Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, where he manages the Civil Justice Reform Initiative. The project examines how state and federal courts administer civil justice, focusing on attempts by plaintiffs' attorneys and activists to manipulate the system for their own ends at the expense of the public.
The Civil Justice Reform Initiative studies ways to protect and improve the system and make it more efficient. It also seeks to bring greater fairness and predictability to the process. "This is an issue vital to the economy of the country as well as to the health and well-being of Americans," von Spakovsky says.
In addition, von Spakovsky studies the legal aspects of elections - including campaign finance, voter fraud and voter identification laws, and issues arising from registration and equipment. Heritage views these as important topics in an era of razor-thin victory margins for national candidates.
Before joining Heritage in 2008, von Spakovsky served for two years as a member of the Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign finance laws for congressional and presidential elections, including public funding.
Previously, he worked at the Justice Department as the counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. He provided expertise and advice on enforcing the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
He also served on the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Fulton County (Ga.) Board of Registrations and Elections. A former litigator, in-house counsel and senior corporate officer, von Spakovsky worked on tort reform and civil justice issues for more than a decade in the insurance industry.
His articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, National Review and Human Events, among others. He has testified before state and congressional committees and has made presentations to organizations such as the National Association of Secretaries of State, the Federalist Society, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
A resident of Vienna, Va., von Spakovsky is a 1984 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law. He received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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Elliot S. Berke is an attorney in private practice focusing on political law and a former counsel to the Speaker of the House and federal prosecutor. Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a former counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Hans von Spakovsky and Elliot S. Berke
Politicizing the Arts Community: What Did the White House Do Wrong?
by Hans von Spakovsky and Elliot S. BerkeThe allegations raised in “White House Creates ACORN for the Arts” and prior stories about the NEA enlisting artists who receive government grants to support President Obama’s political goals certainly raise a number of issues. Foremost among them is whether such actions violate White House policy and potentially federal law. The White House Counsel was concerned enough about the conference call that it was compelled to issue new guidelines for public outreach meetings, noting that some of the comments on the call may have been “misunderstood as seeking to inappropriately politicize activities of the NEA.” But beyond violating these White House guidelines, which could result in further forced resignations but little else, what is really at issue with the alleged conduct?
By seeking to enlist the private sector in lobbying for the President’s agenda, the alleged conduct may have violated the Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S.C. §1913), which as Ben Shapiro pointed out in a previous piece, explicitly provides:
No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy or appropriation.
The Anti-Lobbying Act, according to government handbooks, prevents government employees from engaging in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns … expressly urging individuals to contact government officials in support of or opposition to legislation …. Provid[ing] administrative support for lobbing activities of private organizations”
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