Kelsey Flores

Kelsey joined Becket as a Constitutional Law Fellow in 2024.

Starting fall 2025, Kelsey will serve as a law clerk to the Honorable Don R. Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. And before joining Becket, she clerked for the Honorable Brantley D. Starr of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Kelsey had the privilege to defend religious freedom in multiple positions prior. After law school, she worked at First Liberty Institute in Washington, D.C. She then focused on religious freedom and other constitutional matters as Associate Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Sub-Committee on the Constitution. She analyzed policy decisions for their implications on religious liberty and prepared materials for judicial nominations, including the nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Kelsey next had the opportunity to be the Clinical Instructor for Harvard Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic. In this role, she supervised law students on litigation in religious freedom cases—including numerous Becket cases—and instructed students on the relevant doctrines. She enjoyed working alongside students to ensure religious freedom for all.

Kelsey graduated cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the SMU Law Review and President of the Federalist Society. She’s a proud graduate of Brigham Young University where she studied journalism. She also spent 18 months as a missionary in northern Italy and speaks fluent Italian.

Few things make Kelsey happier than eating good food with her loved ones. She enjoys traveling, college football season, and dance parties with her kids.

Amy Ren

Amy Ren joined Becket as a Constitutional Law Fellow in 2024.

Before coming to Becket, Amy served as a law clerk to the Honorable L. Steven Grasz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Before that, she worked as litigation associate at Susman Godfrey LLP. 

Amy earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she served as executive editor on the Stanford Law Review, managing editor on the Stanford Law & Policy Review, and teaching assistant for Professor Michael W. McConnell’s Constitutional Law: Speech and Religion course. Amy has a B.A. from Wesleyan University, with a double major in Economics and Government. Amy enjoys open-water swimming and country music. 

Reed Bartley

Reed joined Becket in September 2024 as a Constitutional Law Fellow.

Before coming to Becket, Reed clerked for Chief Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court after spending two years as an associate in the Dallas office of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. He earned his J.D. from Pepperdine School of Law, where he served as president of the Christian Legal Society and as an editor of the Pepperdine Law Review.

Reed received his B.A. in biblical and theological studies and history from Wheaton College, where he also captained the men’s soccer team. He continues to enjoy playing and watching soccer, as well as playing golf, reading fiction, and spending time with friends and family.

Amanda Salz

Amanda Salz joined Becket as counsel in 2024. Her practice focuses on First Amendment litigation at both the trial and appellate levels. 

Before joining Becket, Amanda worked as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. As a member of the firm’s appellate group, Amanda litigated many cases involving constitutional and administrative issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Amanda had the privilege of clerking for the Honorable Andrew S. Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Reed C. O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.  

Amanda graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, where she was president of the Texas Federalist Society, the Symposium Editor and an Articles Editor on the Texas Review of Law & Politics, and a member of the Supreme Court Clinic. Before law school, Amanda studied journalism at Pepperdine University and worked for an entertainment law firm in Los Angeles. 

Amanda enjoys being involved in her parish and the legal community. She’s always taking recommendations for new restaurants, quiet coffee shops, and day trips outside the city.

Andrea Butler

Andrea Butler joined Becket as counsel in 2023. Her work at Becket includes litigation in federal and state court, both at the trial and appellate level.

Prior to joining Becket, Andrea clerked for Judge Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Following her clerkship, Andrea worked as an associate at Kirkland and Ellis LLP in Washington D.C., and at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP in St. Louis. Andrea’s practice focused on appellate and complex commercial litigation, where she often worked on issues of constitutional and administrative law. During her time in private practice, Andrea advocated for broad First Amendment freedoms for a diverse range of clients, including religious institutions, news organizations, and peaceful protesters.

Andrea earned her J.D. from Washington University School of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class. She was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as executive editor of the Washington University Law Review. Andrea received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of Missouri.

