Newsweek Senior Editor-at-Large, Syndicated Columnist, Host of "The Josh Hammer Show," Article III Project Senior Counsel, Newsweek, Salem Media, Article III Project, David Horowitz Freedom Center
Josh Hammer is the senior editor-at-large of Newsweek and host of "The Josh Hammer Show," a podcast, a syndicated radio show, and TV program on Salem News Channel. A syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, Josh is a frequent pundit and essayist on political, legal, and cultural issues. He is also senior counsel for the Article III Project and Internet Accountability Project, as well as a Shillman Fellow with the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a fellow with the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.
An outspoken conservative, Josh opines on conservative intellectual trends, contemporary domestic and foreign policy debates, constitutional and legal issues, and the intersection of law, politics and culture. He has been published by many leading outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, Daily Mail, Newsweek, the Claremont Review of Books, National Affairs, American Affairs, The New Criterion, The National Interest, National Review, RealClearPolitics, First Things, City Journal, Public Discourse, Law & Liberty, Tablet Magazine, Deseret Magazine, Compact Magazine, Chronicles Magazine, The Spectator, The American Mind, The American Conservative, The European Conservative, American Greatness, American Compass, The Federalist, Blaze Media, TomKlingenstein.com, Townhall, The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal, The Daily Caller, The Epoch Times, Anchoring Truths, Fortune, Fox Business, The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, The Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Jewish Journal. He has also had legal scholarship published by the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the University of St. Thomas Law Journal.
Josh is a college campus speaker through Young America's Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and a law school campus speaker through the Federalist Society. Prior to Newsweek and The Daily Wire, where he was an editor, Josh worked at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and clerked for the Hon. James C. Ho on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Josh has also served as a John Marshall Fellow with the Claremont Institute and as a Fellow with the James Wilson Institute. He is the former host of "America on Trial with Josh Hammer," a one-season daily podcast with The First that covered the unique legal issues surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
Josh graduated from Duke University, where he majored in economics, and from the University of Chicago Law School. He lives in Florida, but remains an active member of the State Bar of Texas.
Chief Policy Counsel, Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor, Right on Crime
Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice (counciloncj.org) and Senior Advisor for Right on Crime.
An attorney and accomplished author on legal and public policy issues, Marc began the Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005. This work contributed to nationally praised policy changes that have been followed by dramatic declines in crime and incarceration in Texas. Building on this success, in 2010, Levin developed the concept for the Right on Crime initiative, a TPPF project in partnership with Prison Fellowship and the American Conservative Union Foundation. Right on Crime has become the national clearinghouse for conservative criminal justice reforms and has contributed to the adoption of policies in dozens of states that fight crime, support victims, and protect taxpayers.
In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.”
Marc has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and has testified before legislatures in states including Texas, Nevada, Kansas, Wisconsin, and California. He also has met personally with leaders such as U.S. Presidents, Speakers of the House, and the Justice Commtitee of the United Kingdom Parliament to share his ideas on criminal justice reform. In 2007, he was honored in a resolution unanimously passed by the Texas House of Representatives that stated, “Mr. Levin’s intellect is unparalleled and his research is impeccable.”
Since 2005, Marc has published dozens of policy papers on topics such as sentencing, probation, parole, reentry, and overcriminalization which are available on the TPPF website. Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Texas Review of Law & Politics, National Law Journal, New York Daily News, Jerusalem Post, Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Charlotte Observer, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Reason Magazine.
In 1999, Marc graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government. In 2002, Marc received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Marc was a Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Jessica Rich, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spent more than two and a half decades battling deceptive and fraudulent business practices at the Federal Trade Commission. She is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected consumer champions in the United States. Rich led the expansion of the FTC’s expertise in technology through the creation of the Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech). She also oversaw the development of influential FTC policy reports, including reports on the Internet of Things, Big Data, data brokers, mobile apps, and cross-device tracking.
Most recently, Rich served as the Vice President of Consumer Policy and Mobilization at Consumer Reports, where she led the organization's efforts to address the most urgent threats and pain points consumers face today, such as data privacy and security, health care costs, food safety, corporate accountability, and fairness and transparency in financial markets. She is a graduate of New York University Law School (1987) and Harvard University (1983).
