Dmitri Alperovitch Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Ben Buchanan is a Dmitri Alperovitch Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to coming to Hopkins, he worked in the White House from 2021-2025, including as White House Special Advisor for Artificial Intelligence, where he was responsible for coordinating the Biden Administration actions on AI. He is the author of three books on AI, cybersecurity, and national security.
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Sowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Michael served over 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, culminating his career as the Director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, and the senior executive for AI in the Department of Defense. He previously served at the National Security Agency, overseeing global network operations and as the Director of Intelligence for the Chairman and the Joint Staff. In that position he worked closely with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense and Senior Leaders across the Department. Groen is an experienced Marine commander and multi-tour combat veteran. He was the Intelligence Officer for the 1st Marine Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom for both OIF I and II. He is the author of With the First Marine Division in Iraq, No Greater Friend, No Worse Enemy. His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Ribbon.
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance, American Enterprise Institute; Executive Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. He also directs the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
He writes on regulation and constitutional government for a variety of publications. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., after clerking for the D.C. Circuit's Judge David Sentelle. He also has been chairman of the ABA's Administrative Law Section.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court.
Senior Counsel, Chair, Religious Institutions and Education Practice Groups, First Liberty Institute
Jeremy Dys, Esq., is Senior Counsel for First Liberty.
Dys earned his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 2005. After law school, Dys clerked for the Hon. Russell M. Clawges, Jr., chief judge of the Circuit Court of Monongalia County in Morgantown, West Virginia. For six years prior to joining First Liberty Institute, Dys led a public policy organization where he led research and advocacy efforts on matters of life, marriage, and religious freedom.
Dys graduated from Taylor University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, degree in Communication Studies, with minors in U.S. History and Philosophy. During his undergraduate career, Dys studied at the American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., where he interned with the late David Orgon Coolidge as part of the Marriage Law Project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
In support of his clients, Dys has made numerous appearances in local, state, and national television, print, and radio outlets. His written commentaries have been featured at the Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com, New York Daily News, TheHill.com, Des Moines Register, Dallas Morning News, DailySignal.com, Washington Examiner, Indianapolis Star, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Outcomes Magazine, TheFederalist.com, and others.
Partner, Clement & Murphy, PLLC
Erin Murphy is founding partner of Clement & Murphy, PLLC. She is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading Supreme Court and appellate advocates. She has argued dozens of cases in appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including the Supreme Court and nearly all of the federal courts of appeals. Erin has long been ranked by Chambers & Partners rankings as a leading appellate practitioner, and the National Law Journal has named her one of the nation’s “Outstanding Women Lawyers.” Erin also has an active pro bono practice, through which she has successfully represented many religious organizations and adherents, criminal defendants, asylum applicants, adoptive parents, and more.
Erin is an adjunct professor at her alma mater the Georgetown University Law Center, a member and former officer of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and a frequent speaker on topics relating to the Supreme Court and appellate advocacy. In her spare time, Erin serves on the board of directors of Street Law.
Dmitri Alperovitch Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Ben Buchanan is a Dmitri Alperovitch Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to coming to Hopkins, he worked in the White House from 2021-2025, including as White House Special Advisor for Artificial Intelligence, where he was responsible for coordinating the Biden Administration actions on AI. He is the author of three books on AI, cybersecurity, and national security.
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Sowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Michael served over 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, culminating his career as the Director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, and the senior executive for AI in the Department of Defense. He previously served at the National Security Agency, overseeing global network operations and as the Director of Intelligence for the Chairman and the Joint Staff. In that position he worked closely with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense and Senior Leaders across the Department. Groen is an experienced Marine commander and multi-tour combat veteran. He was the Intelligence Officer for the 1st Marine Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom for both OIF I and II. He is the author of With the First Marine Division in Iraq, No Greater Friend, No Worse Enemy. His awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Combat Action Ribbon.
