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.

Corrinne Carlson

Corrinne joined Becket in 2024. She works with both the Development and Government Affairs teams, tracking and analyzing legislative changes, organizing data, and conducting research.

Corrinne graduated from the University of Notre Dame, majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies with minors in Constitutional Studies, Theology, and Medieval Studies. While at Notre Dame, she was also Tocqueville Fellow in the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government and completed an internship in the U.S. Senate.  After college, she worked in research and government affairs at Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit focused on parental rights in K-12 education. She is currently a fellow with the Public Interest Fellowship.

Originally from Southern California, Corrinne is often daydreaming about her next trip back to the beach. Outside of work, she enjoys country music, watching baseball, hiking, and reading.

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.

Mary Clare Cameron

Mary Clare joined The Becket Fund in 2024 as a Fellow to support the firm’s strategic research and government affairs work. She keeps tabs on legislation and federal regulations that may impact Becket’s clients and helps oversee the annual Religious Freedom Index.

At Notre Dame, Mary Clare majored in the Program of Liberal Studies, an interdisciplinary Great Books curriculum, and minored in Constitutional Studies. As a Kennedy Research Scholar, she has defended her research to faculty at Durham University, partnered with the RAND Corporation to analyze the economic effects of refugees abroad, and conducted archival research at the University of Cambridge for her senior thesis. Prior to joining Becket, Mary Clare interned at her local Catholic Charities branch to support their immigration and asylum legal team.

When she is not burrowing her nose into a book, Mary Clare can often be found practicing piano, scouring the city for live jazz, trying her hand at poetry, or strolling the city green spaces.

Caroline Kopsky

Caroline joined Becket full-time in 2024 as a part of the Communications team. She supports the fight for religious liberty and case success by aiding in the storytelling of Becket’s clients, producing tactical media that comprehensively translates legal cases, and researching and executing methods of strategically growing audience engagement. 

Before joining Becket full-time, Caroline graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor’s degree in American culture studies and minors in political science and communication design. She graduated with honors for the completion of her thesis work, analyzing self-help literature and its ties to deeply-rooted American values. Caroline previously interned at Becket in the summer of 2023 and studied international relations in Switzerland during her time at WashU. 

Caroline enjoys exploring DC and the surrounding area via day trips, playing tennis and pickleball, and traveling with family. 

Marcos Barrios

Marcos joined Becket in 2024 as Government Affairs Analyst. He supports communication and coordination with members of Congress and their offices on religious liberty matters, conducts legislative and regulatory tracking, and assists the Government Affairs counsel.

Marcos graduated from Yale University magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. His senior honors thesis explored the role religion plays in American social capitol theories.

A proud Floridian, Marcos has spent time interning for Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio. He has continued his studies as a fellow with the John Jay Institute and Hudson Institute and has worked with the TV series The Chosen.

In his free time, Marcos enjoys road trips and solo travel adventures, playing piano and oboe, and sitting down for board games with friends.

Edward Zelikman

Edward joined Becket as a paralegal in 2024 after graduating from the University of Connecticut where he studied finance and minored in philosophy and analytics. He supports Becket’s attorneys with cite-checking, editing, and research.

Prior to Becket, Edward had multiple internships in the private sector as well as the U.S. Senate. He was also a member of the Constitutional Studies programs at the Hertog Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

Outside of work, Edward enjoys reading, exercising, and spending time with his friends and family.

Levi Brown

Levi earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. While in law school, Levi was vice president of the Christian Legal Society.

Levi received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arkansas. In his free time, Levi enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter and playing the banjo.

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.

Peter O’Donnell

Peter joined the Becket development team in 2024 as a Development Fellow. He brings extensive experience in fundraising and investor relations to support Becket’s mission.

Prior to Becket, Peter served as the Vice President at The O’Donnell Group, Inc. in Newport Beach, CA, where he played a key role in the acquisition, asset management, construction, and leasing of a two million industrial square foot warehouse portfolio.

Peter graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Studies. In his free time, Peter enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, and hiking.

Jon Pritchett

Jon has over 30 years of experience in business and public policy organizations, where he has held a variety of executive leadership and senior management positions. Before joining Becket, Jon served as CEO of AstroTurf USA, Scheer Sports Inc., Team Sports Entertainment, Inc., the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, and as SVP of the John Locke Foundation. Jon has served on many public, private, and nonprofit boards throughout his career and has raised money for a variety of non-profits.