Rich’s work at the Institute includes writing in her areas of expertise, participating in policy convenings, and serving as a resource to the Georgetown Law community.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sean Royall serves as the firm’s Global Practice Head for Antitrust and Consumer Protection. He has spent his entire career handling complex litigation matters and government investigations and is among the country’s most experienced and highly regarded antitrust lawyers. He focuses broadly on antitrust and consumer protection litigation, government investigations, and counseling, and is a highly experienced courtroom litigator with a stellar track record for winning high-stakes cases. Sean is equally effective navigating complex government investigations and advising clients on the details of a wide range of strategic antitrust and consumer protection issues.
Sean previously served at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. His antitrust career, both in government and private practice, has included work on many major mergers and acquisitions, as well as lead roles in complex litigation matters that often intersect with other areas of law, including patent law, various federal regulatory regimes, consumer protection, and privacy. Sean has deep experience representing clients across a range of industries, including biopharma, healthcare, e-commerce, telecom, financial services, energy, transportation, software, and semiconductors. In addition to his work on U.S. antitrust and consumer protection matters, Sean has worked and advised on many similar cases and investigations in Europe and other parts of the world.
While in government, Sean was the lead trial lawyer in the FTC’s landmark monopolization suit against computer chip maker Rambus Inc., a novel case that established new legal standards applicable to patent disclosure within industry standard-setting consortiums. More recently, Sean played an important role on the trial team for AT&T in the company’s victory over the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge to AT&T’s US$85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In addition to his trial experience, Sean has successfully argued appeals in courts around the country.
Sean also has a nationally prominent reputation for his work in the consumer protection area, where he has particularly deep experience handling FTC investigations and associated litigation focused on advertising, marketing, privacy, and data security issues. In 2018-19, for example, Sean served as lead counsel for Facebook in connection with the FTC’s extensive privacy-related investigation and subsequent settlement. He brings to this area of his practice deep knowledge of applicable law and agency practice, as well as the skills of an accomplished litigator.
For well more than a decade, Sean has been given a Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2007-2023), which has described him as “top of the field,” “a star in the antitrust world both in counseling and litigation,” and an “extremely talented lawyer and exceptional litigator.”
Sean’s other recognitions include being ranked in Chambers Global for Antitrust – USA (2020-2023); endorsed as “Highly Recommended (Texas)” by Global Competition Review (2022); named a “Litigation Star” for Intellectual Property, Competition/Antitrust, Appellate, and Commercial work by Benchmark Litigation (2023). He is named in Who’s Who Legal in Competition (2021); The Best Lawyers in America as “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2015, 2018); and The Best Lawyers in America as “Litigation: Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2019). He has also been named to the “All-Star List” by BTI Services (2017) and deemed a “National Antitrust MVP” by Law360 (2015); a “Mergers and Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer” by National Law Journal (2015); and a “Life Sciences Star” in Antitrust (2022) and Competition and Antitrust (2018–2019) by LMG Life Sciences. Sean was also named one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” in 2022.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Gerry is a partner in Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data Group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, intellectual property, and Internet issues, especially as they relate to privacy, information security and consumer protection. An experienced and pragmatic litigator, Gerry focuses a significant part of his practice on prelitigation and advisory services relating to business strategy for privacy by design, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies and markets, often acting as outside product counsel to leading innovators and disruptive technology companies.
Gerry is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In recent years, he has helped many automotive, health information technology, data management, advertising and consumer technology companies with information management and protection strategy, including some of the most popular consumer products and services of the past decade.
Nick Ohnell Fellow, The Manhattan Institute
Rafael Mangual is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and a member of the Council on Criminal Justice. His first book, Criminal (In)Justice, was released in July 2022. He has authored and coauthored a number of MI reports and op-eds on issues ranging from urban crime and jail violence to broader matters of criminal and civil justice reform. His work has been featured and mentioned in a wide array of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, New York Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and City Journal. Mangual also regularly appears on Fox News and has made a number of national and local television and radio appearances on outlets such as C-SPAN and Bloomberg Radio. In 2020, he was appointed to serve a four-year term as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Prior to joining MI in 2015, Rafael worked in corporate communications for the International Trademark Association. He holds a B.A. in corporate communications from the City University of New York’s Baruch College and a J.D. from DePaul University in Chicago, where he was president of the Federalist Society and vice president of the Appellate Moot Court team. After graduating from law school, Mangual was inducted into the Order of the Barristers, a national honor society for excellence in oral and written advocacy.