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance, American Enterprise Institute; Executive Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. He also directs the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
He writes on regulation and constitutional government for a variety of publications. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., after clerking for the D.C. Circuit's Judge David Sentelle. He also has been chairman of the ABA's Administrative Law Section.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
John Tanski is Vice President & Associate General Counsel at Tyson Foods.
I. Beverly Lake, Jr. Chair in Constitutional Studies and Senior Counsel at the John Locke Foundation., John Locke Foundation
Jeanette Doran is the I. Beverly Lake, Jr. Chair in Constitutional Studies and Senior Counsel at the John Locke Foundation.
Doran began her legal career as a federal law clerk in the Middle District of North Carolina after graduating with honors from Campbell Law School. She then served as the Research and Writing Attorney in the appeals section of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, appearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 2004, she joined the UNC–Chapel Hill School of Government, and a year later became staff attorney at NCICL, ultimately rising to executive director in 2011. Appointed in 2013 by the Governor to chair the Division of Employment Security’s Board of Review, she completed that public service in 2019.
Doran is also the president of the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law (NCICL), and she serves on the state’s Rules Review Commission. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit, multiple federal district courts, and all North Carolina courts. Doran holds a Juris Doctor from Campbell University.
Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice (incoming)
Adam Griffin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law. During law school, he served as a research assistant to Professor Stephen E. Sachs and UNC Law Dean Martin Brinkley. After law school, he spent two years litigating for liberty at the Institute for Justice as an inaugural Law and Liberty Fellow. He served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Richard E. Myers in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and is now a separation-of-powers attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation.
President, John William Pope Foundation
John Hood is president of the John William Pope Foundation. Hood also serves on the board of the John Locke Foundation, the state policy think tank he helped found in 1989 and led as its president for more than two decades.
Since 1986, Hood has written a syndicated column on politics and public policy for North Carolina newspapers. It appears regularly in more than 50 papers across the state. A frequent radio and television commentator, Hood is the author of seven nonfiction books on such subjects as business, advertising, public policy, and political history. His latest three books — Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk — are historical-fantasy novels set in early America.
A former Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Hood teaches at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Readers’ Digest, The New Republic, National Review, Military History, and Reason as well as newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. His broadcast appearances include CNN, NBC News, National Public Radio, and Fox News.
At Locke, Hood created the E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders, which prepares young North Carolinians for leadership roles in the public and private sectors. He also serves on the faculty and as board chair of the NC Institute of Public Leadership; as co-chair of the North Carolina Leadership Forum, based at Duke University; as vice-chair of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, State Policy Network, and the Carolina Liberty Foundation; and on the board the Student Free Press Association.
Hood received his BA in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he serves as vice chair of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC and on the foundation board of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. He earned a MA in liberal studies and a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from UNC-Greensboro.
A native of Mecklenburg County, Hood now resides in Wake County with his wife, two sons, and a stepdaughter.
Associate, Burr & Forman LLP
Wade is a litigator with the firm’s General Commercial Litigation group, and his practice spans from the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. He works regularly with clients across several industries and sectors, including white collar defense, antitrust, government investigations, construction, appellate, commercial disputes, labor and employment, and financial services.
With first-chair jury trial and bench trial experience, as well as appellate litigation experience before state and federal courts of appeal, Wade understands how critical it is to create a strong record from the commencement of litigation, and even prior to that time.
Wade recognizes that each client has unique needs, and he works closely with clients to develop a strategy tailored to meet those requirements. For some clients, this may include an aggressive litigation strategy designed to bring an efficient resolution to a dispute; for others, it may require a carefully-managed campaign to limit negative fallout or collateral damage. Wade understands that consistency creates results. Whether it’s a relatively small monetary dispute or bet-the-business litigation, Wade’s consistent and even-keeled approach to problem-solving puts clients first and helps achieve positive outcomes.
