Amicus Attorney, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Abby joined FIRE after her tenure at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she litigated First Amendment student group cases from coast to coast. She also worked at a trial litigation boutique in southern California. Abby has filed briefs on the First Amendment in state and federal court at the trial and appellate court levels, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby received her B.S. in economics and her B.A. in Chinese language and literature from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated summa cum laude. During college, she also spent a year at Tsinghua University as a Boren Fellow. She later received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she won the 2018 Hinton Moot Court Competition. After law school, Abby clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Brennan on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is admitted to practice in New York and California, as well as several federal appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abby lives outside Dallas, Texas, with her husband and family. They enjoy reading together, volunteering with their local church, and continuing to fix their leaky pool.
Stephen Cranney has a dual PhD in sociology and demography from the University of Pennsylvania and is a freelance data scientist in the Washington, DC, area.
Clinical Professor of Law, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Chapman University
Virginia Supreme Court Rules State Constitution Includes Expansive Protections of Religious Exercise
Abigail Smith
In Vlaming v. West Point School Board, a former teacher’s lawsuit was given new life...
Measuring and Evaluating Public Responses to Religious Rights Rulings
Creighton Roland Meland, Stephen Cranney
The story of Jack Phillips and his cake shop—Masterpiece Cakeshop—is by now familiar. Jack Phillips...
Topics
"Docs vs. Glocks" and the Firearm Owners' Privacy Act
In 2011, the Florida legislature passed the Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act (“the Act”) to protect patients...
Supreme Court Preview: Compelled Financing of Expressive Activities
Anthony (Tom) Caso
Since the Court's decision in Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Educ., 431 U.S. 209 (1977),...