Head of AI Policy, Abundance Institute
Neil Chilson is the Head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute. Prior to this position, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. Chilson is a lawyer, computer scientist, and author of the book “Getting Out of Control: Emergent Leadership in a Complex World.”
Chilson was previously the senior research fellow for Technology and Innovation at Stand Together, where he guided efforts to understand and promote the legal and cultural paradigms that best enable people to discover, innovate, and improve all our lives.
Before Stand Together, Chilson was the Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on the economics of privacy and blockchain-related issues. Previously, he was an attorney advisor to Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen. In both roles he advised Chairman Ohlhausen and worked with staff on nearly every major technology-related case, report, workshop, or other FTC proceeding since January 2014. Neil joined the FTC from telecom firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Neil is frequently quoted by the press and his work has appeared in numerous news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USAToday, and Newsweek. Neil has a J.D. from The George Washington Law School, a M.S. in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in computer science from Harding University.
Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Georgetown Law
Jessica Rich, former Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spent more than two and a half decades battling deceptive and fraudulent business practices at the Federal Trade Commission. She is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and well-respected consumer champions in the United States. Rich led the expansion of the FTC’s expertise in technology through the creation of the Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech). She also oversaw the development of influential FTC policy reports, including reports on the Internet of Things, Big Data, data brokers, mobile apps, and cross-device tracking.
Most recently, Rich served as the Vice President of Consumer Policy and Mobilization at Consumer Reports, where she led the organization's efforts to address the most urgent threats and pain points consumers face today, such as data privacy and security, health care costs, food safety, corporate accountability, and fairness and transparency in financial markets. She is a graduate of New York University Law School (1987) and Harvard University (1983).
Rich’s work at the Institute includes writing in her areas of expertise, participating in policy convenings, and serving as a resource to the Georgetown Law community.
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sean Royall serves as the firm’s Global Practice Head for Antitrust and Consumer Protection. He has spent his entire career handling complex litigation matters and government investigations and is among the country’s most experienced and highly regarded antitrust lawyers. He focuses broadly on antitrust and consumer protection litigation, government investigations, and counseling, and is a highly experienced courtroom litigator with a stellar track record for winning high-stakes cases. Sean is equally effective navigating complex government investigations and advising clients on the details of a wide range of strategic antitrust and consumer protection issues.
Sean previously served at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the Deputy Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. His antitrust career, both in government and private practice, has included work on many major mergers and acquisitions, as well as lead roles in complex litigation matters that often intersect with other areas of law, including patent law, various federal regulatory regimes, consumer protection, and privacy. Sean has deep experience representing clients across a range of industries, including biopharma, healthcare, e-commerce, telecom, financial services, energy, transportation, software, and semiconductors. In addition to his work on U.S. antitrust and consumer protection matters, Sean has worked and advised on many similar cases and investigations in Europe and other parts of the world.
While in government, Sean was the lead trial lawyer in the FTC’s landmark monopolization suit against computer chip maker Rambus Inc., a novel case that established new legal standards applicable to patent disclosure within industry standard-setting consortiums. More recently, Sean played an important role on the trial team for AT&T in the company’s victory over the Department of Justice’s antitrust challenge to AT&T’s US$85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In addition to his trial experience, Sean has successfully argued appeals in courts around the country.
Sean also has a nationally prominent reputation for his work in the consumer protection area, where he has particularly deep experience handling FTC investigations and associated litigation focused on advertising, marketing, privacy, and data security issues. In 2018-19, for example, Sean served as lead counsel for Facebook in connection with the FTC’s extensive privacy-related investigation and subsequent settlement. He brings to this area of his practice deep knowledge of applicable law and agency practice, as well as the skills of an accomplished litigator.
For well more than a decade, Sean has been given a Band 1 ranking by Chambers USA (2007-2023), which has described him as “top of the field,” “a star in the antitrust world both in counseling and litigation,” and an “extremely talented lawyer and exceptional litigator.”
