7th Annual James Wilson Fellowship
Old Town Alexandria, VA
August 2-August 7, 2020
Professor Hadley Arkes, joined by other distinguished scholars, will offer a seminar over six days on Natural Law and its bearing on our current law. The course will focus on discussing the central points of a jurisprudence of Natural Law, such as the classic connection between the “logic of morals” and the “logic of law,” the properties of moral truths and the principles of judgment, and how we would see certain landmark cases differently if they were viewed through the lens of Natural Law. Our main objective is to restore a moral coherence to our jurisprudence.
Wayne Beckermann
Wayne Beckermann is a 2020 J.D. Candidate at the University of Texas School of Law. He has previously served as President of the Texas School of Law chapter of the Federalist Society and as Assistant Managing Editor of the Texas Review of Law & Politics. Wayne is also a Blackstone Legal Fellow from the Class of 2018. He worked as a summer associate at Reed Smith L.L.P. in Houston and interned for the Honorable Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After graduating, he will serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Charles Eskridge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Wayne graduated with both a B.A. and an M.P.S.A. from Texas A&M University.
Evelyn Blacklock
Evelyn Blacklock is a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis in New York. She previously clerked for Chief Justice Roberts at the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Kavanaugh at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Sullivan at the Southern District of New York. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant to professors specializing in administrative law, federal courts, and civil procedure. Last fall, she was a Temple Bar Scholar in London. She has a B.A. from Patrick Henry College.
Christine Budasoff
Christine Budasoff is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She practices in her firm’s appellate and constitutional law, administrative law and regulatory practice, and congressional investigations practice groups. Before private practice, she clerked for the Honorable David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Christine graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law with high honors and first in her class. While in law school, she served as articles editor of the North Carolina Law Review, externed for three federal judges, and was president of the UNC Federalist Society. Christine also holds a B.A. in political science from Wake Forest University. She previously attended the Georgetown Center for the Constitution's Originalism Summer Seminar and The Federalist Society's James Kent Summer Academy.
Alan Carillo
Alan Carrillo is an inaugural law clerk to the Honorable Judge Brantley Starr, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Previously, Alan practiced at Foley & Lardner L.L.P., clerked at the Texas Attorney General’s Office of Special Litigation, and interned for a year at International Justice Mission in Nairobi, Kenya. He was awarded Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship in 2016 and National Review Institute's Burke to Buckley Fellowship in 2019. Alan holds a B.A. in government and strategic intelligence from Patrick Henry College and a J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law. Alan lives in Dallas with his wife, daughter, and two Labrador Retrievers.
Christopher Galiardo
Christopher Galiardo clerks for the Honorable Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He previously clerked for two other federal district court judges; managed Latin American trade law enforcement at the White House; and worked in various legal capacities for the Pentagon, State Department, and Senate Judiciary Committee. Before law school, he directed national recruitment strategy at Teach For America and completed a Fulbright Scholarship. He is a former Catholic seminarian and earned degrees at Dartmouth (A.B.), Harvard (M.P.P.), and Yale (J.D.). He will clerk for the Honorable Lawrence J. VanDyke of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit starting in 2023.
Michael Hayes
Michael Hayes is a law clerk to the Honorable Judge L. Steven Grasz, of the U.S. Court of appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Previously, he taught philosophy, logic, and Western Civilization at the University of Kansas before graduating from law school. He also worked as a summer associate at Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. in Kansas City, Missouri and has interned for the United States Attorney for the District of Kansas. Michael graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Dallas. He received a Ph.D. in philosophy and a J.D from the University of Kansas and is a recipient of the C.C. Stewart award for top law school GPA. Michael lives with his wife and three girls in Overland Park, Kansas.