Outside the office, Wade is an avid golfer and serves as a volunteer baseball coach at for the varsity team at Charlotte Country Day School and an assistant coach for the Queen City Mustangs, Charlotte’s American Legion Baseball team.
Wade earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his B.A. in Political Science from Davidson College. Before joining Burr & Forman, Wade clerked for The Honorable Frank D. Whitney, United States District Court Judge for the Western District of North Carolina.
Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court
Chief Justice Paul Newby was born in Asheboro and grew up in Jamestown, N.C. He received his B.A. degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke University and law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.
Chief Justice Newby was first elected to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 2004. He was elevated to the highest judicial office in North Carolina in the 2020 election. As Chief Justice, he is head of the Judicial Branch, a co-equal branch of state government with the Legislative and Executive branches. He is entrusted with leading the Judicial Branch and its 7,600 elected officials and employees.
He is an adjunct professor of law at Campbell University and has published a book on the North Carolina Constitution.
Chief Justice Newby’s legal experience includes private practice and corporate inhouse legal counsel. He also served almost 20 years as an Assistant United States Attorney, during which he played an integral role in conducting the undercover sting operation that recovered North Carolina’s original copy of the Bill of Rights, stolen in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Chief Justice Newby is an Eagle Scout and is the recipient of the Heroism Award (for rescuing nine people from a riptide), the God and Service Award, the Silver Beaver Award, and the Scouter of the Year Award. In 2012, he was designated a Distinguished Eagle Scout, a national honor that recognizes both his service to the Boy Scouts and his dedication to public service.
Chief Justice Newby has been married to Macon Tucker Newby since 1983, and they have four children. He is active in his local church, where he serves as a teacher and mentor to young professionals.
James C. Dever III serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Dever (then age 39) in May 2002, and the United States Senate unanimously confirmed him. Before serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Dever served as a United States Magistrate Judge for fifteen months. He served as Chief Judge from October 2011 through October 2018.
Judge Dever received his B.B.A., with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame in 1984. He attended Notre Dame on a four-year ROTC scholarship. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate, was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and received the Raymond P. Kent Award (which is awarded to the graduating senior with the highest average in finance/economics classes). He received his J.D., with high honors, from Duke University School of Law in 1987. At Duke, he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal, was elected to the Order of the Coif, and received numerous academic awards.
After graduating from law school, he served for one year as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Judge Dever was the sole attorney entering active duty in the Air Force selected to serve in the Air Force General Counsel’s Honors Program at the Pentagon. While on active duty, he provided legal advice to and conducted litigation for the Secretary of the Air Force. He served on active duty in the Air Force at the Pentagon from October 1988 until September 1992. At the conclusion of his service, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.
Judge Dever then returned to North Carolina and joined Maupin Taylor & Ellis, P.A. in Raleigh. While in private practice, he engaged in a wide variety of complex civil litigation and served on the law firm’s management committee. He was repeatedly listed in the Best Lawyers in America and in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite for Employment Law. Since 1997, Judge Dever has taught employment law and criminal procedure as an adjunct law professor at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Since 2008, Judge Dever has co-taught a seminar on sentencing and punishment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. Since 2009, he has taught criminal procedure as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. In 2014, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where Judge Dever served until 2021. Judge Dever also serves as a member of Duke Law School's Board of Visitors.
Judge Dever’s chambers are in Raleigh, North Carolina.
United States Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of North Carolina
Robert T. Numbers, II serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Judge Numbers received degrees in Political Science and Economics, with honors, from Wake Forest University. After completing his undergraduate work, Judge Numbers obtained his law degree from the University of Notre Dame where he served on the Notre Dame Law Review.
Upon his graduation from law school, Judge Numbers joined the Winston-Salem office of a large, regional law firm. From 2005 until 2010, Judge Numbers’ practice focused on civil rights claims against local municipalities and government contractors. In 2010, Judge Numbers joined the firm’s Raleigh office and concentrated his practice on complex business litigation in state and federal courts.
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