His opinions have been published widely in places like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, National Review, Sports Business Journal, The American Spectator, The Federalist, Washington Examiner and in dozens of newspapers and magazines. He has written on the subjects of limited government, free market economics, conservatism, capitalism, sports business, leadership, culture, religious freedom, individual liberty, public policy, southern life, and federalism.

Jon also spent four years at IMG College as VP of National Sales and seven years as an Operating Partner at Prometheus Capital, where he ran the company’s sports and entertainment consulting and advisory business. He began his career as the Assistant Recruiting Coordinator in the Department of Athletics at the University of South Carolina, where he did his graduate work after completing his undergraduate from Appalachian State University. He and his wife Joan have four children, one grandchild (and counting), and a Black Mouth Cur. Jon enjoys tennis, hiking, hunting, gardening, and riding motorcycles.

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.

Kelly Oeltjenbruns

Kelly joined Becket in September 2023 as a Constitutional Law Fellow and litigator.

Kelly clerked for the Honorable Judge Roger S. Wollman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and thereafter spent three years litigating with Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP. At Hunton, she focused primarily on federal complex commercial litigation, with experience in antitrust, class-action, appellate, False Claims Act, and consumer protection matters.

Kelly earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. While in law school, she created outreach and engagement strategies for startup nonprofit, The Carver Project, which empowers Christian faculty and students to serve and connect university, church, and society.

Kelly received her B.A. in International Relations and Politics summa cum laude from Cornell College, where she also captained the Women’s Lacrosse and Women’s Basketball teams. Hailing from a sheep farm in rural Iowa and a competitor at heart, Kelly enjoys outdoor sports and playing the ukulele.

Benjamin Sanford

Ben joined Becket as a paralegal in 2023 shortly after graduating from the University of Dallas with a B.A. in philosophy. He supports Becket’s attorneys and clients by cite checking legal briefs, tracking cases, and assisting with miscellaneous tasks.

In his free time, Ben enjoys playing guitar, reading, and trying his best not to get injured practicing Brazilian jiu jitsu.

Josiah Duran

Josiah joined Becket in 2023 as a member of the operations team. Since then, he has been helping to keep things running smoothly at Becket’s DC headquarters. He graduated from Patrick Henry College with a BA in Government in 2015 and from University of Dallas with an MA in Philosophy in 2018. 

Josiah likes to spend his free time reading Virginia Woolf and trying to write books like hers. 

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.

Lily Mullen

Lily Mullen joined Becket in 2023 as a Donor Relations Assistant. Lily supports the team with donor outreach, event logistics, and data organization.

Before coming to Becket, Lily worked at the Institute for Humane Studies where she managed projects for their development operations team. She graduated with a BA in Economics from Belmont Abbey College. She was highly involved in her school’s Great Books Honors program and interned with several economic development organizations.

In her free time, Lily enjoys training Judo and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and sharing her passion for raising backyard chickens. She originally hails from New Jersey.

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.

Matthew Krauter

Matthew joined the paralegal team at Becket in 2022. He supports the attorney team with editing, legal research, and administrative duties.

Before Becket, Matthew’s legal experience included internships with the Federalist Society and the Champaign County Public Defender’s Office.

Matthew graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with minors in Legal Studies and Philosophy. His senior honors thesis empirically evaluated the effects of state legislation on religious liberty litigation.

Outside of work, Matthew has continued studying American philosophy, law, and policy. He is currently a Richard John Neuhaus Fellow with the Public Interest Fellowship. Previously, he participated in the Hertog Foundation’s The Supreme Court & American Politics cohort as a Fellow.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys volunteering at his parish, trips to the Library of Congress manuscript room, café hopping with a book in hand around the DMV, and training for the Chicago Marathon.

Charles McFadden

Charlie McFadden joined Becket in June 2022 as communications associate. He supports Becket by drafting articles and producing other media related content.

Before coming to Becket, Charlie graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in political science. At Notre Dame, Charlie was a Sorin Fellow with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. Throughout his time in school, Charlie contributed to various media outlets on campus, including Scholastic Magazine, NDtv and WVFI radio. His freshman year, Charlie was also an announcer at WSND, an FM radio station that plays classical music. He also acted in several productions on campus, including his dorm’s annual Keenan Revue and as King Creon in an abridged production of the Greek tragedy AntigoneIn the summer before his senior year, Charlie was an intern at the Becket Fund as research assistant to the executive director. 

