|
ARGUING YES:
* Francesca Procaccini: Assistant Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School
Francesca Procaccini researches and writes about federal courts and constitutional law, particularly First Amendment law. She joined Vanderbilt University Law School in 2022 after teaching at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow, where her scholarship focused on constitutional political rights. Before that, she was a fellow with the Yale Law School Information Society Project, where she researched modern applications of First Amendment law to digital political speech and taught courses on free speech law and media law. Procaccini was also an appellate attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she litigated civil rights cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and a law clerk for Judge Jerome Farris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Her scholarly articles have been published in the Virginia Law Review, Fordham Law Review, Harvard Journal on Legislation, and Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Additionally, her legal analysis has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Lawfare. Procaccini earned her law degree cum laude at Harvard Law School, and she is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Barnard College.
* Ciara Torres-Spelliscy: Professor of Law at Stetson University
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy teaches courses in the First Amendment, Corporate Governance, Business Entities, and Constitutional Law. Before joining Stetson, she was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice providing guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers, an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP, and a staffer for Sen. Richard Durbin. She is the author of “Corporate Citizen: An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State” and “Political Brands”. Torres-Spelliscy has testified before Congress and has helped draft legislation and Supreme Court briefs. She’s been published in many law reviews, along with The Washington Post, New York Times, New York Law Journal, U.S. News and World Report, Roll Call, the ABA Judges Journal, and other newspapers. She has been named a member of the Lawyers of Color's "50 Under 50" list of minority law professors making an impact in legal education and is a member of the AALS Section on Constitutional Law Executive Committee. She is a Brennan Center Fellow, a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, the Vice Chair of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and a former board member of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
ARGUING NO:
* Floyd Abrams: Senior Counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Floyd Abrams is Senior Counsel in Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP's litigation practice group. Abrams has extensive experience in high-visibility matters, often involving First Amendment, intellectual property, public policy, and regulatory issues, arguing frequently in the Supreme Court in high-profile cases. He represented The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers case, Judith Miller in the CIA leak grand jury investigation, Citizens United in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and other high-profile clients such as Standard & Poor's, Lorillard Tobacco Company, NPR, and Hearst. He founded the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School, which promotes free speech, scholarship, and law reform on emerging questions concerning traditional and new media. He previously clerked for Judge Paul Conway Leahy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and was a visiting lecturer at Columbia and Yale Law Schools. Described as "the most significant First Amendment lawyer of our age," Floyd has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and has been awarded the Walter Cronkite Freedom of Information Award and the Thurgood Marshall Award of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, among other awards.
* Eric Wang: Partner at The Gober Group; pro bono Senior Fellow at the Institute for Free Speech
Eric Wang is a partner at The Gober Group and a pro bono Senior Fellow at the Institute for Free Speech (IFS). His practice focuses on federal and state campaign finance, lobbying, political nonprofits, and government ethics laws. He has advised clients on the campaign finance laws in all fifty states and in many municipalities. At the Institute for Free Speech, Wang helps advocate for reducing the regulatory burden on clients exercising their First Amendment rights. He was previously Special Counsel in the Election Law practice group at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wiley Rein, interim general counsel at Americans for Prosperity, and counsel to former Commissioner Caroline Hunter at the Federal Election Commission. His articles on political law issues have been published in USA Today, Roll Call, The Hill, Politico, and The Washington Times, among other outlets. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Princeton University.
|
