Thomas A. Berry | Cato Institute

Thomas Berry is the director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and editor in chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. Before joining Cato, he was an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation and clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Berry’s areas of interest include the separation of powers, executive branch appointments, and First Amendment freedom of speech. Berry’s academic work has appeared in The Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, NYU Journal of Law and Liberty, and Washington and Lee Law Review Online, with shorter pieces in the Notice and Comment blog, of the Yale Journal on Regulation, Lawfare, and Law and Liberty. His popular writing has appeared in many outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN.com, The National Law Journal, National Review, Reason, and The Hill.

Berry has testified on the appointments clause before a subcommittee of the US Senate, and his work on the Vacancies Act has been cited by the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Berry holds a JD from Stanford Law School, where he was a senior editor on the Stanford Law and Policy Review and a Bradley Fellow in the Stanford Constitutional Law Center. He graduated with a BA in liberal arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe.

Anne Rowley | Grossman Young & Hammond

Anne Rowley is an immigration attorney who counsels clients on a variety of employment-based visa categories. She has over a decade of experience representing foreign nationals and employers in a range of immigrant and nonimmigrant matters, and has supported clients in various industries, including industrial science, financial services, retail, entertainment, heavy machinery, clean energy, communications technology, and computer software, among others.

Prior to her current role as Counsel at Grossman Young & Hammond, LLC, Anne practiced at the world’s largest business immigration provider in the firm’s Boston and San Diego offices, at a boutique immigration firm focusing on employment-based work, and for the immigration department of a Fortune 500 company.

Anne enjoys providing pro bono legal services through various citizenship and naturalization clinics. She has found it meaningful to contribute on pro bono cases provided through the Transgender Law Center, as well as the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Military Assistance Program, where she assists active duty and recently retired members of the U.S. military with immigration-related legal questions and cases. Her pro bono experience has included representing clients with disability waivers for naturalization applications, facilitating preparation and submission of Temporary Protected Status applications for foreign nationals requesting immigration relief, and supporting naturalization applications. Anne has also assisted several pro bono clients with provisional unlawful presence waivers, asylum, and Special Immigrant Juvenile matters.

In addition to providing pro bono legal services, Anne loves the opportunity to provide mentorship and to speak with learners at all education levels about immigration and its impact in our communities and country.

Since 2023, Anne has been included in the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, which gives recognition to lawyers in earlier career stages for their outstanding professional excellence.

Jaclyn Dennis | Grossman Young & Hammond

Jaclyn Dennis is an attorney passionate about immigration and international law from a human rights perspective. Jaclyn joins Grossman Young & Hammond from the US Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor where she advised the Office of Foreign Labor Certification and Bureau of International Labor Affairs on a variety of issues, including federal and administrative litigation, rulemaking, and international arbitration.

Jaclyn graduated summa cum laude from American University Washington College of Law and was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Award for high academic merit and appreciable involvement with the International Law Student Association. While in law school, Jaclyn supported asylum seekers in proceedings before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration Court as a student attorney with the International Human Rights Law Clinic and as a legal intern with a non-profit organization. Her career also includes a paralegal role with a non-profit organization serving domestic violence survivors in family law matters.

Session I – The First Amendment and Immigration Law: Speech and the Rights of Noncitizens | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Constitutional foundations and scope of protection
• Landmark case law and doctrinal development
• Government enforcement and retaliatory actions
• Procedural considerations and advocacy strategies
• Contemporary challenges and valuation of rights in policy debates

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Borders, Beliefs, and Security: Navigating the Intersection of Immigration and the First Amendment | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Agency authority and national security frameworks
• Speech, association, and “national security concerns”
• National security–driven enforcement initiatives
• Practical guidance for the modern practitioner