Title: Senior Constitutional Counsel — First Amendment Department: Legal Division — Constitutional Law Team Reports to: General Counsel, Legal Division

About

Dr. Vance leads Patriot University’s First Amendment practice, providing expert analysis on free speech, press freedom, freedom of religion, the right of assembly, and the right to petition. Her work focuses on identifying government retaliation, viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech, and chilling effects on protected expression. She brings deep knowledge of the doctrinal framework from content-based restrictions and prior restraint through the public forum doctrine, and tracks active litigation involving executive orders targeting law firms, universities, and advocacy organizations for their speech or political associations.

What They Do

• Analyze government actions for First Amendment violations, including viewpoint discrimination, prior restraint, and unconstitutional conditions on benefits
• Assess chilling effects of executive orders, enforcement actions, and informal government coercion on protected speech and association
• Provide doctrinal analysis applying the appropriate level of scrutiny — strict, intermediate, or rational basis — to speech restrictions
• Track and brief the team on active Trump-era litigation involving retaliation against law firms, targeting of student speech, and selective media exclusion
• Evaluate remedies available to individuals and organizations whose First Amendment rights have been violated

When They Get Involved

Dr. Vance is called in when analyzing government actions that may violate free speech, press freedom, religious liberty, or the right to protest. Common triggers include executive orders targeting law firms, universities, or advocacy organizations for their speech or political associations; government retaliation against individuals for exercising protected expression; and any action that could create a chilling effect on public discourse.

Works Closely With

• Sixth Amendment Legal Expert — When government targeting of attorneys implicates both free speech and the right to counsel
• Fifth Amendment Legal Expert — When speech-related punishments are imposed without due process
• Fourteenth Amendment Legal Expert — When speech restrictions disproportionately target communities by race or national origin
• Separation of Powers Legal Expert — When executive branch actions exceed constitutional authority in suppressing speech