Andrea lives with her husband and two hyperactive dogs. She enjoys hiking and running and, like all good Midwesterners, spending her summers at the lake.

Jordan Varberg

Jordan Varberg joined Becket as Counsel in 2023 and focuses his practice on First Amendment litigation in federal district and appellate courts. Prior to joining Becket, Jordan was an associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago, where he worked primarily on employment and labor litigation matters in state and federal courts across the country. Jordan also previously served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable David R. Stras on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Jordan is a proud graduate of Wheaton College, where he studied philosophy and graduated magna cum laude. He then attended law school at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Publishing Editor on the California Law Review.

Jordan and his wife Annie enjoy trying new restaurants, struggling through Orangetheory classes, and living in community with their friends and church. Jordan is actively trying (and failing) to shed his habit of rooting for perpetually disappointing Minnesota sports teams.

Amanda Dixon

Amanda Dixon joined Becket as a Constitutional Law Fellow in 2023. Before coming to Becket, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Allison Jones Rushing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable James C. Dever III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Amanda earned her J.D. magna cum laude, from Duke Law School, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif.  In law school, Amanda was a member of the Alaska Law Review and Duke’s First Amendment Clinic.  She served as president of Duke’s Christian Legal Society chapter.  She also served as an intern to the Honorable Paul M. Newby, Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Amanda has a B.A. from Washington & Lee University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in History and Politics.  She enjoys baking, drinking coffee, reading, and travel.

Michael O’Brien

Michael O’Brien joined Becket as Counsel in 2023. His practice focuses on First Amendment and appellate litigation.

Before joining Becket, Mike worked at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he litigated commercial, healthcare, and criminal matters at the trial and appellate levels. His appellate experience includes a 12-0 victory before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in which the court overruled two of its prior precedents.

Before that, Mike was an associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago, Illinois, where he litigated antitrust class actions and commercial appeals. At both Jones Walker and Kirkland, Mike maintained an active pro bono practice, representing prisoners and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In addition to his experience in private practice, Mike served as a law clerk to Judge Thomas M. Hardiman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Stephen A. Higginson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Mike graduated with Honors from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a Rubenstein Scholar and served as Comments Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. He was the Valedictorian of his graduating class at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his B.A. summa cum laude with a major in the Political Science Honors Program and a minor in Philosophy.

Mike met his one-of-a-kind wife, Viviana, in law school. They now have a young son and forever-young cockapoo. Alongside family and friends, they enjoy the finer things in life: crawfish boils and homemade Korean barbecue.

Benjamin Fleshman

Benjamin Fleshman joined Becket as Counsel in 2023. His work at Becket focuses on appellate litigation in both state and federal courts.

Prior to joining Becket, Ben worked as an associate at Shearman & Sterling in Washington, D.C., where he practiced antitrust law and complex commercial litigation. Before entering private practice, Ben served as a law clerk to Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Ben graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he also served as an Executive Editor for the Harvard Law Review. He earned his B.A. in English, with a minor in Psychology, from Brigham Young University. Ben also spent two years as a missionary in Canada.

Together with his wife and two young sons, Ben enjoys going for nature walks, discovering fantasy worlds, and crocheting amigurumi.

Colten Stanberry

Colten Stanberry joined Becket as a Constitutional Law Fellow in 2022. His work at Becket focuses on appellate litigation. Colten is admitted only in Texas and Oregon, and is supervised by members of the D.C. Bar.

Before coming to Becket, Colten served as a law clerk to the Honorable Allison Jones Rushing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Lavenski Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He also worked as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

Colten earned his J.D. summa cum laude from the Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, where he was the valedictorian of his class and elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Colten served as the editor in chief of the Pepperdine Law Review, the vice president of the law school’s Federalist Society chapter, a judicial extern to the Honorable Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a Blackstone Fellow. Colten received his B.A. in History cum laude from Baylor University.

Colten enjoys reading books with his wife, trying to train his golden retriever, and spending time with his church community.

