The Orange County Federalist Society is pleased to host Heather Mac Donald, acclaimed author and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, for a timely discussion on the breakdown of law and order in California and what the recent unrest in Los Angeles reveals about the state’s political and cultural dysfunction.
In her signature analytical style, Mac Donald will examine how state and local leadership have undermined constitutional governance by tolerating lawlessness, prioritizing ideological agendas over public safety, and promoting policies that reward contempt for American principles. Drawing on current headlines and longstanding patterns, her talk will explore:
The significance of the June illegal immigration riots in Los Angeles
How California's leadership narrative enables social and legal decay
Broader implications for federalism, citizenship, and the rule of law
Join us for this bold and wide-ranging conversation about the legal, political, and cultural forces reshaping California—and what citizens and legal professionals can do to restore constitutional order.
When: Friday, September 26, 2025, 11:45 a.m. (registration) 12:00 Noon (lunch and program)
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 Includes 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 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.**
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. She is also a New York Times bestselling author, and has received numerous honors including the 2005 Bradley Prize and the 2025 Edmund Burke Award for her contributions to culture and public discourse
Mac Donald has authored several influential books, including:
- When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty, and Threatens Lives (2023)
- The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture (2018)
- The War on Cops (2016), a New York Times bestseller
- Previous works such as Are Cops Racist? (2010), The Immigration Solution (2007; coauthored), and The Burden of Bad Ideas (2001)
Her writing has appeared in numerous leading publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The New Criterion
A nonpracticing lawyer, Mac Donald clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also served as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the General Counsel, as a volunteer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and testified before U.S. House and Senate Committees on criminal justice and immigration matters
Mac Donald holds a B.A. in English from Yale University (summa cum laude), earned an M.A. in English as a Yale Mellon Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge, and received a J.D. from Stanford Law School
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