Fighting for The Constitution

Defending Our Republic and Rights

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The constitutional system established by the Founders ensures your liberty and makes it so that no single election, no violent political movement, and no pandemic can destroy our republic. In 2020, The Heritage Foundation vigorously defended the Constitution and the values and institutions that make us one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Election Integrity

The Heritage Foundation has a dedicated, ongoing program to defend the integrity of elections and expose voter fraud—and our fight for election integrity has just begun.

Politicians and media pundits tried to silence questions surrounding the integrity of the 2020 elections and the possibility of voter fraud—but the voices of our experts broke through. We shined a light on the reality of voter fraud and warned the public of the many ways mail-in voting can corrupt an election, such as ballot harvesting, fraudulent voting, and error.

As we drove the counter-narrative, Heritage’s Election Fraud Database became the most visited site on heritage.org, with more than 4 million page views. Our database now features 1,311 proven instances of fraud from 47 states. We added 67 cases to the database in 2020. The Election Fraud Database was used by journalists, activists, and even President Donald Trump himself.

You can find more voter fraud information in the database at heritage.org/voterfraud.

Our legal experts spread the truth far and wide, conducting 750 radio, TV, and podcast interviews.

We also helped thwart early attempts by leftists to force mail-in voting on the whole country. We stood with allied organizations and conservative lawmakers in opposition to an early iteration of the $2 trillion CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act that contained a provision that would have required states to use all-mail elections, starting with the general election in November, and thus would have forced states to allow vote harvesting. That iteration of the CARES Act, and a bill with similar provisions, failed.

The stories of fraud across the country were deeply troubling; Americans should be able to trust the results of a free and fair election.

The Heritage Foundation went all out to protect the security of the 2020 elections. In addition to our work on the Election Fraud Database and in the media, our scholars collaborated directly with state government leaders to prevent voter fraud. We conducted two briefings of conservative state secretaries of state to discuss legislation and litigation related to elections.

We sketched out a plan to achieve reforms in the states that will combat election fraud and error. Our work includes:

• A State Election Integrity Index, which will grade each state on the security of its elections,
• State-based lobbying by Heritage Action for America using our election index as a guide,
• A full-court press against the National Popular Vote movement, the federal takeover of elections, and D.C. statehood.

In 2021, we’re dramatically ramping up our work in the states to achieve reforms that will make elections secure.

The Electoral College

Heritage was also at the forefront of defending the Electoral College. Our ongoing commentaries, videos, and reports explained why the Electoral College is important and how it prevents mob rule and protects states’ unique interests.

In 2020, we created an easy-to-understand booklet, “The Essential Electoral College,” and distributed more than 10,000 copies to state legislators, influencers, activists, academics, and student groups in all 50 states Forty partner organizations endorsed it. The booklet—and our published research on mail-in ballots and voter fraud—were made available to citizens and groups upon their request regardless of political affiliation. These included thousands of candidates and campaign workers from across the political spectrum, party leadership, and Heritage members. It is available at heritage.org/electoralcollege.

Heritage Action: At the Polls and Project 2020

Heritage Action for America, a 501(c)4 organization, can go where The Heritage Foundation cannot. In 2020, Heritage Action deployed more than 100 lawyers to Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to ensure that poll workers were allowed access to polling places to monitor vote counting after Election Day. Hundreds of Heritage Action’s elite Sentinels also volunteered as poll workers. As Heritage Action’s grassroots Sentinel network grows, these types of efforts will become larger and more effective.

Heritage Action began laying the groundwork for an expanding conservative coalition across the nation with Project 2020: A Conservative Agenda for 2020 and Beyond. Heritage Action has long recognized the value of a long-term, grassroots infrastructure to drive get-out-the-vote efforts and policy persuasion in furthering the conservative policy agenda, and 2020 was no exception.

