WASHINGTON, April 26, 2007 -Steven Calabresi, David McIntosh and Lee Liberman Otis today were awarded The Heritage Foundation's 2007 Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship.

The three, then law students, founded the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies in 1982 in an effort to counteract liberal orthodoxy that prevailed in America's law schools and legal community.

Named for the Federalist Papers, the Society is influenced by the core founding principles of limited, constitutional government-that the state exists to preserve freedom and that it is the role of the judiciary to say what the law means rather than what it should be.

All three co-founders remain active members and leaders of the Federalist Society. Calabresi is a professor at Northwestern Law School, McIntosh is a former member of Congress and partner at the law firm of Mayer Brown, and Otis works at the Department of Justice.

The Salvatori Prize, named for entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Salvatori, is given annually to Americans who uphold and advance the principles of the American Founding, embody the virtues of character and mind that animated America's Founders, and exemplify the spirit of independent and entrepreneurial citizenship in the United States.

In founding the Federalist Society, these three individuals worked to promote these ideals. The $25,000 award that accompanies the Salvatori Prize will be given to the Federalist Society.

Now marking its 25th anniversary, the Federalist Society provides speakers and other assistance to foster debate through student chapters more than 5,000 law students at about 190 ABA-accredited law schools and works to promote the principles of individual liberty, traditional values and the rule of law.

Some 40,000 lawyers, judges and policy leaders comprise the Lawyers Division. The Society's Faculty Division to foster the growth and development of rigorous traditional legal scholarship.

The Salvatori Prize was presented in Philadelphia by former Attorney General and Heritage scholar Edwin Meese III and Matthew Spalding, Director of Heritage's B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies. The presentation is part of Heritage's 30th annual Resource Bank meeting of more than 400 think tank executives, elected officials, policy experts and public interest lawyers.