Brandon Winchel

Brandon Winchel joined Becket as a Constitutional Law Fellow in 2022. He is admitted to the California bar only and his practice is limited to cases in federal court.

Prior to joining Becket, Brandon was a law clerk for the Honorable Michael B. Brennan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He also worked as a summer extern at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Brandon graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2021. At Notre Dame, he served as a managing senior editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and vice president of the Federalist Society. He was also a member of the Notre Dame Moot Court Board, where he won the law school’s 2019 internal moot court tournament and received the A. Harold Weber Moot Court Award for outstanding achievement in the art of oral advocacy. Brandon received his B.A. in History & Political Thought summa cum laude from Concordia University Irvine.

In his spare time, Brandon enjoys cheering on the Denver Broncos and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, playing strategic board games with family and friends, and golfing well over par.

Rebekah Ricketts

Rebekah Ricketts joined Becket as counsel in 2022.  Her practice focuses on First Amendment and appellate litigation.

Before joining Becket, Becky served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, where she prosecuted a wide range of violent crimes and cyber offenses, including sex trafficking, cyberstalking, carjacking, kidnapping, firearms offenses, and drug trafficking.  As Human Trafficking Coordinator, she led the District’s efforts to reconstitute the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, a cross-agency task force led by Homeland Security Investigations.  She also obtained the first criminal indictment and guilty plea under the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), in a case against the owner of a commercial sex website.

Before that, Becky was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Dallas, where she practiced appellate and constitutional law, complex commercial litigation, and administrative law.  While at the firm, Becky argued cases in federal and state court and worked on numerous high-profile appeals, including a landmark Fifth Circuit reversal of a $663 million False Claims Act judgment.  She also maintained an active pro bono docket of religious liberty cases.

Becky served as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge José A. Cabranes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Sullivan, then of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.  She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Book Reviews & Features Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, where she graduated with High Honors and was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

Becky and her husband have three young daughters.  These days she reads a lot of Eric Carle and is learning how to bake baguettes.

Laura Wolk Slavis

Laura Wolk Slavis joined Becket as counsel in 2022. Her work at Becket has included federal litigation at both the trial and appellate level.

Prior to joining Becket, Laura worked as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she focused her work on complex commercial litigation, administrative law, and constitutional law, including religious liberty issues. In addition to her experience in private practice, Laura has had the privilege of clerking for the Honorable Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, the Honorable Thomas M. Hardiman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Laura earned her J.D. summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2016, where she received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Program of Study in Public Law and served as the Law Review’s Federal Courts editor. She received her B.A. in psychology from Swarthmore College in 2009, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

When she’s not thinking about the law, Laura enjoys learning about wine, going for a run, and discovering the latest great novel.

Daniel Chen

Daniel Chen joined Becket as Counsel in 2020. His work at Becket has included litigation in federal trial and appellate courts.

Prior to joining Becket, Daniel was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in San Francisco, California, where he worked on commercial litigation in state and federal court. Daniel also devoted significant time to pro bono projects, where he focused primarily on issues of religious liberty and constitutional law. In addition to his experience in private practice, Daniel served as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Honorable Lucy H. Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Daniel graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2016, where he served as a supervising editor on the California Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Prior to law school, Daniel received his B.A. in Political Science with high distinction from the University of California, Berkeley.

Daniel’s greatest accomplishment is marrying high above his station. He and his wife Sharon enjoy drinking third-wave coffee and eating avocado toast.

William Haun

William J. Haun is Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a Nonresident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). At Becket, Will litigates nationwide in defense of religious liberty for all faith traditions, particularly before the U.S. Supreme Court and in other federal and state appellate courts nationwide. His litigation includes being a member of the U.S. Supreme Court team that prevailed 9-0 for Catholic Social Services in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, protecting Catholic refugee services in Michigan, protecting the right of religious organizations to advertise their existence in public, and upholding the Catholic Church’s freedom to speak accountably about its clergy. He’s argued in multiple federal appellate courts, federal district courts, and the Supreme Court of Texas. 