When he is not spending time with his brother Sean and sister-in-law Keenan, Charlie enjoys cooking meals from various cuisines and playing the guitar. 

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.

Leigh Brown

Leigh joined Becket’s paralegal team in 2021, shifting her editor’s eagle eye toward legal material. With an undergraduate degree in English from BYU, she has accumulated a wide array of editing experience. Her extra-fine-tooth comb has scoured material ranging from a book about a POW’s escape from Japanese imprisonment during WWII to course material for becoming a technical project manager.

The fan that flamed her passion for religious liberty came in the form of hundreds of adult refugees she taught over a period of several years—students who humbly and sincerely desired to practice their religion and who often came up against roadblocks in their religious expression. She is now happy to be a part of a team that is making life easier for friends like hers.

Playing with her nieces and nephews (18 in total) is her all-time favorite activity. She loves trees and walks in the woods. And crossword puzzles and books are her go-tos when she gets downtime.

JeRevienne Mitchell

JeRevienne joined Becket in 2021 as administrative officer. She graduated from American University in 2017 with a B.A. in international relations, with a focus on foreign policy.

While at AU, JeRevienne worked as administrative assistant at the Center for Israel Studies, helping with programs and events aimed at studying Israeli politics, culture, history, and contributions.

Prior to joining Becket, JeRevienne was the associate manager of a local music store, where she also worked as a piano teacher.

Some of JeRevienne’s favorite places to be are by the ocean or exploring a new city. She loves baking bread and desserts and enjoys running (to sustain the baking habit).

Monica Kelly

Monica graduated from Christendom College in December 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics. She joined Becket in the summer of 2020 as an administrative intern and transitioned to a full-time office assistant in December of the same year.

Monica has worked as a data analyst at a New York-based emergency billing company and as an administrative assistant to an estate foundation. During a semester abroad, Monica had the opportunity to study language, art, and architecture at the Patristic Institute in Rome, Italy.

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.

Mary Laedtke

Mary joined the Becket development team in 2020 as a donor relations associate. Prior to Becket, she interned at the National Taxpayers Union in Washington, D.C., and spent two years working for the Institute for Justice in Arlington, VA, as a development associate.

Before migrating out East, Mary graduated from Thomas Aquinas College in Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts. While in school, she was involved in the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Program, attending various conferences nationwide, and ultimately co-founding a campus chapter geared toward promoting rhetoric appreciation by analyzing rhetorical devices in classic speeches.

Originally from Butte, Montana, Mary enjoys hiking, running along the Potomac River, and teaching Pilates. When she’s not moving, Mary likes sipping tea, reading, and eating anything Funfetti flavored.

Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson returned to Becket as legal counsel in 2020, having previously been one of its inaugural Constitutional Law Fellows in 2016. Before he came to Becket, Daniel clerked in federal and state appellate courts and was an associate in the appellate practice group at Jones Day in Washington, D.C. While in private practice, Daniel secured asylum for an Eritrean refugee who spent a year in prison for practicing his faith, and he wrote several appellate briefs in religious liberty cases in the Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

He graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law in 2015, where he was a teaching assistant in the appellate litigation course. At Duke, Daniel focused his academic and extracurricular activities on religious liberty — including independent research on conscience protections for religiously affiliated law schools. He received his B.A. in economics, cum laude, from Brigham Young University in 2012. He also spent two years as a missionary in Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese.

Daniel is married to the love of his life, Alexis. They love making music together, camping, and playing with their adorable dog.

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.

Madeline Hartman

Maddie joined Becket’s communications team as Graphic Designer in 2019. Now, as Graphic Designer & Visual Brand Manager, she continues to create visual content and graphics that support the broader communications strategy while managing the visual identity of Becket and ensuring consistency across media types and platforms.

Before moving to Washington, D.C., Maddie graduated from the University of Dallas with a bachelor’s degree in studio art, focusing in printmaking. Before joining Becket, she worked as a digital media designer and brand manager for a northern Virginia startup, and part-time as a freelance graphic designer.

In her free time, Maddie enjoys trying new coffee shops and exploring the Shenandoah valley with her family.

