Rule of Law 

Restore the courts to their constitutional role which is to apply the laws as written, to protect individual rights, and to enforce constitutional limits on government. 

Our strategy:

• Produce Imperial Judiciary, a book that will contrast current judicial activism with its proper role. Geared primarily toward opinion leaders, academics, and activists, the book will include a discussion of how judges became seduced into abusing their power, a definition of judicial activism, clear examples of judicial activism, and a discussion of possible solutions – including proper and effective congressional controls.
• Establish a Legal Affairs Fellowship Program that maintains a presence in all 12 judicial circuits. Under this program, young scholars will work part-time for Heritage to provide reports and commentary on key legal cases in their circuits.
• Organize an ongoing National Speaking Tour with like-minded legal policy groups. This will redress problems that evolved over many years from populist and other intellectual movements in the legal academy. The tour will dedicate significant resources to influence the ongoing popular and intellectual debate for many years to come.
• Institute awards for noteworthy members of the judiciary — and perhaps for dishonorable ones as well — to reinforce the proper understanding of a judge’s role. Both serious tribute and humorous ridicule will create a newsworthy event and build support for our leadership role on this issue.
• Educate Americans about how some judges, prosecutors, and legislators have distorted the proper ends of the criminal law and criminalized an ever-increasing number of beneficial activities.  We will publish and aggressively publicize monographs, op-eds, and cases studies of abuses, emphasizing the threats overcriminalization poses to Americans’ fundamental freedoms and civil liberties.
• Act as the driving force and recognized leader in Congress and the state legislatures to secure substantial reform of the criminal law.  We will build on the extensive relationships we have developed in the legal profession, the business community, and policy organizations to reduce and reverse the deterioration of Americans’ traditional protections against unjust criminal conviction and punishment.