Nationwide Injunctions after Trump v. CASA: Prof. Brian Fitzpatrick on the Future of Class Actions

 Professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt University Law School has emerged as one of the leading scholars on class actions, aggregate litigation, and the federal courts. His work examines how recent developments in the Supreme Court and lower courts are reshaping nationwide litigation strategy and the enforcement of federal rights.

Please join us as we host Professor Fitzpatrick for a lunchtime program with the Orange County Federalist Society to discuss where class actions and federal litigation are headed, what recent Supreme Court trends portend for plaintiffs and defendants, and how practitioners should be thinking about nationwide and multistate cases going forward.

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When: Wednesday, March 11, 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 here (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:

Brian T. Fitzpatrick is a Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School whose scholarship focuses on class actions, aggregate litigation, and the federal courts. He is a leading commentator on the design and future of class action practice, writing extensively on how procedural rules, institutional design, and the role of private enforcement shape the enforcement of federal and state rights. Professor Fitzpatrick has written widely on the structure of class action regimes, the institutional competence of courts to manage large-scale disputes, and the Supreme Court’s evolving approach to nationwide class proceedings. His recent commentary on the future of class actions has sparked robust debate among judges, practitioners, and academics, and his work has been cited by courts and discussed broadly in both academic and practitioner circles, as he frequently speaks to bar groups and Federalist Society chapters around the country on developments in class action and complex litigation.

Justice Scalia’s Legacy After 10 Years

​​Justice Antonin Scalia transformed American jurisprudence through his originalist and textualist approach to the Constitution and federal statutes. Ten years after his passing, courts, scholars, and practitioners continue to grapple with, and build upon, his methods and legacy in fields ranging from separation of powers to criminal law.​

Please join us as we host Ed Whelan, Distinguished Senior Fellow and holder of the Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, to discuss Justice Scalia’s enduring impact on constitutional interpretation, statutory construction, and the role of the judiciary.

When: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)​

Where: 2nd Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Irvine, CA. (Our events are usually held in the first floor conference room, but this event will be on the SECOND FLOOR.)

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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 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:

Edward “Ed” Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having led the organization from 2004 to 2021 and now directs its program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture.

Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, has served in senior positions in all three branches of the federal government, including as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel and as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. He is a leading commentator on constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process; a longtime contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog; and co-editor of three volumes of Justice Scalia’s work: Scalia Speaks, On Faith, and The Essential Scalia.

Defeating the Deceits and Deficits of Legal Education: Some Provocative Proposals

Legal education is in crisis, largely due to deficits and even deceits in the classroom and curricula—states are pushing back against the ABA and its woke curricula. Yet, the "supreme law of the land" remains— what can be done?  How can legal education be refined to faithfully reflect that "It is a constitution we are expounding”?  How can legal education become more aligned with the oath administered to every lawyer and judge?  

Please join us as we host Dr. Jeffery Ventrella, former Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), to discuss. 

When: Thursday, December 4, 2025  at 11:45 a.m. (registration), 12:00 Noon (lunch)

Where: First Floor Conference Room, 2040 Main Street, 1st Floor, Irvine, CA.
(Please validate your parking ticket in the lobby before or after entering the venue.)

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 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. ***

Dr. Jeffery Ventrella directs its Center for Public Legal Theology and teaches constitutional law and jurisprudence. Following a successful career as a “partner” serving clients in “Big Law” for 15 years, Dr. Ventrella then served for nearly 23 years as Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Training at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), including serving on ADF’s Executive Team for many years.

After joining ADF in 2000, he designed and developed the curriculum for a number of ADF training programs, including the Blackstone Legal Fellowship (BLF), and ADF International’s Areté Academy Europe, Areté Academy Asia, and Areté Academy Latin America.

As an approved speaker for the Federalist Society, he serves as an appointed member of the society’s executive committee – guiding its Religious Liberties Practice Group. Dr. Ventrella is also an elected member of The Philadelphia Society.

He is the author of numerous published monographs, law review articles, and has authored, contributed to and/or edited about thirteen books.

Dr. Ventrella received a bachelor’s degree in music education, magna cum laude, from the University of Northern Colorado, where he specialized in trumpet performance. He holds a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in church and state studies from Whitefield Theological Seminary and earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of California Hastings College of the Law, where he served as Production Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

He has practiced law since 1985 and is a member of the state bar of Idaho serving on its Professionalism & Ethics Section as well as its Diversity Section. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Married since 1986, he and his wife enjoy their five adult children and one granddaughter.