Meese Institute at AAF

Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III is a long-time friend and advisor to CJLF. His namesake legal institute has long been part of the Heritage Foundation, but he has announced a new one at Advancing American Freedom, an organization headed by former Vice President Mike Pence. AAF’s press release quotes Mr. Meese:

I am proud to announce Advancing American Freedom as the home for the new Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law. AAF has already established itself as a leader in the conservative movement.

I am confident that the lawyers and staff in the Meese Institute will continue to play a leading role in advancing the conservative legal movement in terms of their scholarship, and by working with allies to achieve our mutual objectives, educating the general public about important legal issues, helping to train the next generation of conservative lawyers, and defending the Constitution and rule of law.

The WSJ has this article.

A dozen Heritage leaders and scholars are moving to AAF. They include John Malcolm, the head of the existing Meese Center at Heritage, and Paul Larkin, a leading scholar exposing the pervasive myths about criminal justice. Paul is a friend of ours and the co-author of the extensive article The Fallacy of Systemic Racism in the American Criminal Justice System.

Also joining the new Meese Institute is Professor Josh Blackman. He has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Update: This article at National Review has reaction from Heritage’s president Kevin Roberts. Among other things, he says, policy expert Cully Stimson will now lead the organization’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies on an “interim basis, with assistance from Hans von Spakovsky.” Cully and Hans are also friends and comrades-in-arms. Perhaps they could help turn things around at Heritage. But “interim basis”?

Update 2: Scratch that last part. Cully and Hans have also resigned from Heritage, although it is not clear where they are going at this point.