Rights

Our Research & Offerings on Rights

Audio Recorded on October 21, 2011 Istook881 Vegetable Bureaucracy
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. … Read more
First Principles Series Report posted July 5, 2011 by Johnathan O'Neill The First Conservatives: The Constitutional Challenge to Progressivism
Abstract: Although it is readily apparent that conservatism is united in its principled hostility to modern Progressive Liberalism, it is often more difficult to pin down just what the movement stands for. Johnathan O’Neill suggests that a focus… Read more
WebMemo posted May 24, 2011 by Marion Smith Does the Tea Party Need a Foreign Policy?
While many political observers agree that “the great mass of Tea Party America does not seem headed toward a new isolationism,”[1] its silence on foreign policy issues has allowed isolationist voices to speak up for the Tea Party as a whole and to discredit the movement’s relevance to… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted January 11, 2011 by Peter C. Myers Frederick Douglass’s America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding
Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable “I have a dream” speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. While conceding that these… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted October 15, 2010 by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. America’s Founders and the Principles of Foreign Policy: Sovereign Independence, National Interests, and the Cause of Liberty in the World
Abstract: America’s Founders sought to define a national good that transcended local interests and prejudices. The national good included the common benefits of self-defense and prosperity that all Americans would realize by participating in a large, commercial nation… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted August 30, 2010 by Thomas West The Economic Principles of America’s Founders: Property Rights, Free Markets, and Sound Money
Abstract: Although there are many scholarly treatments of the Founders’ understanding of property and economics, few of them present an overview of the complete package of the principles and policies upon which they agreed. Even the fact that there was a consensus among the Founders is often denied.… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted July 13, 2010 by The Reverend Robert Sirico The Moral Basis for Economic Liberty
Abstract: Today, those who defend free markets and capitalism often do so solely on managerial or technical grounds, but economic liberty needs a moral defense as well. Defense of economic liberty without reference to morality will ultimately prove injurious to liberty itself. Rightly understood,… Read more
WebMemo posted April 7, 2010 by Grace Melton CEDAW and the New U.N. Gender Office: The U.S. Can Do Better
The 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded last month at the United Nations, with even more feminist fanfare than in recent years. The CSW is a functional body that meets annually to discuss and review the situation… Read more
Play Movie Video Recorded on February 12, 2010 Brian Walsh on Free Speech in Shopping Malls on CNN
Brian Walsh discussing free speech in shopping malls. … Read more
Commentary posted February 2, 2010 by Hans von Spakovsky Campaign Speech Free at Last
The Supreme Court has restored a vital part of the 1st Amendment -- a part Congress and some prior court decisions had tried to deny. A 5-to-4 majority, led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, found that a major part of the federal campaign-finance legal superstructure unconstitutionally infringed… Read more

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Lecture posted May 5, 2004 by The Honorable Frank Williams Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties in Wartime
This month, several individuals detained as "enemy combatants" will make their appeals for freedom to the highest court in the land. Perhaps now, more than any other time in recent memory, the eyes of the world are intensely focused… Read more
Lecture posted March 4, 1993 by Russell Kirk The Meaning of Justice
The word "justice" is on everyone's lips nowadays, and may signify almost anything. We hear the cry "Peace and Justice!" from folk who would destroy existing societies with fire and sword. Other folk fancy that perfect justice might readily be obtained by certain financial rearrangements -- as if anything in this world ever could be… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted June 23, 2006 by Daniel Dreisbach The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse
No metaphor in American letters has had a more profound influence on law and policy than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state." Today, this figure of speech is accepted by many Americans as a pithy description of the constitutionally prescribed church-state arrangement, and it has become the… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted August 30, 2010 by Thomas West The Economic Principles of America’s Founders: Property Rights, Free Markets, and Sound Money
Abstract: Although there are many scholarly treatments of the Founders’ understanding of property and economics, few of them present an overview of the complete package of the principles and policies upon which they agreed. Even the fact that there was a consensus among the Founders is often denied.… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted July 13, 2010 by The Reverend Robert Sirico The Moral Basis for Economic Liberty
Abstract: Today, those who defend free markets and capitalism often do so solely on managerial or technical grounds, but economic liberty needs a moral defense as well. Defense of economic liberty without reference to morality will ultimately prove injurious to liberty itself. Rightly understood,… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted October 15, 2010 by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. America’s Founders and the Principles of Foreign Policy: Sovereign Independence, National Interests, and the Cause of Liberty in the World
Abstract: America’s Founders sought to define a national good that transcended local interests and prejudices. The national good included the common benefits of self-defense and prosperity that all Americans would realize by participating in a large, commercial nation… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted January 11, 2011 by Peter C. Myers Frederick Douglass’s America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding
Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable “I have a dream” speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. While conceding that these… Read more
Lecture posted June 24, 1998 by Stephan Thernstrom, Fred Siegel, Robert Woodson The Kerner Commission Report
This lecture was held at The Heritage Foundation on March 13, 1998. Welcome to our panel discussion on the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Kerner Commission Report. The Heritage Foundation has a number of goals. One is to roll back the liberal welfare state. A prerequisite to understanding what happened to create the… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted May 1, 2006 by Keith Whittington How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism
The argument that original meaning should guide constitutional interpretation is nearly as old as the Constitution itself. Before there were strict constructionists, before there were judicial activists, there were originalists. In those early days, few seriously objected to the notion that the Constitution should… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted March 16, 2006 by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. Making Citizens: The Case for Patriotic Assimilation
Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has the right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. … Read more

