Advancing Religious Freedom in a Divided America, with Judge Thomas B. Griffith
Keynote Speaker: Thomas B. Griffith
Panel Discussion 1: Elizabeth A. Clark & William C. Duncan
Panel Discussion 2: Derek Monson, The Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen & Daniel Benson
Thomas B. Griffith
Former Federal Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Thomas B. Griffith recently retired from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005. He is currently a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, Special Counsel at the international law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, a visiting fellow at Wheatley Institute, and a senior adviser at the National Institute for Civil Discourse. A graduate of Brigham Young University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Judge Griffith was a partner in a law firm in Washington, D.C. before he was appointed Senate Legal Counsel, the nonpartisan chief legal officer of the United States Senate. Later he served as General Counsel at BYU. Judge Griffith is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU and the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University. In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Judge Griffith to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Daniel Benson
Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Daniel Benson returned to Becket as legal counsel in 2020, having previously been one of its inaugural Constitutional Law Fellows in 2016. Before he came to Becket, Daniel clerked in federal and state appellate courts and was an associate in the appellate practice group at Jones Day in Washington, D.C. While in private practice, Daniel secured asylum for an Eritrean refugee who spent a year in prison for practicing his faith, and he wrote several appellate briefs in religious liberty cases in the Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
He graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law in 2015, where he was a teaching assistant in the appellate litigation course. At Duke, Daniel focused his academic and extracurricular activities on religious liberty — including independent research on conscience protections for religiously affiliated law schools. He received his B.A. in economics, cum laude, from Brigham Young University in 2012. He also spent two years as a missionary in Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese.
Daniel and his wife, Alexis, live in Bountiful, Utah. They love making music together, camping, and playing with their adorable dog, Scout.
William C. Duncan
Religious Freedom Policy Fellow, Sutherland Institute
William (Bill) C. Duncan is Sutherland Institute’s Religious Freedom Policy Fellow. He formerly worked in the Law and Religion Program at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and has taught college courses on religion and law. Bill has submitted briefs on constitutional issues in the U.S. Supreme Court, 10 federal courts of appeals, eight state supreme courts, and other venues, including in important religious liberty cases.
He has presented expert testimony in the legislatures of seven states. His 75 scholarly articles have been published in the Rutgers Law Review, Howard Law Journal, Journal of Legislation, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Stanford Law and Policy Review and other journals. He has also published in National Review Online, SCOTUS Blog, and the American Spectator.
The Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen
Executive Director, Parity
The Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen is Executive Director of Parity, a nonprofit that works at the intersection of faith and LGBTQ+ concerns. She is the author of Family Christian, and the Director of Blessed by Difference, a project that promotes curious and collaborative bridging across the LGBTQ+ and faith divides.
She is a speaker, author, and educator with a focus on inclusive religious freedom, and on theological methods for encountering others with love and curiosity. Marian previously served as Executive Director of OUTreach Resource Centers, National Program Director of Family Acceptance Project, Executive Director of Utah Pride Center, and Justice Ministry Supervisor at Auburn Seminary.
Marian attended Gordon College, Western Theological Seminary, and Eden Theological Seminary and is a Doctor of Ministry candidate at Eden Theological Seminary with the topic Covenantal Pluralism and Mission: Evidence for Healing the LGBT and Faith Divide. Marian is married, has four children, and is a passionate skier and outdoor enthusiast.
Derek Monson
Vice President of Policy, Sutherland Institute
Derek Monson is vice president of policy at Sutherland Institute. He oversees policy content creation and strategic policy positioning and offers expert analysis and commentary on Sutherland’s priority policy issues of civics and history education, religious freedom, civic institutions and election policy. Derek’s research has appeared in Public Budgeting and Finance and the Social Science Research Network and has presented his work at academic conferences and college campuses from Nevada to Florida, including at the United Nations. His expert commentary has appeared in the L.A. Times, Washington Times, HuffPost, The Hill, The Washington Examiner, Associated Press, The Federalist, KSL/Deseret News, ABC4 Utah, Fox 13 Utah, Wallethub.com, Utahpolicy.com, The Salt Lake Tribune and the Utah State Legislature. He has bachelor’s degrees in economics & political science from BYU and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Utah.
Elizabeth A. Clark
Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University
Elizabeth A. Clark is Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University and a Member of the OSCE/ODIHR Advisory Panel for Freedom of Religion or Belief (2022-2025). Professor Clark is an expert on religious freedom in Eastern Europe and comparative law and religion. She has written over 40 chapters and articles and co-written or edited several books, including Religion during the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and Law and Religion in Post-Communist Europe.
Professor Clark has been featured on radio and public television shows in the U.S. and internationally, The National Review, and SCOTUSBlog. In her work with the Center, she has spoken at U.N. and OSCE forums at and over 100 academic conferences throughout the world. She has also testified before the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on religious freedom issues, has taken part in drafting analyses of pending legislation affecting religious freedom in over a dozen countries, and has written amicus briefs on religious freedom issues for the U.S. Supreme Court.
In addition to her work at the BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Professor Clark has taught Professional Responsibility and co-taught classes on Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, International Human Rights, and European Union law at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University. Professor Clark is fluent in Russian and Czech and has a reading knowledge of French and German.
Prior to joining the Law School, Professor Clark was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Mayer, Brown & Platt, where she was a member of the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Group. Professor Clark also clerked for Judge J. Clifford Wallace on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated summa cum laude from BYU’s law school, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the BYU Law Review.
Nic Dunn
Vice President of Strategy and Communications, Sutherland Institute
Nic Dunn leads Sutherland Institute’s public communications and strategic engagement efforts, which include media relations, multimedia production, marketing, and other forms of outreach and public engagement to enhance Sutherland’s strategic objectives.
Nic brings more than a decade of experience in public policy and strategic communications spanning state and local government and the private sector. Prior to Sutherland, Nic served as director of Utah Community Builders, the Salt Lake Chamber’s nonprofit social impact foundation. In that role, Nic worked with the private sector to advance statewide initiatives in mental health, family policy, and upward mobility. Nic is also a member of the Salt Lake County Intergenerational Poverty Task Force.
In other previous work, Nic ran public policy for the Utah Valley Chamber, served as senior policy advisor to Salt Lake County Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton, directed media relations for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, and worked on Gov. Gary Herbert’s communications staff as lead speechwriter.
Nic has dual bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism and political science from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Utah. Nic and his wife, Lizzie, live in Eagle Mountain with their son.
Gary B. Doxey
Associate Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University
Gary B. Doxey is the Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He joined the Center in 2005 and serves as regional advisor for Latin America. He also heads the Center’s development effort. He has authored several commentaries on draft legislation and a number of amicus briefs in Latin America. He also teaches in the History Department at Brigham Young University. Professor Doxey’s career has been divided between academia and public service. Prior to joining the BYU Law School, he was chief of staff and general counsel to Utah governors Mike Leavitt and Olene Walker and served as Deputy Commissioner of Financial Institutions and as Associate General Counsel to the Utah Legislature. He has a PhD in history from Cambridge University and a JD from Brigham Young University.
