Prior to joining The Public Interest Legal Foundation, J. Christian Adams served from 2005 to 2010 in the Voting Section at the United States Department of Justice Voting Section. President Trump appointed Adams to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. President Trump also appointed Adams as a Commissioner to the United States Commission on Civil Rights where he also now serves with a term through 2025. He has been involved in election law lawsuits in 33 states and the territory of Guam.  He has represented multiple presidential campaigns in election litigation.  He has a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He is a member of the South Carolina and Virginia Bars.

Lauren Bowman Bis joined the Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2021. Prior to joining the Foundation, she served as a member of President Trump’s communications team at the White House and later his re-election campaign. She previously worked at the Heritage Foundation for the founder and president Ed Feulner. Lauren graduated from the University of Texas in May of 2017. 

Elaina Crafton joined The Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2022. She serves as Chief Operations Officer and as Board Secretary.

Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked for a consulting firm as a Research Analyst. Elaina received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with a Minor in Psychology from Christopher Newport University. Elaina served as a member of the PILF team during her undergraduate career.

Carrie-Lee Early joined The Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2021. Prior to joining the Foundation, she most recently served as a Trump Administration appointee for the Office of General Counsel at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Carrie-Lee’s formative career focused on representing private sector business clients in litigation, in northern California. After that, she served as counsel for the Republicans at the California State Legislature and as general counsel and advocate for two Sacramento based trade associations representing manufacturing and utility interests.  In the second half of her career, Carrie-Lee has worked on Capitol Hill, in private practice and in federal agencies, focusing mostly on telecommunication and energy policy and information law. Carrie-Lee graduated from the University of California with Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees.

 Joseph Nixon joined The Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2023. He is a highly experienced election litigator, having represented presidential candidates, a governor, a U.S. senator, several congressmen, a lieutenant governor, state senators and representatives, elected judges and justices, counties, cities and candidates in a wide variety of election disputes and issues and courts. He has been board certified in Civil Trial Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization for over 30 years. His practice includes issues involving political law, first amendment and free speech, civil rights, redistricting, election law, governmental law, separation of powers and class action disputes involving civil rights. He is active in both trial and appellate courts, having argued more than 25 appeals in both state and federal courts.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Texas A&M University in 1978 and his Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1982. He is admitted to the Texas Supreme Court (1982), U.S. Supreme Court (1986), U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit (1983) and Fourth Circuit (2012), U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (1983), Eastern District of Texas (1986), Western District of Texas (1987), Northern District of Texas (2007), and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (2011).From 1995-2007, Joe served in the Texas Legislature as a state representative on the west side of Houston. He is a published author and national commentator on election law and lawsuit reform issues. Most recently, Joe served as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Kaylan L. Phillips joined The Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2012. She has litigated election law and constitutional law cases across the nation, from Washington state to Maine.  Kaylan has extensive experience at every level of litigation in state and federal court, including the United States Supreme Court.  She has experience representing clients before federal and state administrative agencies.  Kaylan has also authored numerous amicus curiae briefs on key election law issues such as “one-person, one-vote” and alien voting.  Kaylan received her B.A. (with honors, 2005) from the University of Oklahoma and J.D. (2008) from the University of Tulsa. She is admitted to practice law in the State of Oklahoma, State of Indiana, the District of Columbia, and in several federal district and appellate courts.

Maureen Riordan joined The Public Interest Legal Foundation in 2021. Maureen spent 20 years as a Justice Department senior attorney in the Voting Section, working on hundreds of election, voting, and redistricting submissions. She litigated National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and other Voting Rights matters.

At the beginning of the Trump administration, she served on a detail, as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, where she helped supervise the Voting Section as well as serve as liaison to the Section Chiefs, helping the Division transition team and acting AAG to become established. She returned to the career ranks in the Civil Rights Division after her detail ended in 2017. In 2020, she was promoted out of the Voting Section and named as a political appointee, serving as the Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General.

During her time at the Department of Justice, she also worked in a yearlong detail as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Virginia doing criminal prosecutions. From 1985 to 2000 she served as a prosecutor in the Nassau County (NY) District Attorney’s office handling a wide range of issues and trials such as major felonies, homicide, sex offenses, and served as the supervisor of grand jury procedures and indictments.  She has a JD from St. Mary’s Law School in San Antonio and a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Seton Hall.