Sara Buckley

Sara Buckley joined Becket in 2018 as a communications assistant. Now as Associate Director of Communications, Sara plays an active role in telling our clients stories, especially in social and digital media.

Before joining Becket, Sara interned at an advertising agency in Salt Lake City. Sara graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in communications, advertising emphasis and a minor in business management. Her capstone research project required conducting demographic research for a global publication to create an online platform for new readers. While at BYU, Sara worked for a BYU Ad Lab, a student-run advertising agency. She also worked as the communications manager for the university library, which under her direction won five social media awards including Best Campaign in 2017.

Sara enjoys traveling and checking national parks off her bucket list.

 

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.

Megan Donley

Megan Donley joined Becket in 2018. Prior to Becket, Megan worked as a staff attorney in the United States Court of Federal Claims where she provided general counsel to the Clerk of Court on operations and case intake, coordinated the court’s pro bono program, and served as liaison to both the court’s Advisory Council and the Court of Federal Claims Bar Association. She got her start at the United States Court of Federal Claims as a law clerk to the Honorable Eric G. Bruggink, whom she served from 2012 to 2015.

Megan graduated summa cum laude from Regent University School of Law, where she was Articles Editor of the Law Review.  She was also a Blackstone Fellow.  Megan studied political science at Palm Beach Atlantic University, where she first developed her love of political philosophy, American history, and the Founders’ “Great” or “Grand Experiment.”

Megan enjoys making music with her husband, playing with her son, and hiking with the family dog.

Meg Schilling

Meg joined Becket’s paralegal team in 2018 bringing several years of paralegal experience. At previous firms she specialized in real estate, wills & trusts, estate planning, and trademark law. Prior to entering the legal field, Meg was a middle school and high school teacher.

As the Director of Litigation Support, Meg now supervises Becket’s paralegal team and ensures that the attorneys at Becket have everything they need to be world class. She gets significant satisfaction over beautifully formatted and edited legal briefs, error-free court filings, and happy attorneys.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Meg attended Penn State University and Messiah University and majored in education. She fosters a budding portrait photography business in her spare time and is a highly devoted aunt to her eight nieces and nephews.

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.

Eric Hines

Eric Hines joined Becket in 2017. Prior to Becket, Eric served as the director of U.S. Equities for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA) in New York. During his seven years on Wall Street, Eric cultivated relationships with corporate executives and institutional investors across a variety of sectors and global regions, establishing the U.S. Equity business as an important unit of the Bank of Tokyo. He has a B.S. in Finance from the University of Nebraska.

Eric and his wife Megan have been happily married for 15 years and are blessed to have a son, Henry.

William P. Mumma

William P. Mumma is currently the Board Chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. He served as a full-time volunteer CEO from 2011 until 2021. He ended a 30-year career on Wall Street as CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), with prior executive roles at Nomura Securities International and Bankers Trust.

Mr. Mumma also serves as the Board Chairman for FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students) and serves on the board of the National Civil Liberties Alliance.

He has degrees from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Columbia University Business School.

Mr. Mumma has been happily married to his wife Kathy since 1983, and has six children and seventeen grandchildren.

Ryan Colby

Ryan Colby joined Becket in May 2014 as a Communications Assistant shortly after completing an internship with the Heritage Foundation. Before moving to D.C., Ryan attended the College of Charleston, where he earned a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Political Science.

As the Director of Communications, Ryan helps oversee the communications strategies for clients and cultivate Becket’s institutional reputation in the media.

If he’s not in D.C., Ryan is likely somewhere in a golf cart in Charleston, South Carolina, with two clumber spaniels riding shotgun.

Mark Rienzi

Mark joined the Becket team in 2011 and has served as President since 2018. He is also a Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he is co-director of the Center for Religious Liberty, and has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He teaches constitutional law, religious liberty, and evidence, and has been voted Teacher of the Year three times by the Law School’s Student Bar Association.

With the team at Becket, Mark has litigated and won an uninterrupted string of important First Amendment cases at the U.S. Supreme Court including Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC (2012), Little Sisters of the Poor (2013), McCullen v. Coakley (2014), Hobby Lobby (2014), Wheaton College (2014), Holt v. Hobbs (2015), Zubik v. Burwell (2016), Our Lady of Guadalupe (2020), Little Sisters of the Poor (2020), Diocese of Brooklyn/Agudath Israel (2020), and Fulton v. Philadelphia (2021).