At AEI, Will writes and researches on constitutionalism and self-government’s prerequisites, especially the role of religion in securing and preserving freedom.

Before joining Becket and AEI, Will practiced appellate and antitrust law at two international law firms—Shearman & Sterling and Hunton & Williams. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Will often writes on constitutional law issues, including in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, the Catholic University Law Review, National Affairs, Law & Liberty, National Review Online, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He has been interviewed in national media, including on CNN, in the New York Times, and in FOX News. He also speaks on these topics, including at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Princeton University, Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the University of Chicago Law School. 

He received his J.D. from The Catholic University of America, cum laude, where he was a published member of the Law Review. He received his B.A. from American University in political science, cum laude

Will serves as Board Vice President of an independent, K-8 classical Catholic school, Divine Mercy Academy. He is also a Board of Advisors Member of Benedictine College’s Center for Constitutional Liberty. Will is a Knight of Merit in the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.

Josh Hawley

Josh Hawley was an attorney with Becket from 2011 to 2015. He received a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Josh clerked for Judge Michael W. McConnell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and Chief Justice John Roberts at the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2008 he joined Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. as an appellate litigator.

During his time at Becket, Josh was part of the team that won two major U.S. Supreme Court cases: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, a decision that protected the right of religious individuals to run their family businesses according to their beliefs, and Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, a unanimous victory that secured the right of churches to choose their own ministers free from undue government interference.

After working for Becket full time in DC, Hawley moved to Missouri and became an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri School of Law. He was elected Attorney General of Missouri in 2016 and United States Senator for Missouri in 2018.

Nick Reaves

Nick Reaves joined Becket in 2018. Since then, his practice has focused on First Amendment appellate litigation. Nick has worked on precedent-setting religious liberty cases nationwide and has argued in federal trial and appellate courts across the country. Nick has represented Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians, among others—all seeking the freedom to practice their faith. His advocacy has helped secure crucial religious freedom victories for these clients. In January 2022, Nick joined Yale Law School’s faculty as a Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law. His academic writings have also been published in prestigious journals like the Yale Law Journal Forum, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy Per Curiam, the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, and the Notre Dame Law Review Reflection.

Before joining Becket, Nick was an associate at Jones Day in Washington, D.C. His practice included both trial and appellate litigation. While at the firm, Nick argued cases in both federal trial and appellate courts, helped counsel clients in bet-the-company matters, took an asylum case to trial, and oversaw a sensitive internal investigation which could have exposed a Fortune 100 company to billions of dollars in liability. Prior to joining Jones Day, Nick clerked for Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Nick graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he served on the Managing Board of the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Nick published an academic article on crisis chaplaincy programs which won first prize in a nationwide student writing competition. He also participated in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and studied legal ethics in Germany and Poland as part of the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics. Nick graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s Glynn Family Honors Program magna cum laude with a double major in Economics and Political Science.

Luke Goodrich

Luke Goodrich is VP & senior counsel at Becket, where he represents religious organizations and individuals in religious liberty disputes in courts across the country, including in the Supreme Court. He is also the award-winning author of Free to Believe: The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America, which has helped thousands of Americans understand why religious freedom matters, how it is threatened, and how to protect it.

Since joining Becket in 2008, Luke has argued and won precedent-setting cases in the Third, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, including the landmark decision protecting housing allowances for ministers. He was appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado to argue a case on behalf of Becket and several states. And he has played a role in each of Becket’s pathbreaking victories in the Supreme Court, including Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Holt v. Hobbs, and Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC.

Dubbed “a top religious freedom attorney” by the Associated Press, Luke often appears in the national media to discuss religious liberty issues, such as on CNN, Fox News, ABC World News, PBS, and NPR, and has been published or quoted in major outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times. From 2013 to 2023, he served as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah S.J. Qunney College of Law, where he taught an advanced course in constitutional law.

