Joshua M. Wesneski is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, and Litigation groups.

Mr. Wesneski has represented clients in a wide variety of appellate matters in the state supreme courts, the federal courts of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He maintains an active trial-level practice, and was a member of the defense team in the first ever antitrust class-action suit involving both direct and indirect purchasers tried before a single jury, prevailing after a trial lasting several weeks. Mr. Wesneski also advises and represents clients in proceedings before administrative agencies.

Representative appellate matters include:

• Opati v. Republic of Sudan, 140 S. Ct. 1601 (U.S. 2020). Obtained a unanimous victory in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the families of victims of terrorist attacks in a case seeking to hold the Republic of Sudan liable for its material support of terrorist activity.
• Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of University of California, 140 S. Ct. 1891 (2020). Represented individual recipients under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in a historic case successfully challenging the rescission of DACA in the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, 140 S. Ct. 1649 (2020). Represented hedge funds in a suit contending that the members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico were appointed in violation of the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• New York Stock Exchange v. SEC, 962 F.3d 541 (D.C. Cir. 2020). Represented Nasdaq in a successful challenge to an SEC rule imposing a multi-year “pilot” on securities exchanges to experiment with transaction fees and rebates.
• Schwartz v. Tatad, 787 F. App’x 408 (9th Cir. 2019) (argued). Represented an individual in a Bivens suit against physicians and administrators alleging deliberate indifference to the individual’s serious medical needs while in federal custody, successfully overturning summary judgment.
• United States v. Johnson, 945 F.3d 174 (4th Cir. 2019) (argued). Represented an individual in a criminal case regarding whether Maryland robbery constitutes a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Wesneski worked as a litigation associate in a New York law firm. Mr. Wesneski thereafter clerked for Judge Barrington D. Parker, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Wesneski received his law degree, summa cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 2014, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Law Review. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Oklahoma in 2011.

Mr. Wesneski is a member of the District of Columbia and New York bars, and he is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits, as well as U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and the District of Columbia.