Justin Miller
Justin Miller clerks for Judge Andrew L. Brasher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Last year, he clerked for Judge Brasher of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. Mr. Miller graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he received the International Center for Law and Religion Studies’ Outstanding Service Award and published his note on law and corpus linguistics in the BYU Law Review. During law school, Mr. Miller clerked at Schaerr Jaffe LLP, the Civil Appeals Division of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, and the Criminal Appeals Division of the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps. He also served as a judicial extern to Judge N. Randy Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Judge Dale A. Kimball of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and Chief Justice Sherry Radack of the Texas First Court of Appeals.
Sean Nelson
Sean Nelson is Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom for ADF International in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was an associate attorney focusing on complex commercial litigation and government investigations at Jenner & Block LLP in Los Angeles. Sean received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a supervising editor for the Harvard Journal on Legislation and a research assistant on First Amendment religious freedom issues. During law school, he was an extern at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Civil Division, in Los Angeles, and at the Office of General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He has been featured in National Review, Daily Signal, and other outlets, and regularly speaks on the situation of religious minorities throughout the world. He holds an M.A. in English from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Southern California. Sean is admitted to the state bar of California.
Branton Nestor
Branton Nestor is a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Julius N. Richardson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Previously, he served as a summer clerk at the Texas Solicitor General’s Office and a summer associate at O’Melveny & Myers. Prior to law school, he was a staffer for the Ted Cruz presidential campaign. Branton holds his B.A. in history and political science from Westmont College, and he is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as a vice president of the Harvard University chapter of the Federalist Society and a notes editor on the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy.
David Rosenthal
David Rosenthal is a law clerk to the Honorable Judge Joel M. Carson III, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Previously, he clerked to the Honorable Judge James A. Teilborg, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Prior to clerking, he served as a Visiting Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, where he regularly contributed to The Daily Signal. David holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance from Northeastern University as well as a J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Arizona.
Steven Schaefer
Steven Schaefer currently serves as an attorney in the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to government service, he worked as a commercial litigator at a law firm in Birmingham, Michigan. He earned his J.D. from Wayne State University Law School, where he served as an Associate Editor on the Wayne Law Review, while teaching full-time. He holds a M.A. in Curriculum and Teaching, and a B.A. in History from Michigan State University. He is currently a student in the inaugural class of Hillsdale’s Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C.
Holden Tanner
Holden Tanner is a 3L at Yale Law School, where he serves as Vice-President of Academic Affairs for the Yale Law School chapter of the Federalist Society and Executive Editor for the Yale Journal on Regulation. After graduating, he will clerk for the Honorable Justice James D. Blacklock of the Texas Supreme Court and then for the Honorable Judge Don R. Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Previously, he has worked as a summer associate at BakerHostetler in Houston, TX. He has also worked as an intern at the Yale University Office of the General Counsel. Prior to law school, he served as a student minister in a Baptist church and a legal assistant with Wagner & Sáenz in Houston, TX. Holden graduated summa cum laude from the Honors College at the University of Houston with a B.A. in English.
Daniel Vitagliano
Daniel Vitagliano is a 2020 graduate, summa cum laude, of St. John’s University School of Law. He will serve as a law clerk to Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2020 to 2021 and then to Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2021 to 2022. He previously worked as a summer associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York and served as an intern to Judges Joseph F. Bianco and Dennis Jacobs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. At St. John’s, Daniel served as an Associate Managing Editor of the St. John’s Law Review and a student fellow for the St. John’s Center for Law and Religion. He received the Justice Harold Birns Award for his note on legislator-led prayer. Daniel is a member of the American Enterprise Institute’s Leadership Network Millennial Cohort. He earned his B.A., magna cum laude, in Communication Studies from the University of Rhode Island.
Eric Wessan
Eric Wessan is a law clerk to the Honorable Judge James C. Ho, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is currently on the Executive Board for the Chicago Federalist Society and previously served as President of the University of Chicago Law School chapter of the Federalist Society. Prior to law school, he served as Vice Consul of Policy & Communication for the British Consulate-General in Chicago, where he analyzed U.S. politics for the British government. Additionally, he was also previously honored by the Claremont Institute as a John Marshall Fellow. Eric graduated with both a B.A. and J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago.
