An Open Letter to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts (Guest Post from Prof. Nelson Lund)

Below is an open letter to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts from my Scalia Law colleague Nelson Lund:

After your shocking video pledging eternal friendship to Tucker Carlson, I thought that you and Heritage’s Board of Trustees deserved some time to clean up the mess you made. The mass resignation of staff from the Meese Center has now made it clear that neither you nor the Board is likely to take appropriate steps to salvage the Foundation’s reputation.

I have been involved in various ways with Heritage for several decades. I have frequently been asked to write on legal issues, and two of those solicited papers have received some academic attention. Perhaps most importantly, I have contributed multiple essays to all three editions of the Heritage Guide to the Constitution, and I was honored to serve on the Academic Advisory Board for the third edition.

In working with Josh Blackman and John Malcolm on the most recent edition, I saw first hand the extraordinary energy, intelligence, and integrity that produced what is undoubtedly the single finest resource for citizens and policymakers who are interested in the Constitution’s original meaning.

The collapse of the Meese Center is especially offensive because of its effects on my friend and former student, Josh Blackman, who put so much of himself into raising the Guide to a new level of excellence. The insult to Attorney General Meese, whom I was very proud to serve at the Department of Justice, is perhaps even worse. He has done at least as much as anyone in our nation to initiate and shape the modern project of recovering the original Constitution. He deserved better from you and Heritage.

Fortunately, the achievements of Meese, Blackman, Malcolm, and many others who have worked with Heritage over the years will outlast and outshine you and the toxic cloud that you have created.

Nelson Lund
Distinguished University Professor
Antonin Scalia Law School