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First Principles Series Report posted July 5, 2011 by Johnathan O'Neill The First Conservatives: The Constitutional Challenge to Progressivism
Abstract: Although it is readily apparent that conservatism is united in its principled hostility to modern Progressive Liberalism, it is often more difficult to pin down just what the movement stands for. Johnathan O’Neill suggests that a focus… Read more
WebMemo posted May 24, 2011 by Marion Smith Does the Tea Party Need a Foreign Policy?
While many political observers agree that “the great mass of Tea Party America does not seem headed toward a new isolationism,”[1] its silence on foreign policy issues has allowed isolationist voices to speak up for the Tea Party as a whole and to discredit the movement’s relevance to… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted January 11, 2011 by Peter C. Myers Frederick Douglass’s America: Race, Justice, and the Promise of the Founding
Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable “I have a dream” speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. While conceding that these… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted October 15, 2010 by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. America’s Founders and the Principles of Foreign Policy: Sovereign Independence, National Interests, and the Cause of Liberty in the World
Abstract: America’s Founders sought to define a national good that transcended local interests and prejudices. The national good included the common benefits of self-defense and prosperity that all Americans would realize by participating in a large, commercial nation… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted August 30, 2010 by Thomas West The Economic Principles of America’s Founders: Property Rights, Free Markets, and Sound Money
Abstract: Although there are many scholarly treatments of the Founders’ understanding of property and economics, few of them present an overview of the complete package of the principles and policies upon which they agreed. Even the fact that there was a consensus among the Founders is often denied.… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted July 13, 2010 by The Reverend Robert Sirico The Moral Basis for Economic Liberty
Abstract: Today, those who defend free markets and capitalism often do so solely on managerial or technical grounds, but economic liberty needs a moral defense as well. Defense of economic liberty without reference to morality will ultimately prove injurious to liberty itself. Rightly understood,… Read more
WebMemo posted April 7, 2010 by Grace Melton CEDAW and the New U.N. Gender Office: The U.S. Can Do Better
The 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) concluded last month at the United Nations, with even more feminist fanfare than in recent years. The CSW is a functional body that meets annually to discuss and review the situation… Read more
Backgrounder posted July 9, 2007 by John O'Shea, M.D. The Crisis in Hospital Emergency Departments: Overcoming the Burden of Federal Regulation
There is a deepening crisis in America's hospital emergency rooms. More and more patients are showing up for care without the ability to pay for it. The burden on taxpayers and private insurance policy holders is increasing, and doctors and nurses are often overworked… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted June 23, 2006 by Daniel Dreisbach The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse
No metaphor in American letters has had a more profound influence on law and policy than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state." Today, this figure of speech is accepted by many Americans as a pithy description of the constitutionally prescribed church-state arrangement, and it has become the… Read more
First Principles Series Report posted May 1, 2006 by Keith Whittington How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism
The argument that original meaning should guide constitutional interpretation is nearly as old as the Constitution itself. Before there were strict constructionists, before there were judicial activists, there were originalists. In those early days, few seriously objected to the notion that the Constitution should… Read more

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Blog Post on 2/7/2012 11:45:31 AM European Court Threatens America’s Security
Many Americans will not recognize the name Abu Qatada. Qatada is a radical Muslim cleric currently behind bars in the...… Read more
Blog Post on 2/3/2012 10:58:26 AM Government Unions Support California Tax Hike
Two well-connected government unions in California are teaming with Gov. Jerry Brown to support a multibillion-dollar...… Read more
Blog Post on 2/2/2012 6:00:26 AM Indiana Enacts Right to Work; Arizona Moves to Restore Voters' Voices
Indiana’s Senate yesterday passed—and Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed—the state’s long-awaited right-to-work law,...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/30/2012 4:56:56 AM Morning Bell: Right to Work Heads to Indiana
In 22 states in the Union, workers have the freedom under "Right-to-Work" laws to decide whether or not to pay union...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/26/2012 6:56:39 AM Missing the Mark on Military Commissions
Last week, I again had the privilege of traveling to Guantanamo Bay to observe a military commission proceeding as an...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/25/2012 10:15:24 AM Adding Insult to Injury: Obama Admin Refuses to Protect Religious Liberty
[caption id="attachment_89280" align="alignnone" width="585" caption="Colorado Christian University is one of many...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/24/2012 8:45:49 AM Where Are the Champions of Human Rights?
Throughout the world, countless violations of basic human rights occur every day, but, as Representative Frank Wolf...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/21/2012 9:32:24 AM Scribecast: Rep. Frank Wolf Discusses Political and Religious Rights
With economic issues dominating the domestic political agenda and much of our foreign policy focused on combating...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/20/2012 12:00:36 PM A Cuban’s Dissident’s Death and Obama’s Libertad Speech
Cuban citizen Wilman Villar Mendoza, age 31, belonged to small dissident group, the Cuban Patriotic Union. He reportedly...… Read more
Blog Post on 1/20/2012 7:04:34 AM Supremes Shut Down Judicial Activism Over Voting Maps
Today, the Supreme Court tossed out the work of a district court that attempted to force its own electoral maps on the...… Read more

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Experts on Rights

James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies
Helle Dale
Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy
Steven Groves
Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow
Kim R. Holmes, Ph.D.
Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, and Director, The Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies
Walter Lohman
Director, Asian Studies Center
Ambassador Terry Miller
Director, Center for International Trade and Economics and the Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom
Brett Schaefer
Jay Kingham Fellow in International Regulatory Affairs