Center for Law & Justice

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The rule of law is indispensable to our Nation. However, it is impossible for our Nation’s citizens to be secure if crime plagues our streets and lawlessness dominates our communities. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) will advance policies that support the American people’s right to live and prosper in free and secure communities. Respect for legitimate law enforcement, reverence for the law, and smart-on-crime reforms are essential to American life and liberty.

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Top 10 America First Actions For Key Policy Areas

Liberty and Justice for All: An America First FBI

Wray Testimony: Shedding Light on Politicization at the FBI

Scott G. Erickson

Combating Fentanyl - The America First Action Plan

ISSUE BRIEF: Enhanced Prosecutions for Fentanyl

Scott G. Erickson

FACT SHEET: Churches Can Influence Public Policy

FACT SHEET: Jack Smith – A Record That Speaks for Itself

FACT SHEET: United States v. Donald Trump

ISSUE BRIEF: How the Administrative State is Being Used to Criminalize Lawful Gun Owners

Alexander Wilgocki

2022 Year End Review Crime in America

Is the Government being Weaponized Against You?

Manhattan DA has nothing to Bragg about

FACT SHEET: New Legislation Would Empower South Carolinians with Constitutional Carry

FACT SHEET: Expanding Constitutional Carry to ALL Citizens in North Dakota

FACT SHEET: New Legislation Would Empower Nebraskans with Constitutional Carry

EXPERT INSIGHT: An Assault Weapons Ban is not the Solution Illinois Needs

Andrew J. Whitaker

ISSUE BRIEF - An Assault Weapons Ban Will Not Cure America’s Crime Crisis

Andrew J. Whitaker

FACT SHEET: New Legislation Would Empower Floridians with Constitutional Carry

Defending Your Right to Bear Arms

Addressing the Challenges of Recruiting and Retention in-Law Enforcement

Scott G. Erickson

Analysis of H.R. 9240, The Concerned Citizens Bill of Rights Act

What is Constitutional Carry? State Legislation: Permitless Carry

Midterm Results: Americans prefer the America First Approach to Criminal Justice

Andrew J. Whitaker

Fact Sheet - How Progressive Prosecutors are Undermining Safe and Secure Communities

Progressive Prosecutors Undermine Safe and Secure Communities

Scott G. Erickson

Political Prosecutions: Abusing Discretion in the Service of Politics

Craig Trainor

America First Policy Institute’s Pennsylvania Act 77 Amicus Brief

Jessica Hart Steinmann, Craig Trainor, and Rachel Jag

Combating Fentanyl - The America First Action Plan

ISSUE BRIEF: Enhanced Prosecutions for Fentanyl

Scott G. Erickson

FACT SHEET: Churches Can Influence Public Policy

FACT SHEET: Jack Smith – A Record That Speaks for Itself

FACT SHEET: United States v. Donald Trump

Is the Government being Weaponized Against You?

Manhattan DA has nothing to Bragg about

HR 27 Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act

Scott G. Erickson

Bipartisan “Police Funding” Bill Will do Little to Reduce Crime

Scott G. Erickson

Analysis of H.R. 6448, the Invest to Protect Act of 2022

Scott G. Erickson

Attorney General as Threat to the Rule of Law

Craig Trainor

AFPI 2022 Annual Policy Summit

Happy First Birthday AFPI!

DHS-DOJ Joint Rule Latest Deliberate Attempt to Dismantle the Immigration System

Scott Erickson

Meet Anonymous Airman #7 of AFPI’s Lawsuit against the Biden Department of Defense

Rachel Jag

True Equality is Enforcing Law and Order

Troup Hemenway

Matt Whitaker joined Mornings with Maria on Fox Business to discuss the Durham report

An Examination of the First Year of Biden’s Presidency

Pam Bondi joined Hannity on Fox News to discuss the surge of violent crime in America

Pam Bondi Joined ‘Hannity’ on Fox News to discuss DC’s new State of Emergency and mask mandate

Matt Whitaker joined Shannon Bream on ‘Fox News at Night’

Pam Bondi joined Fox News Primetime with host Tammy Bruce

Op-Ed: Supporting America’s Heroes Who Continue to Hold the Line – In Spite of It All