Mark’s scholarship on constitutional issues has appeared in a variety of prestigious journals including the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review (online), and Notre Dame Law Review. He has been quoted on religious liberty issues in a variety of prestigious outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and he has been featured on the Kelly File, Fox News Sunday, Your World with Neil Cavuto, Geraldo at Large, CNN Tonight, CNN Live, Andrea Mitchell Reports, and Wall Street Journal Live.

Prior to joining Becket, Mark served as counsel for WilmerHale LLP and a law clerk to the Hon. Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.A. from Princeton University, both with honors.

Marie Peralta

Marie joined Becket in 2009 to assist our founder, Seamus Hasson. Since then she has worn various hats at Becket, supporting efforts in litigation, operations, development, and communications.

Before joining Becket, Marie interned as a reporter for newspapers in Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and Washington, D.C. She also received a grant to research information laws in India, and worked summers at the U.S. Embassies in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. She graduated summa cum laude in journalism from Brigham Young University, with a minor in Japanese.

Marie enjoys traveling, cooking with her husband, and making her son and daughter smile.

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.

Lucy Nolan

Lucy Nolan joined Becket as a development associate in October 2012. Prior to Becket, Lucy worked in various DC-area nonprofit organizations, in positions ranging from administrative to policy research. She earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in Southern California.

Outside of work, Lucy enjoys learning languages and traveling. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and now lives with her husband and children.

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.

Kevin “Seamus” Hasson

Becket is the brainchild of its founder, Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson, who served as its first President from 1993 until his retirement due to Parkinson’s, in 2011. Right from the beginning, Becket successfully represented clients ranging, literally, “from Anglicans to Zoroastrians,” as Hasson likes to say. Along the way, Becket began to win kudos from a wide array of thinkers, including Pope John Paul II and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. Some of the notable cases Hasson argued personally include Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark (3d. Cir. 1999), Rigdon v. Perry (D.D.C. 1997), and Newdow v. Carey (9th Cir. 2010).

Hasson enjoys broad credibility in the national media and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and US News and World Report, as well as in regional media from the Los Angeles Times to the Chicago Tribune to the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has appeared on broadcast news programs including the Today Show, Dateline NBC, Fox & Friends, NPR, CNN, and Al-Jazeera.

Hasson is the author of The Right to be Wrong: Ending the Culture War over Religion in America. Among his other publications, Hasson also authored “Religious Liberty and Human Dignity: A Tale of Two Declarations” for the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and “The Myth: Is There Religious Liberty in America?” in The Spectator.

Prior to his retirement Hasson lectured and debated widely, in venues ranging from Oxford to the Vatican, and from Harvard to Stanford. Hasson holds a law degree, magna cum laude, from Notre Dame Law School, as well as a Master’s in Theology and a Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Notre Dame. He holds honorary doctorates from The Catholic University of America, Ave Maria University, and his alma mater, Notre Dame. He is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the J. Reuben Clark Law Society’s International Religious Liberty Award, the Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship, the National Honors award from the First Freedom Center, the Cardinal O’Boyle award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and Becket’s 2012 Canterbury Medal.

Before founding Becket in 1993, Hasson was an attorney at Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., where he focused on religious liberty litigation. Prior to that, in 1986 and 1987, he served in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, advising the White House and Cabinet departments on church-state relations and other constitutional and legal issues.

Although retired, Hasson serves on Becket’s Board of Directors and as President Emeritus. He also serves as a trustee of the University of Dallas.

Julie Riggs

Julie re-joined Becket in the fall of 2011 as Director of External Relations. Julie was with Becket from 1996-98 during which time she launched the very first Canterbury Medal Dinner among various other development feats.

After college, Julie’s passion for politics and American history prompted a move to Washington, D.C. There, she landed an internship with The Heritage Foundation, thus beginning a successful 35-year career in the non-profit sector, where she has gained extensive expertise in fundraising and event planning. Julie has since been affiliated with many prominent free-market organizations, including the Cato Institute, the Institute for Justice, and the Cascade Policy Institute. In addition, she has participated in grassroots politics, and is no stranger to gathering signatures, phone banks, and political campaigns. She even admits to marching in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Julie earned a B.A. in Political Science and Secondary Education from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Julie’s passion for limited government and liberty are a driving force in her life.