Sean’s other recognitions include being ranked in Chambers Global for Antitrust – USA (2020-2023); endorsed as “Highly Recommended (Texas)” by Global Competition Review (2022); named a “Litigation Star” for Intellectual Property, Competition/Antitrust, Appellate, and Commercial work by Benchmark Litigation (2023). He is named in Who’s Who Legal in Competition (2021); The Best Lawyers in America as “Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2015, 2018); and The Best Lawyers in America as “Litigation: Antitrust Lawyer of the Year” (2019). He has also been named to the “All-Star List” by BTI Services (2017) and deemed a “National Antitrust MVP” by Law360 (2015); a “Mergers and Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazer” by National Law Journal (2015); and a “Life Sciences Star” in Antitrust (2022) and Competition and Antitrust (2018–2019) by LMG Life Sciences. Sean was also named one of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” in 2022.
Partner, Reed Smith LLP
Gerry is a partner in Reed Smith's IP, Tech & Data Group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, intellectual property, and Internet issues, especially as they relate to privacy, information security and consumer protection. An experienced and pragmatic litigator, Gerry focuses a significant part of his practice on prelitigation and advisory services relating to business strategy for privacy by design, data protection, intellectual property, and emerging technologies and markets, often acting as outside product counsel to leading innovators and disruptive technology companies.
Gerry is designated as a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. In recent years, he has helped many automotive, health information technology, data management, advertising and consumer technology companies with information management and protection strategy, including some of the most popular consumer products and services of the past decade.
Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley; Senior Research Fellow, School of Civic Leadership, Civitas Institute, University of Texas at Austin; Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
John Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law. He is also Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Civic Leadership and Senior Research Fellow, Civitas Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
His most recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court, co-authored with Robert Delahunty, was published in 2023. Professor Yoo’s other books include Defender-in-Chief: Trump’s Fight for Presidential Power; Striking Power: How Cyber, Robots, and Space Weapons Change the Rules for War, Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare, and Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George Bush.
Professor Yoo has published more than 100 articles in academic journals on subjects including national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He also regularly contributes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and National Review, among others.
Professor Yoo has served in all three branches of government. He was an official in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on national security and terrorism issues after the 9/11 attacks. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He has been a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman. He has been a visiting professor at Seoul National University in South Korea, the Interdisciplinary Center in Israel, Keio University in Japan, Trento University in Italy, the University of Chicago, and the Free University of Amsterdam.
Professor Yoo supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center. He also serves on the boards of the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Federalist Society’s Separation of Powers and Federalism Division, the Universidad Cientifica del Sur Law School, and the Asia-Pacific Law Institute at Seoul National University. He is a winner of the Federalist Society’s Paul Bator award and been the Edwin Meese III Originalism Lecturer at the Heritage Foundation.
Professor Yoo graduated from Yale Law School and summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Dr. John Eastman is the former Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service and former Dean at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law, where he had been a member of the faculty since 1999, specializing in Constitutional Law, Legal History, and Property. He is a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute that he founded in 1999. He has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, and a B.A. in Politics and Economics from the University of Dallas. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Organization for Marriage.
Prior to joining the Chapman law faculty, Dr. Eastman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and practiced law with the national law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Eastman has also represented numerous clients in important constitutional law matters and has argued before the Supreme Court. On behalf of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, he has participated as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Courts of Appeals, and State Supreme Courts in more than one hundred cases of constitutional significance, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (the school vouchers case), Kelo v. New London, Ct. (eminent domain), and Van Orden v. Perry (the 10 Commandments case). He has also appeared as an expert legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs, including C-SPAN, Fox News, PBS, NewsHour, and The O'Reilly Factor.
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Judge O’Scannlain was appointed United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit by President Reagan on September 26, 1986. He received a J.D. degree in 1963 from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in 1957 from St. John’s University. He also earned the LL.M. (Judicial Process) degree at University of Virginia Law School in 1992. He was awarded the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by the University of Notre Dame in 2002, the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by Lewis & Clark College in 2003 and the LL.D. (honoris causa) degree by the University of Portland in 2011.
As a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judge O’Scannlain has participated in over 6,000 federal cases and has written hundreds of published opinions on a broad range of subjects including constitutional law, international law, securities law, administrative law, and criminal law. He hears appeals in San Francisco (court headquarters), as well as in Los Angeles (Pasadena), Portland, Seattle, Anchorage and Honolulu. The late Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Judge O'Scannlain to the Federal Judicial Center's Advisory Committee on Appellate Judge Education. In 2009, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge O’Scannlain to the International Judicial Relations Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference and subsequently appointed him Chairman in 2010.
President George W. Bush appointed Judge O’Scannlain to the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation in 2004. Pope Benedict XVI conferred the Order of Saint Gregory the Great on Judge and Mrs. O’Scannlain in 2007.