Before joining Becket, Luke was an appellate attorney at Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C., and an advisor in the human trafficking office at the U.S. Department of State. Before that, he clerked for Judge Michael W. McConnell on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Luke received his B.A. in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from Wheaton College. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School with high honors, where he was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Lori Windham

Lori Windham is vice president and senior counsel at Becket, where she has represented clients on cutting-edge religious freedom issues since 2005. She has represented parties before the Supreme Court, arguing Becket’s unanimous victory on behalf of foster families in Fulton v. Philadelphia, as well as working with the Becket team on its Supreme Court victories in Hosanna-TaborHobby Lobby, and Little Sisters of the Poor. She won a victory for the world’s largest religious media network in EWTN v. Azar, staving off millions of dollars in government fines under unlawful the HHS mandate. She has won more than a dozen victories in federal appellate courts, including successful defense of cities and school districts sued for accommodating religion, victories for houses of worship facing discrimination in the land use process, and overturning a multimillion-dollar judgment against a major evangelical ministry. She recently won a first-in-the-nation injunction for an adoption agency threatened with shutdown for its religious beliefs.

Recognized in Washington as an expert on religious freedom issues, Lori has testified in Congressional oversight hearings before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Outside Washington, Lori is sought-after speaker on First Amendment law, including appearances at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Central European University, and many others.

In addition to these venues, Lori also defends her clients in the media, including television appearances on CBS This Morning, Hardball, CNN Tonight, On the Record, America’s Newsroom, Opinion Journal, and many others. Her work has been covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and dozens of other papers. She is also a regular guest on radio, with appearances on shows ranging from Sean Hannity to NPR.

Lori has successfully represented a wide array of clients, including a Santeria priest prohibited from making animal sacrifices, synagogues prohibited from building on their own land, and religious student organizations penalized for their religious speech. One of her most challenging cases involved travel to a remote farming community to ensure that members of the local Amish community were not jailed for using their traditional building methods.

Lori is a graduate of Harvard Law School and earned her B.A. summa cum laude at Abilene Christian University. She has served on the Board of Visitors of Abilene Christian University and received the ACU Young Alumnus of the Year award for her work at Becket. She sits on the board of Dominion Christian School and the visiting committee of the Fund for American Studies’ Summer Law Fellowship.

Joe Davis

Joe Davis joined Becket in 2017 as Legal Counsel. His work at Becket has included appellate litigation in both federal and state courts, including representing religious entities and governments sued because of their openness to religious expression in precedent-setting victories before the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits. Joe has appeared in national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including on Fox News and numerous radio and print outlets, and his academic work on topics related to religious liberty has been published at venues including the Yale Law Journal Forum and the Notre Dame Law Review Online.

Before joining Becket, Joe worked as a litigator at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he worked on a variety of matters from commercial and criminal litigation to bankruptcy. From 2014 to 2015, he clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Joe graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2014, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Joe studied religious liberty law with one of the top religious liberty scholars and litigators in the nation. He also worked as a researcher for the law school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Before going to law school, Joe received his B.A. in Economics with a minor in Religion, summa cum laude, from Mississippi State University.

Joe is married to his high school sweetheart. When he’s not helping her corral their three young children, he tends to be reading the classics, watching college football, or listening to his vinyl collection.

Eric Rassbach

Eric Rassbach is Vice President and Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where he has served since 2003. He has briefed over 90 cases at the United States Supreme Court and has led or been a part of Becket litigation teams in each of Becket’s pathbreaking victories there, including Hosanna-Tabor, Hobby Lobby, Holt v. Hobbs, Zubik v. Burwell, Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo, and Fulton v. Philadelphia. In 2020, Eric argued Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru to the Supreme Court, garnering a 7-2 win for his Catholic school clients. Eric has also briefed and argued cases in federal appeals courts and state supreme courts across the nation. Eric has also represented clients in appeals to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and in the highest courts of several other countries.

