Mr. Shackelford is a constitutional scholar who has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before the U.S. House and Senate on constitutional issues, and has won three state landmark First Amendment and religious liberty cases in the past few years alone. He was recently named one of the 25 greatest Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century by Texas Lawyer, and is the recipient of the prestigious William Bentley Ball Award for Life and Religious Freedom Defense for his leadership and pioneering work protecting religious freedom.

A seventh generation Texan, Van Taylor is a family man, businessman, and decorated Iraq War Veteran. For his service in Iraq, the Marine Corps awarded Captain Taylor the Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Navy Commendation Medal with “V” for valor.
From April 2010 to January 2015, Van Taylor represented District 66 in the Texas House of Representatives. From January 13, 2015 – January 3, 2019, Taylor served as a Member of the Texas Senate, representing the Eighth Senate District of Texas. On January 3, 2019, Van Taylor was sworn in as a Member of the United States Congress, representing Texas Third Congressional District.
Van and his wife Anne, reside in Plano, and are the proud parents of three young girls: Laura, Helen,
and Susie.

Bauer served in President Ronald Reagan's administration for eight years, as Under Secretary of Education and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.

After leaving the Reagan White House, Bauer became President of the Family Research Council and a Senior Vice President of Focus on the Family.

Bauer took his pro-family, pro-life message across the country during the 2000 Republican presidential primaries and debates.

Today, Bauer serves as Chairman of Campaign for Working Families PAC, dedicated to electing conservative candidates to Congress, and as President of American Values, an educational non-profit organization. He writes a weekly column at Human Events and co-hosts a weekend talk show on Sirius/XM Radio.

In 1973, Bauer received his law degree from Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C. He is married to the former Carol Hoke, and lives in Virginia. Gary and Carol have three grown children.

First Liberty personally wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas! Thanks to your unwavering prayers and support, 2021 has been an incredible year filled with opportunities and triumphs for religious liberty.

Despite President Biden's assurances to the contrary, inflationary pressure is apparently here to stay as his administration looks toward the start of his second year in office.

The Chinese government claims that the nation of 1.4 billion people has had . . . nine Omicron cases so far.