Judge O’Scannlain’s professional interests also include judicial administration and reform, and continuing legal education. Judge O’Scannlain is former Chair of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association and has previously chaired the ABA’s Appellate Judges Conference, its Committee on Appellate Practice, and its 9th Appellate Practice Institute. He has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on several occasions, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, and the Commission on Structural Alternatives for the Federal Courts of Appeals on the subject of court reorganization. In addition to serving as a faculty member at numerous federal appellate practice seminars for judges and attorneys, including New York University Law School’s Institute for Judicial Administration, Judge O’Scannlain is an Adjunct Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School where he teaches a seminar on the Supreme Court. He has served as a Moot Court Judge at distinguished law schools across the United States including Harvard, Yale Stanford, Boalt Hall (Berkeley Law), Virginia, Cornell, Notre Dame, Fordham, Alabama, University of Southern California, King Hall (U.C. Davis) and Loyola Marymount University and in China at Xiamen and Renmin Universities.
Between graduation from Harvard and investiture as a federal judge, Judge O’Scannlain was primarily engaged in private law practice. Between 1969 and 1974, he was consecutively the Deputy Attorney General of Oregon, the Public Utility Commissioner of Oregon, and Director of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1978 as a Major after 23 years Reserve and National Guard service, including four years as an enlisted man.
A first generation Irish-American son of immigrant parents from Sligo and Derry, Judge O’Scannlain is married to the former Maura Nolan and has eight children: Sean, Jane, Brendan, Kevin, Megan, Christopher, Anne, and Kate, and nineteen grandchildren. His chambers are in the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon.
Former Attorney General, State of Arizona
Mark Brnovich served as Arizona's 26th Attorney General from 2015 to 2023. He was first inaugurated in 2015, and again in 2019 after winning re-election. Mark has spent most of his professional life serving as a prosecutor at the local, state, and federal levels. Mark met his wife Susan while they both worked as prosecutors for the Maricopa County Attorney's office. Mark worked in the Gang/Repeat Offender Unit and prosecuted many difficult and high profile cases from 1992 to 1998. He then went on to work as an Assistant Attorney General with the Arizona Attorney General's Office from 1998 to 2003, where he developed an expertise in gambling law. Brnovich later went on to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona where he prosecuted public integrity crimes, as well as crimes occurring in Indian Country.
Brnovich has also been a Judge Pro Tem of Maricopa County Superior Court, a Command Staff Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army National Guard, the Director for Constitutional Government at the Goldwater Institute, and the Director of the Arizona Department of Gaming, a law enforcement agency that investigates illegal gambling activity, as well as working with tribal regulators to ensure the integrity of tribal gaming.
Brnovich is known for restoring public confidence in the office of "Arizona's Top Cop" and for assembling some of the nation's most talented public servants for his administration. Mark argued at the United States Supreme Court in defense of the "one-person, one-vote" principle, was featured on 60 Minutes in defense of capital punishment, and has initiated national public education efforts to combat human sex trafficking.
Brnovich has been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Business as a "Champion of Small Business." and was elected by his bi-partisan colleagues to serve as the Chairman of the Conference of Western Attorneys General.
Mark's wife Susan was recently appointed by the United States Senate to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona. He has two teenage daughters and lives in Phoenix.
Attorney General, State of Arkansas
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. She was sworn into office in 2015 and is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected to the office. She was re-elected to a second term in 2018.
An Arkansas lawyer who has spent her entire career in public service, Rutledge is a former prosecutor, and her law practice focused on administrative law, state and local government and election law.
A seventh generation Arkansan, Rutledge grew up on a cattle farm and attended school at the Southside School District in Independence County. From her mother, an elementary school teacher, and her father, a lawyer and a judge, Rutledge learned the importance of hard work and service.
She graduated from the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge is admitted to practice law in Arkansas, Washington D.C. and before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rutledge began work in the Arkansas Court of Appeals clerking for Judge Josephine Hart, now Associate Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court. Rutledge served as Deputy Counsel in the Office of Governor Mike Huckabee advising state agencies including: Oil and Gas Commission, Public Service Commission, Insurance Department, Real Estate Commission, Bank Department, and dozens of smaller state agencies and departments. She served as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County handling felony cases and as Attorney for Arkansas's Division of Children and Family Services advocating for the best interest of our most vulnerable.