Eric believes passionately in the right of all people to the full measure of religious liberty and has represented members of almost every religious group present in the United States, including Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, Santeros, and Sikhs, as well as many governmental entities targeted for accommodating religion.

Eric frequently comments on church-state issues in the media, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and other major press outlets. He has published legal scholarship in the Harvard Law Review Forum, the Tennessee Law Review, the Illinois Law Review, the Cato Supreme Court Review, and other legal journals, and often speaks to law school audiences.

Before joining Becket, Eric worked at Baker Botts LLP in Houston, where he worked in international project finance. He also served as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston, Texas.

Eric graduated from Haverford College with a degree in Comparative Literature, is a member of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Eric was a 2012-2013 Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School. He is Visiting Professor and Executive Director of The Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Religious Liberty Clinic at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in Malibu, where he leads students in litigating cases in American courts. He is also an Associated Scholar with the Centre for Religious Freedom at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Eric is admitted in Texas, DC, California, and Ireland.

Eric Baxter

Eric Baxter joined Becket as senior counsel in 2011. Since then he has represented religious organizations and individuals in a wide array of religious liberty disputes at both the trial and appellate level. His case victories include a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding the “Big Mountain Jesus” statue that has stood on Forest Service land near Kalispell, Montana, for more than sixty years (FFRF v. Weber), a rare Pentagon decision allowing a Sikh soldier to maintain his full beard and turban while serving in the Army (Singh v. Carter), a Third Circuit ruling protecting a county’s historical seal that included a Latin cross symbol (FFRF v. Lehigh County), and an Eighth Circuit decision upholding a Christian student organization’s right to require its student leaders to sign a statement of faith (BLinC v. University of Iowa and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship v. University of Iowa). Eric has extensive experience fighting efforts under state Blaine amendments to exclude religious organizations and individuals from participating on equal terms in the public square. He also regularly advises religious institutions of higher education in defending their religious missions against government encroachment.

Eric has frequently appeared in the national media to discuss religious liberty issues, including appearances on Fox News (Kelly File, Fox & Friends), WSJ Live, CBS New York, Christian Broadcasting Network, Newsmax TV, and Al Jazeera. He has also written op-eds and been quoted in many major newspapers and other print media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times, and New Boston Post.

Before joining Becket, Eric was a partner at Arent Fox LLP in Washington, DC, where he maintained a commercial complex litigation practice representing clients primarily in employment, intellectual property, and biotechnology disputes. He also served for many years as outside counsel to a DC church and its affiliated school. In 2007, he was awarded the Albert E. Arent Pro Bono Award for his work representing several parents adopting a total of seven children from foster care.

From 2000 to 2002, Eric clerked for the Honorable Robert H. Cleland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit). Eric received a B.A. in Russian Literature and Linguistics from Brigham Young University and graduated magna cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, where he served as Executive Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Eric speaks Russian and some Spanish. He and his wife have seven children, one grandchild, and an amateur family bluegrass band.

Diana Thomson

Diana Thomson has been a lawyer at Becket since 2009. Diana’s work has included domestic and international litigation, including defending the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools and supporting the right of New Zealand’s Jews to have access to Kosher meat. Diana has been quoted in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Christian Post. She has been featured on Christian Broadcasting Network Television, Eternal Word Television Network, and C-SPAN. Cases in which she has served as counsel to a party include Zubik v. Burwell, 136 S. Ct. 1557 (2016); Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751 (2014), Wheaton College v. Burwell, 134 S. Ct. 2806 (2014); Whole Woman’s Health v. Smith, 896 F.3d 362 (5th Cir. 2018); Moses v. Ruszkowski, 2019 NMSC 003 (N.M. 2018); Singh v. Carter, 168 F. Supp. 3d 216 (D.D.C. 2016); and Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, 657 F.3d 988, 992 (9th Cir. 2011).

