The far-right Heritage Foundation has gone from a top position of power, writing the Project 2025 agenda President Donald Trump is using to reshape the federal government for the GOP, to a state of chaos amid a mass resignation of top scholars at the group.
One of the exiting officials, Josh Blackman, senior editor of the foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution,” spoke out about the turmoil in a scathing open letter to Heritage chief Kevin Roberts, which was published by right-leaning Reason. He blamed the current civil war on Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson for giving a platform to notorious Holocaust denier and white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
“I could not have even conceived of such an action only a few months ago when we launched the third edition of the guide,” wrote Blackman. “On Constitution Day, I proudly stood at the Heritage Foundation as we released this book to the world. But your actions have made my continued affiliation with Heritage untenable.”
“First, your comments were a huge unforced blunder, and gave aid and comfort to the rising tide of antisemitism on the right,” he continued. “Second, in the wake of your remarks, jurists, scholars, and advocates have made clear to me they can no longer associate with the Heritage Guide they contributed to. Third, and perhaps most tragically, your actions have weakened the ability of the storied Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies to promote the rule of law.”
Blackman has been a contributor to Heritage and to the conservative legal movement for years. He was quick to note that he had helped recruit “more than 150 jurists, scholars, and advocates to participate” in the Constitution guide, and even got far-right Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to write the foreword.
Which is what makes it all the more tragic, he continued, that after Roberts’s remarks about Carlson and echoing some of his antisemitic beliefs, Heritage’s work “came to a crashing halt.” Amid the outcry, the Meese Center had to cancel a book signing at a Federalist Society convention, while judges and litigators are renouncing affiliation with Heritage, and ceasing to recommend law students attend the foundation’s Clerkship Academy, cutting off their ability to tutor new conservative judicial nominees.
“Your initial remarks were indefensible. Your apology was underwhelming. And the lack of any meaningful follow-up over the past three months has been telling,” wrote Blackman. “I agree with Ben Shapiro: ‘If Heritage Foundation wishes to retain its status as a leading thought institution in the conservative movement, it must act as ideological border control.’ Antisemitism is always the canary in the coalmine. History teaches us that any society that fails to protect its Jewish people is destined for despair.”
“The Meese Center cannot survive under Heritage’s current leadership, and the damage to the Meese Center brand has been irreparable,” Blackman concluded. “My only hope is that the important scholarship in the Heritage Guide can continue to be studied.”
The post ‘Huge unforced blunder’: Resigning Heritage Foundation editor calls out org’s leaders appeared first on Raw Story.