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.

Hyewon Kraemer

Hyewon (pronounced Heywon) was drawn to the world of philanthropy both by accident and Providence. From a young age, her parents instilled in her the importance of stewarding one’s time/talent/treasure and taught her that even the most important and worthy causes and organizations need financial resources to carry forth their missions. Hyewon has adopted the “no money, no mission” outlook professionally since accidentally stumbling into the fundraising profession during the 2008 financial crisis.

Hyewon was invited to join the Becket team in 2016 and together with the team has grown Becket from raising $7 million to $14 million during her tenure. Hyewon oversees all aspects of Becket’s fundraising efforts including its signature Canterbury Medal Gala. Prior to Becket, Hyewon led various fundraising efforts at national charities in annual giving, foundations, major gifts, signature events, and cause marketing campaigns.

Hyewon graduated from Emory University with a Bachelors in History where she was a Watson Brown Scholar and HOPE Scholarship recipient. She received her Masters in Public Administration with a Nonprofit Management concentration from George Mason University where she graduated magna cum laude and was also a member of Pi Alpha Alpha. She participated as an Academic Fellow to the John Jay Institute, a program in theology and political philosophy.

When she’s not working with her team and leadership to grow and support Becket’s donor base, Hyewon can be seen volunteering at her church with her husband, driving her kids across town(s) for various activities, and supporting them as they experience the joy, awe, and wonder of their childhood. Born in South Korea and having lived in seven states, Hyewon is looking forward to planting deeper roots in her current state with her family. They are contemplating planting persimmon and apple trees in their backyard.

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.

Derringer Dick

Derringer is a Strategic Research Associate at Becket. His research work has supported many of Becket’s major cases since he joined in 2015, including Zubik v. BurwellSlockish v. U.S. Federal Highway AdministrationHarvest Family Church v. FEMA and Fulton v. Philadelphia.

Before coming to Becket, Derringer studied journalism with an emphasis on the classical liberal arts at Patrick Henry College, graduating cum laude in 2015. During that time, he interned with WORLD Magazine and freelanced for The Weatherford Democrat, publishing several articles and film reviews. He graduated from the University of Dallas with a Master of American Studies in 2020.

A devotee of the more rural ways of life, Derringer likes to spend his free time writing, reading, watching movies, expanding his personal collection of eclectic knowledge, and spending time with his family.

Dermaine Isaacs

Dermaine Isaacs joined Becket as Controller in 2023. He focuses on the accounting operations and financial reporting for the organization. Before his time at Becket, Dermaine worked as an accountant for several companies and organizations throughout the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta metro area.

Dermaine graduated with his Masters in Accounting & Financial Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He earned his B.S. in Accounting from the Washington Adventist University (formerly Columbia Union College).

Dermaine is happily married with two children.

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.

Angela Wu Howard

Angela Wu Howard is a Senior Law Fellow at Becket. She formerly served as Becket’s International Law Director.

Angela obtained a D. Phil. from University of Oxford, a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School; a B.A. with honors in Modern Intellectual History from Northwestern University, and a D.E.S. in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, where she was a Fulbright Fellow. She clerked in San Francisco for the Honorable William W Schwarzer (sitting by designation on federal circuit courts of appeal), worked for Oxfam America in Boston, and served as a negotiations consultant on civil society issues to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. She has also served on the governing Bureau of the United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Angela was litigating hostile corporate takeovers and political asylum cases with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York when Becket called. Her current work is based at the University of Oxford, where she is researching legal philosophy applied to religious freedom.

Angela speaks English fluently and French, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese to varying degrees of competency. She enjoys dictionaries and design.

Amy Vitale

Amy joined The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in 2016 to develop and manage the firm’s government affairs work. As Government Affairs Counsel, she tracks federal legislation and regulations that impact the religious exercise of Becket’s clients.

Prior to joining Becket, Amy served as Legislative Counsel to several Members of Congress, supporting their work to protect religious freedom for people of all faiths. These Member efforts resulted in the successful passage of legislative language protecting religious exercise, effective oversight of federal agencies and the military branches, and regular amicus engagement before the Supreme Court.

Before working at Becket, Amy practiced law in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Houghton College (now University) with a degree in political science. In law school she was a member of the Regent Law Review, the Moot Court Board, and was a successful national moot court competitor. Her family is her greatest joy.

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.