Pam Bondi & Matthew Whitaker

In Rittenhouse’s Case, Against the Court of Public Opinion, Justice Prevails

Troup Hemenway

The Honorable Pam Bondi Chair, Constitutional Litigation Partnership and Co-Chair, Center for Law and Justice

Pam Bondi is from Tampa, Florida, and serves as the Chair for the Constitutional Litigation Partnership, and Co-Chair of the Center for Law and Justice at AFPI. A fourth-generation Floridian, Bondi spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor, trying cases ranging from domestic violence to capital murder. She served as Florida’s 37th and first female Attorney General. When Bondi took office, Florida was referred to as the pill mill capital of the United States, and in her first legislative session she successfully advanced reforms to eliminate unscrupulous doctors and clinics operating in Florida. Bondi served on the President’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission under President Donald Trump, where she worked alongside other national leaders in areas of drug prevention, interdiction, and treatment. Bondi was also a strong champion for the First Step Act, which helps formerly incarcerated inmates re-enter society safely and prevents recidivism. Bondi is a partner at Ballard Partners’ Washington, D.C. office, where she chairs the firm’s corporate regulatory practice. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of Florida and her Juris Doctor from Stetson Law School. Bondi splits her time between Tampa and Washington, D.C, where she is on the Board of Trustees for the Kennedy Center. In Tampa, Bondi enjoys watching all the great Tampa Bay sports teams and spending time with her family and rescue dogs.

“Keep your heels, head and standards high”

Coco Chanel

Scott Erickson Director, Center for Law & Justice

Scott G. Erickson is originally from the San Francisco Bay area and serves as the Director of AFPI’s Center for Law & Justice. Prior to joining AFPI, Erickson served at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), concluding his service as the Chief of Staff, where he oversaw all aspects of the Secretary’s Front Office operations. Previously, he also served as DHS Deputy Chief of Staff and as a Counselor to three Secretaries, where his portfolio included law enforcement, transnational criminal organizations, and human trafficking, among other issues. Earlier in his career, Erickson spent nearly twenty years as a uniformed police officer in San Jose, California. He was also the founder and president of a nonprofit organization, Americans in Support of Law Enforcement, that sought to add context and perspective to the public conversation on policing in America. In their free time, Scott and his wife, Lauren, enjoy visiting with friends and family, touring the many historical sites in the D.C. area, and rooting for the Giants, Warriors, and 49ers.

““The brave man inattentive to his duty is worth little more to his country than the coward who deserts her in the hour of danger.””

Andrew Jackson

Nicole Parker Senior Advisor, Center for Law & Justice

Nicole Parker is a former Special Agent with the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who served from 2010-October 2022. She now serves as a Senior Advisor for the Center for Law & Justice at AFPI. In her role as a special agent, Parker was responsible for investigating violations of Title 18 of the United States Code of Laws and other federal criminal statutes. During her time in the FBI, she was also involved in investigations of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes, sexual assaults, and extortion. She left, however, due to a shift in the FBI’s priorities and governing principles while she worked there. Parker has spoken out against the agency’s politicization, citing an example of when agents wearing FBI vests knelt with Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, she also spoke out against a constant pattern of the FBI giving different treatment to certain investigations based on political persuasion.

The Honorable Matthew Whitaker CO-CHAIR, CENTER FOR LAW & JUSTICE

Matthew G. Whitaker is from Des Moines, Iowa, and serves as a Co-Chair for the Center of Law & Justice at AFPI. Whitaker was the Acting Attorney General of the United States from 2018 to 2019. Prior to becoming Acting Attorney General, Mr. Whitaker served as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was previously appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa by President George W. Bush, serving from 2004 to 2009. Whitaker was also previously the managing partner of Des Moines-based law firm Whitaker Hagenow & Gustoff, LLP from 2009 until rejoining the U.S. Department of Justice in 2017. He was also the Executive Director for FACT, The Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust, an ethics and accountability watchdog, from 2014 to 2017. Mr. Whitaker earned a Master of Business Administration, Juris Doctor, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa. While at Iowa, Whitaker was a three-year letterman on the football team, where he received the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor. Mr. Whitaker is also of counsel with the Graves Garrett law firm.

“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”

HARRY S. TRUMAN

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