July 23rd Israel on Trial: A Conversation with Judge Roy Altman

 Judge Roy K. Altman, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, is the author of Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law (Simon & Schuster, 2025). A former federal prosecutor named "Federal Prosecutor of the Year" by the Miami-Dade Chiefs of Police, Judge Altman has brought the same rigorous, evidence-based approach from the courtroom to one of the world's most contentious geopolitical debates.

In this lunchtime program hosted by the Orange County Federalist Society, Judge Altman will discuss his new book, which applies courtroom-tested standards—burden of proof, corroboration, chain of custody—to the claims of colonialism, apartheid, and genocide frequently leveled against Israel. Drawing on historical records, archaeological evidence, genetic data, and international law, Israel on Trial asks what it means to demand proof—and what’s at stake when we stop asking for it.

Please join us as Judge Altman explores how legal rigor can bring clarity to the world's most polarizing conflict, and what the evidence actually shows when held to the standards of a courtroom.

When: Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: 1st Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA.

Cost: $30/members, $35/non-members, $20/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page (Link coming Soon).

To pay by cash or check at the door, please send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

Please email us if you have any dietary concerns.

About the Speaker:

Judge Roy K. Altman is a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Judge Altman moved to the United States shortly thereafter. He graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in 2004, where he played quarterback on the football team and pitched on the baseball team. He earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2007, where he served as Projects Editor for the Yale Law Journal.

Judge Altman began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Stanley Marcus of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He then served for six years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where he prosecuted hundreds of criminal cases and tried more than 20 cases to jury verdict. In 2013, he was named “Federal Prosecutor of the Year” by the Miami-Dade Chiefs of Police and the Law Enforcement Officers’ Charitable Foundation. In 2014, Judge Altman became a partner at Podhurst Orseck in Miami, where he represented the victims of airplane crashes and bank fraud conspiracies.

On April 4, 2019, Judge Altman was confirmed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida after being nominated by President Donald Trump. At 36, he became the youngest federal district court judge in the country—and the youngest federal judge ever appointed in the Southern District of Florida. He is the author of Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law (Simon & Schuster).

June 8th "Fireside Chat" on the BigLaw EOs with Abhishek Kambli and John Shu

Fresh off his D.C. Circuit oral argument defending the Trump Administration's BigLaw Executive Orders opposite Paul Clement, Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice Abhishek Kambli will share about the Executive Orders, and the other Trump Administration cases he has argued. Drawing on this experience in public law and research into the limits of executive authority, Mr. Kambli brings a thoughtful, originalist perspective to questions at the core of our constitutional order.

In this special "fireside chat" format, Bush Administration attorney and Orange County Federalist Society board member John Shu will sit down with Mr. Kambli to explore the evolving scope of presidential power through the lens of the Trump Administration's executive orders. From immigration and regulatory reform to border enforcement and administrative restructuring, these actions have reshaped debates over the reach of Article II authority and Congress's role in checking it.

Please join us as Mr. Kambli and Mr. Shu examine how recent executive orders test the boundaries of the Constitution's separation of powers, what litigation and public reactions reveal about modern governance, and how future administrations might navigate these shifting constitutional and political constraints.

    

When: Monday, June 8th, 2026 at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: 1st Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA.

Cost: $40/members, $50/non-members, $20/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page here. 

To pay by cash or check at the door, please send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com and make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

Please email us if you have any dietary concerns.

About the Speaker:

Abhishek Kambli is the outgoing Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, for which he has argued some of the Trump Administration's most important cases, such as J.G.G. v. Trump (Alien Enemies Act) and Perkins Coie, et al. v. U.S. Dep't of Justice (executive orders assessing risks of certain law firms). Mr. Kambli's last day at D.O.J. will be May 31, 2026.

Mr. Kambli previously served as Deputy Attorney General at the Kansas Attorney General's Office where he led the Special Litigation and Constitutional Issues Division. There, he litigated the Kansas A.G. office's most high impact cases, such as Kansas v. Biden (later renamed Alaska v. Dep't of Education), where he won a preliminary injunction against the Biden Administration's SAVE plan that would have provided $475 billion in student loan forgiveness. He also was lead counsel on Kansas v. Dep't of Education, which enjoined the Biden Administration's 2024 Title IX rule that expanded the definition of "sex" to include gender identity; Kansas v. Dep't of Labor, where he won a preliminary injunction on a Biden Administration Department of Labor rule that would have provided federal collective bargaining rights to H-2A temporary agricultural workers; and counsel of record on a 26-state amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in Beals v. Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, where the Court allowed the Commonwealth of Virginia to remove non-citizens from its voter rolls prior to the 2024 election.

Before serving the State of Kansas, Mr. Kambli served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana, and as a J.A.G. officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he still serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S.A.F. Reserves. He holds a J.D. from Notre Dame Law School and a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts.

About the Moderator:

John Shu is an attorney and legal commentator, and long-time board member for the Federalist Society's Orange County Lawyers Chapter. His focus areas include constitutional law, administrative law, antitrust law, securities & corporate law, politics, international affairs, the U.S. Supreme Court, and confirmations. Mr. Shu has lectured and published on these and many other issues.

Mr. Shu served President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush in the White House. He also served Judge Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was Director of Enforcement at the Securities & Exchange Commission and General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency; and Judge Paul Roney, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, who also was Presiding Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.

Mr. Shu was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary. He is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a member of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Foreign Policy Association. He received his B.A. from the University of the Pennsylvania, G.C. from Peking University, and J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law.

May 26 Lunch with Judge Bumatay

The Orange County Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society is honored to host the Honorable Patrick J. Bumatay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Bumatay, confirmed to the Ninth Circuit in 2019, has emerged as one of the federal judiciary's most distinctive voices on textualism, originalism, and the proper role of courts in our constitutional system. We hope you will join us.

When: Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: 2nd Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, Irvine, CA.

Cost: $40/members, $50/non-members, $20/students, for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit (the Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE).

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, please visit the Federalist Society event page here. 

To pay by cash or check at the door, send an RSVP to Tim Kowal at OCFedSocPresident@gmail.com identifying your lunch selection from the link above. Make checks payable to “The Federalist Society.”

About the Speaker:

Patrick J. Bumatay was confirmed as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in December 2019. He is based in San Diego, California.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Bumatay served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, where he was a member of the Appellate and Narcotics Sections. He also served as a Counselor to the Attorney General on criminal law issues, including on national opioid strategy and combating transnational organized crime. Judge Bumatay has also worked in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, and the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Bumatay has twice received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.

Judge Bumatay previously worked as an associate at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, and Bohrer in New York, New York. Judge Bumatay clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the Honorable Sandra L. Townes of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Bumatay earned his B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.