Heritage Action ran an aggressive ground game throughout the summer and fall in the lead-up to Election Day. Its team contacted more than 3.5 million swing voter households and spent over $3.8 million in policy battleground states with a focus on policy persuasion, voter registration, and election integrity.

Heritage Action is building on this vital work in 2021, forming a conservative infrastructure based on common-sense, principled outlooks on the issues Americans care about: issues of culture, immigration, the future of work and education, and the economy.

A Supreme Victory

Heritage led the charge to see Amy Coney Barrett confirmed as the newest Supreme Court justice, ensuring that textualism and originalism will be strongly represented on the court for decades to come.

To muster support for Barrett, Heritage recommended Barrett to President Trump a month before her nomination, launched a digital campaign with a citizens’ petition to demonstrate public support for her nomination, and rolled out a 30-second TV ad of Barrett’s qualifications on the Discovery Channel, Fox News, HGTV, and History.

Heritage Action for America was first to argue that Barrett’s confirmation hearing and vote should take place before the November 2020 election.

Heritage Action for America was first to argue that Barrett’s confirmation hearing and vote should take place before the November 2020 election. To support her swift confirmation, Heritage Action launched a nationwide “Confirm Amy” campaign, drumming up popular support for Barrett among 1 million supporters and 20,000 Sentinel activists. The campaign included a six-figure direct mail and texting campaign urging senators to vote yes, a nine-city “Confirm Amy” bus tour in targeted states, and multiple press events and rallies in our nation’s capital.

The result: The Senate confirmed Barrett as a Supreme Court justice despite leftist leaders’ threats of violence and attempts to bully the lawmakers into delaying or denying her confirmation.

Court Packing

Leading up to Barrett’s confirmation, the left renewed its threats to retaliate by ending the legislative filibuster and packing the Supreme Court.

We called national attention to their shameless plan. Heritage experts warned lawmakers and the public of the danger of turning the Supreme Court into a super-legislature, insulated from the will of the people. Our legal experts are unmatched in their ability to break down such issues in understandable ways—and they are continuing to speak up against court packing in 2021.

Federal Judiciary

In 2020, we continued to highlight judiciary vacancies in federal district and appeals courts, advocating for a constitutionalist judiciary at every level. We shared information on judicial vacancies with the public through our online Judicial Appointment Tracker, which can be found at heritage.org/judicialtracker.

The Trump administration’s judicial appointments largely adhered to our guidance on the role of judges. They consistently pledged to put aside their personal views, to interpret the Constitution and statutes as written, and to apply the law impartially.

In 2020 alone, President Trump appointed four federal appeals court judges, 41 district court judges, one judge on the Court of International Trade, and one Supreme Court justice.

Fight for America Campaign

In the face of progressive and leftist leaders’ all-out assault on government and civil society, Heritage launched the Fight for America campaign.

Fight for America ignited national grassroots support for American values and institutions and mobilized opposition to the radical heights of the progressive left.

Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the Fight for America campaign was our four gripping 30-second TV ads, which were viewed by millions of Americans during the month of October.

The first took viewers on a “field trip” to North Korea and Venezuela, where socialism has created misery for all. The second gave viewers a history lesson on the benefits of economic freedom. The third zoomed in on the rioting and mayhem in Portland, Oregon. The fourth showed strong support for now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

These ads appeared on the Discovery Channel, Fox News, HGTV, and History, and across the internet.

Citizen’s Guide to Fight for America

The best way to fight for America is to vote for America. In 2020, we put the focus on civic engagement, emphasizing how important it is for conservatives to be vocal about voting their principles—and to urge others to do the same.

At a time when many conservatives felt helpless and anxious about the 2020 elections, we gave them tangible actions—things they could do in a matter of minutes—to fight for the country they love.

Our online Citizen’s Guide to Fight for America gave Americans weekly action items for timely policy issues, talking points to help spread the message to family and friends, and guidance on how to write op-eds, influence local policy, and register others to vote.