During her time in Washington, D.C., Rutledge was Deputy Counsel for the Mike Huckabee for President campaign, Deputy Counsel at the National Republican Congressional Committee and Counsel for the Republican National Committee including the 2012 Presidential campaign.
Her service has extended to community organizations including the Junior League, Alpha Delta Pi Alumni, National Rifle Association and Women in Networking in Central Arkansas. Rutledge is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association, UALR Bowen School of Law Alumni Board, Federalist Society and Republican National Lawyers Association.
Attorney General Rutledge believes face-to-face conversations lead to real solutions. To make the office more accessible, she hosts Mobile Offices in all 75 counties.
Her priorities have included educating Arkansans on consumer protection, internet safety and dating violence; leading efforts to combat the opioid epidemic; supporting military and veteran families; and making the office a top law firm in the state.
She also created Metal Theft Prevention and Cooperative Disability Investigations programs to stop fraud.
Rutledge leads multi-state issues to include serving on the Republican Attorneys General Association Executive Committee, as Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Southern Region, and as Co-chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Committee on Agriculture.
Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.
Partner, Ballard Partners
Pam Bondi, elected twice to serve as Florida’s Attorney General from 2011 – 2019, chairs the firm’s Corporate Regulatory Compliance practice. This national practice area focuses on serving Fortune 500 companies to implement best practices that proactively address public policy challenges such as human trafficking, opioid abuse and personal data privacy. As chair of the Corporate Regulatory Compliance practice, Pam works with clients to design and implement publicly conscious initiatives that will elevate their corporate responsibility reputation as well as address their critical regulatory challenges.
Bondi was one of Florida’s most accomplished Attorneys General and earned a reputation among her colleagues as one of the toughest law enforcement officials in the country. During her tenure as Attorney General of Florida, Bondi undertook dozens of major state and national initiatives, including filing the most comprehensive state litigation regarding the national opioid crisis. She played a leading role in achieving the National Mortgage Settlement that ultimately resulted in $56 billion in total relief nationally. In a tremendous victory for Florida, Bondi sued BP and other responsible parties in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill case and settled for more than $2 billion in economic relief for Florida alone.
Since 2011, Bondi worked aggressively to shut down pill mills, combat opioid abuse, ban synthetic drugs, end human trafficking, test previously unprocessed sexual assault kits, develop a school safety app to prevent school shootings, recover more than $1 billion in consumer protection, antitrust, and false claims matters (not counting the National Mortgage Settlement and BP), obtain more than $870 million in settlements and judgments through the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, supervise the prosecution of hundreds of multi-judicial circuit criminal cases, defend Florida’s laws and constitution, and guard against federal overreach.
She has served on numerous boards, including: President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis; Chair, Florida Statewide Council on Human Trafficking; Co-chair of the Substance Abuse Committee for the National Association of Attorneys General; and the Florida Constitutional Revision Commission.
Pam has also received numerous awards and accolades, including: the 2017 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Award for Excellence in Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse; the
2018 Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association Furtherance of Justice Award; 2018 Drug Free America Lifetime Achievement Award; 2013 Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida Champion of Independent Education in Florida; and the 2012 National Association of Attorneys General President’s Award.
Bondi is a fourth-generation Floridian who spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor, trying cases ranging from domestic violence to capital murder. With her successful first-time run for office in 2010, Bondi became the first female Attorney General in Florida’s history.
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Deep Dive Episode 109 – Regulating by Consent Agreement: Examining FTC’s YouTube Settlement and Beyond
Neil Chilson, Jessica Rich, Sean Royall, Gerard Stegmaier
On September 4, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced sweeping regulatory changes to the operation...
Deep Dive Episode 109 – Regulating by Consent Agreement: Examining FTC’s YouTube Settlement and Beyond
Executive Branch Review Week Teleforum
TeleforumExecutive Branch Review Week
Separation of Powers and the Administrative State
Does the Fourteenth Amendment Guarantee Birthright Citizenship? [POLICYbrief]
John C. Yoo, John C. Eastman
What does the text of the Constitution say about United States citizenship? Does the Fourteenth...
The Future of the Federal Judiciary
Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
The Role of the State Attorney General [POLICYbrief]
Mark Brnovich, Leslie C. Rutledge, Pam Bondi
What is the role of the state attorney general? How has it changed in recent...