. Sutton was voted the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Central Regional Baseball Tournament in 1983. Mr. Sutton is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese.
Mr. Sutton has dedicated his career to defending the innocent and standing up for the rule of law.
Dueling Decisions on the Regulation and Distribution of Mifepristone: AHM v. FDA & WA v. FDA
Luncheon & Keynote Address
2023 Wisconsin Chapters Conference
Pewaukee, WILitigation Update: AHM v. FDA: Challenging the FDA on “Chemical Abortion Drugs"
Erik Baptist, Roger D. Klein
In November 2022, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S....
Litigation Update: AHM v. FDA: Challenging the FDA on “Chemical Abortion Drugs"
Erik Baptist, Roger D. Klein
In November 2022, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S....
Litigation Update: AHM v. FDA: Challenging the FDA on “Chemical Abortion Drugs"
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
Panel 1: Rising Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Reform
Jennifer Sheffield Freel, Alexa L. Gervasi, James Wesley Hendrix, Prerak Shah, Johnny Sutton
Alexa Gervasi, Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution Jennifer Freel, Partner, Jackson Walker Prerak Shah,...
Panel 1: Rising Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Reform
Jennifer Sheffield Freel, Alexa L. Gervasi, James Wesley Hendrix, Prerak Shah, Johnny Sutton
Alexa Gervasi, Executive Director, Georgetown Center for the Constitution Jennifer Freel, Partner, Jackson Walker Prerak Shah,...
Topics
Biden v. Texas: SCOTUS Decides Case Involving Remain in Mexico Policy
On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court decided Biden v. Texas and, by a vote of...
Panel 1: Rising Crime Rates and Criminal Justice Reform
Eighth Annual Texas Chapters Conference
Austin, TXUT Alumni on the Bench
Eighth Annual Texas Chapters Conference
Austin, TX