Diana graduated summa cum laude from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2009, where she was an Articles Editor for the American University Law Review, and practiced human rights law through the International Human Rights Law Clinic. Diana received her B.A. from Wheaton College (Illinois), magna cum laude, in 2004 with a major in International Relations.

Daniel Blomberg

Daniel Blomberg is vice president and senior counsel for Becket. Before joining Becket, he clerked for Chief Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and served as litigation counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom. Daniel’s clients have included an international order of nuns, the world’s largest religious media organization, synagogues, members of the U.S. military, religious healthcare ministries, peaceful protestors, halfway houses, religious colleges, state legislators, homeless shelters, religious business owners, an art gallery, and churches. Daniel has represented a wide variety of faith groups, including Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Hindus, Hutterites, Jews, Lutherans, Mennonites, Muslims, Presbyterians, Russian Orthodox, and Sikhs. Cases on which he has served as counsel to a party include: Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049 (2020); Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63 (2020); Zubik v. Burwell, 136 S. Ct. 1557 (2016); Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius, 134 S. Ct. 1022 (2014); Wheaton College v. Burwell, 134 S. Ct. 2806 (2014); Fellowship of Christian Athletes v. SJUSD, 82 F.4th 664 (9th Cir. 2023) (en banc); Singh v. Berger, 56 F.4th 88 (D.C. Cir. 2022); Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, 3 F.4th 968 (7th Cir. 2021) (en banc); Maxon v. Fuller Theological Seminary, 2021 WL 5882035 (9th Cir. 2021); Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA v. University of Iowa, 5 F.4th 855, 867 (8th Cir. 2021); Business Leaders in Christ v. University of Iowa, 991 F.3d 969 (8th Cir. 2021); Whole Woman’s Health v. Smith, 896 F.3d 362 (5th Cir. 2018); Lee v. Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, 903 F.3d 113 (3d Cir. 2018); Gagliardi v. TJCV, 889 F.3d 728 (11th Cir. 2018); Harvest Family Church v. FEMA, 2018 WL 386192 (5th Cir. 2018); Fratello v. Archdiocese of New York, 863 F.3d 190 (2d Cir. 2017); Eternal Word Television Network v. U.S. Dep’t of HHS, 756 F.3d 1339 (11th Cir. 2014); InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA v. Bd. of Governors of Wayne State Univ., 534 F. Supp. 3d 785 (E.D. Mich. 2021); and Singh v. Carter, 168 F. Supp. 3d 216 (D.D.C. 2016).

Daniel has been featured on CNN, Huffington Post Live, Fox News, EWTN Nightly News, and CBS Evening News.

He earned his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law, graduating magna cum laude. While in law school, Daniel clerked for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, served on a South Carolina Supreme Court task force, and interned with Judge J. Michelle Childs of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Judicial Circuit as a part of the Judicial Observation and Education program. He is a Blackstone Fellow. Daniel received his undergraduate degree from Columbia International University. He and his wife have five children and too many animals.

Adèle Keim

Adèle Keim joined Becket as Legal Counsel in 2012. While at Becket, Adèle has defended the rights of rock bands, Native American sacred dancers, organizations supporting Cuban orphanages, and nuns. Adèle has been featured on CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, EWTN, TheBlaze, and MSNBC.

Adèle joined Becket after spending four years as an associate in the appellate practice at Winston & Strawn in Washington, D.C. From 2007 to 2008, Adèle clerked for Hon. Edith Brown Clement on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. Before she became a lawyer, Adèle worked for a Canadian Member of Parliament and spent two years covering international religious freedom and social issues for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

Adèle received her A.B. in Politics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in 2001 and graduated from Notre Dame Law School with honors in 2007. Adèle attended secondary school in British Columbia, where her family still lives. Adèle enjoys cooking Ethiopian food, watching crew regattas, and taking family walks with her husband and three children.