Hans von Spakovsky, Formerly of the Heritage Foundation, Joins Advancing American Freedom

The exodus from Heritage continues.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that Hans von Spakovky, a well-known election law expert, has joined Advancing American Freedom. Hans will continue working with John Malcolm and other Heritage expats at Advancing American Freedom.

Former Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Hans von Spakovsky has joined Advancing American Freedom (AAF), the nonprofit led by former vice president Mike Pence, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The move comes after Heritage president Kevin Roberts tapped von Spakovsky to help lead the beleaguered think tank's legal center—only for von Spakovsky to resign alongside the center's previous leader.

"My career has been dedicated to the vital work of election integrity, defending the Constitution and the rule of law, advocating for limited government, and protecting our fundamental rights as Americans," von Spakovsky said in a statement announcing his new role. "That includes eliminating discrimination in any form, particularly the scourge of anti-Semitism. There is no place for such pernicious and invidious hatred in our nation."

Von Spakovsky told the Free Beacon that there were two large factors behind his decision to join AAF: the opportunity to help build a new organization promoting conservative principles—particularly on election integrity and immigration issues—and his new employer's vocal stand against anti-Semitism.

"AAF has taken a very strong position—from what I've seen, people I've talked to—fighting against the scourge of anti-Semitism that has risen in this country," he said. "My mother grew up in Nazi Germany, my father was Russian and actually fought the Nazis. I think that is extremely important. I am just shocked and dismayed at the rise of anti-Semitism, particularly on college campuses, and it's very clear to me that AAF wants to help lead the fight against that."

Kudos to Hans for speaking out so forcefully against antisemitism.

Attorney General Meese, 94-years young, celebrates the move:

"I congratulate Advancing American Freedom on adding Hans von Spakovsky to its new Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law and am confident that his proven abilities will enhance the Institute's mission of upholding the Constitution and the rule of law."

It truly is outstanding how Meese, Malcolm, and his colleagues have effectively airlifted the center from Heritage to Advancing American Freedom. What a remarkable effort.

Comments

[Roger S]

The Jewish power play continues. These attempts to portray Heritage Foundation as Nazis are disgusting. Blackman has become a tool of Chuck Schumer, who introduced this hate resolution.
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/condemning_antisemitism_white_supremacy_and_hate_resolution_text.pdf

[Krayt]

It's a Jewish conspiracy to claim there's a Jewish conspiracy in a group of my peeps who believe in Jewish conspiracies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNy--_r5eW0

[bernard11]

a well-known election law expert,

Von Spakovsky is well-known, and may or may not be an "election law expert."

He is also someone who has built a career on dubious claims of election fraud and voter suppression attempts.

[Malika la Maize]

Meese is alive? Wow, that’s my shock of the day. Kudos to him.

[Krayt]

No kidding. I was on summer break from Michigan, and was working the night shifts, so was home relaxing during the day. A news bulliten came on. Reagan came in and said omg something big, here's Meese, and left without another word.

Meese announced the core arms for sale to Iran in what would later be called the Iran Contra deal. You could have heard a pin drop in the press room.

I'm impressed he's still kicking. He was a chubster middle aged guy back then.

Well, a chubster in the Lou Costello/Curly "member when this was fat?" sort of way.

Disclaimer: I make no claims to the veracity of any of those memories after 40 years.

[QuantumBoxCat]

From the district court's opinion in Fish v. Kobach (https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7330111/fish-v-kobach/?q=Fish+v.+Kobach)

"The Court admitted in part the expert opinion and testimony of Defendant's expert Hans von Spakovsky in the areas of elections, election administration, and voter fraud. Mr. von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, "a think tank whose mission [is to] formulate and promote conservative public policies." He is an adjunct, non-tenured professor at the Law School of George Mason University. He has never testified as an expert witness before and has published no peer-reviewed research on any subject. Notably, Mr. von Spakovsky could not identify any expert on the subject of noncitizen voter registration. The methodology Mr. von Spakovsky utilized in his expert report entailed collecting information on prosecutions, and various other reports of noncitizens voting and summarizing that information.

Mr. von Spakovsky opined that there is a problem with noncitizen voter registration and that attestation is not sufficient to prevent noncitizens from registering to vote. These opinions are premised on his assertion that any time a noncitizen registers to vote, regardless of that person's intent, it defrauds the votes of legitimate citizens. In his view, the numbers of individuals held in suspense or canceled under the Kansas DPOC law is irrelevant because those individuals could become fully registered with effort. Although he could provide no example of a noncitizen vote affecting the outcome of a close election, he opines that the mere possibility of that happening justifies the DPOC law.95 He based his opinions on the summary of noncitizen voting in his expert report.

The Court gives little weight to Mr. von Spakovsky's opinion and report because they are premised on several misleading and unsupported examples of noncitizen voter registration, mostly outside the State of Kansas. His myriad misleading statements, coupled with his publicly stated preordained opinions about this subject matter, convinces the Court that Mr. von Spakovsky testified as an advocate and not as an objective expert witness.

...

As stated above, the Court gives little weight to Mr. von Spakovsky's opinions. While his lack of academic background is not fatal to his credibility in this matter, the lack of academic rigor in his report, in conjunction with his clear agenda and misleading statements, render his opinions unpersuasive."

[SRG2]

My career has been dedicated to the vital work of undermining election integrity

FTFY, Hans.

[gVOR08]

It’s good that Heritage is falling apart. They all seem to be going to Pence’s Advancing American Freedom. Anybody know anything about AAF? Particularly who’s funding it? Does this matter, or is it just the new Wingnut Welfare, just like the old Wingnut Welfare?