June 27, 2023

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Religion: Practical Implications of the Supreme Court’s Recent Free Exercise and Establishment Decisions

Description: This webinar will address the practical implications of recent Supreme Court decisions about the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses. Led by a practicing First Amendment lawyer and a First Amendment specialist at UVA Law School, it will cover religious exemptions from civil rights law, prayer in public schools, school funding decisions, and ways in which rhetoric about religious freedom can affect case outcomes. Both of the speakers have substantial expertise working with (and representing) local governments, and will aim to provide useful guidance to lawyers seeking to navigate the Supreme Court’s rapid transformation of the First Amendment

Speakers: Joshua Matz  and  Richard Schragger

Joshua Matz is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, resident in the DC office.

Joshua’s practice includes complex commercial disputes, constitutional and civil rights law, and Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He litigates a wide array of commercial cases, ranging from contract, fraud and misappropriation disputes to consumer protection and sex discrimination matters. He advises individuals, non-profits and companies on their response to congressional and state attorney general inquiries, participates in sensitive internal investigations and supports clients seeking to navigate complex legal questions. Along with several of his colleagues at Kaplan Hecker, Joshua has represented Brown University and Columbia University in Title IX litigation.

Joshua is also an experienced defamation litigator. He currently represents E. Jean Carroll in a case against Donald J. Trump for defamatory statements that Trump made in response to Ms. Carroll’s public revelation that he had sexually assaulted her. Joshua previously represented Liz Mair in successfully defending against two defamation suits filed by Rep. Devin Nunes concerning her political criticism. And in September 2020, he successfully represented Stanford Medical School faculty who were threatened with a defamation suit for scientific criticism of policies advocated by former White House Coronavirus Advisor Dr. Scott Atlas.

In addition, Joshua maintains a substantial civil rights and constitutional practice. He has developed particular expertise in election law and redistricting, LGBTQ rights, religious liberty and freedom of speech, though his representations have also addressed privacy rights, due process, racial justice, firearm regulation, the right to counsel and the separation of powers. In his constitutional matters, Joshua has represented individual clients, civil rights organizations, non-profits, companies, current and former government officials, cities, states and congressional committees. While many of these representations have involved litigation, Joshua also provides practical counsel to clients seeking to understand and strategize their options.

Rich Schragger joined the Virginia faculty in 2001 and was named the Walter L. Brown Professor in 2022. He was previously the Perre Bowen Professor, a chair he held starting in 2013. Schragger’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of constitutional law and local government law, federalism, urban policy, and the constitutional and economic status of cities. He also writes about law and religion. He has authored articles on the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses, the role of cities in a federal system, local recognition of same-sex marriage, takings law and economic development, and the history of the anti-chain store movement. Schragger has published in the Harvard, Yale, Chicago, Virginia and Michigan law reviews, among others. He teaches property, local government law, urban law and policy, and church and state.

Schragger received an M.A. in legal theory from University College London and received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He was a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. After clerking for Dolores Sloviter, then-chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Schragger joined the Washington, D.C., firm Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, where he practiced for two years.

Schragger has been a visiting professor at the University of Münster, Tel Aviv University, the University of Chicago School of Law, the New York University School of Law, the Georgetown University Law Center and the Quinnipiac School of Law, and has been the Samuel Rubin Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School. He is a faculty fellow at the Miller Center, a faculty adviser to the Local Solutions Support Center, and a member of the American Law Institute. He is the author of City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age (Oxford University Press, 2016).