Cornerstone Papers

On July 24, The American Cornerstone Institute filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court arguing that it’s time the American people took back our power from unelected Federal bureaucrats and the Courts that enable them. Our brief supports the plaintiffs in the case,…

Brief of the American Cornerstone Institute as Amicus Curiae in support of Petitioner. Download PDF

As the Senate engages in its important role in the Supreme Court nomination process, we write as a coalition of national and state pro-life leaders to raise grave concerns regarding Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination. Download PDF

A sad fact about the Court’s docket over the past decade and a half is the number of cases that exhibit a clear government hostility to religion. The hostility comes from executive, legislative, and judicial action at the national, state, and local level. The hostility…

​On the evening of Thursday, August 26 the United States Supreme Court issued an order that effectively ended the eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), finding that the moratorium exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority. In what hopefully is a…

Since the 1980s, the United States Congress has passed each year a legislative provision that, in theory, prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for abortion. This amendment is known as the “Hyde Amendment” and is named after Illinois Representative and anti-abortion advocate, Henry Hyde. Recently,…

The American Cornerstone Institute and its founder, Dr. Ben Carson, have filed filing an amicus brief in support of Thomas Dobbs, the Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, in his lawsuit against the Jackson, Mississippi’s Women’s Health Organization. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson…

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a case at the U.S. Supreme Court that could lead to a sea change in abortion jurisprudence as well as constitutional interpretation in general. On July 23, 2021, the state of Mississippi filed its brief in support of…

Under normal circumstances, for any piece of legislation to pass the United States Senate, it must get more than a simple majority vote. Unlike in the House of Representatives, the rules and procedures of the Senate generally place no limits on debate; they should be…

The American Cornerstone Institute (ACI) appreciates Secretary Fudge’s endorsement of Secretary Carson’s determination that President Obama’s ill-informed, expensive, and burdensome 2015 AFFH assessment requirement was unnecessary to achieving the goal of furthering fair housing. We disagree, however, with the incorrect assertion in the interim final…

If the Constitution contains the letter of American law, the Declaration of Independence proclaims its spirit. Lincoln called the Declaration’s assertion of liberty for all an “apple of gold” that was framed by the Constitution’s “picture of silver.” Forged in the crucible of revolution, the…

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an order related to an eviction moratorium put in place by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The order was a technical procedural issue, and was issued amidst a…

When a man and woman join to create a new life together, science tells us what to expect: Medicine tells us when their unborn baby develops a heartbeat, brainwaves, and nervous system. Biology tells us that their baby is one of a kind, receiving DNA…

American culture famously celebrates individual liberty and the achievements of the “self-made” man. At its best, this celebration can teach future generations to explore their potential, take personal responsibility for their lives, and strive for self-sufficiency. These are all undeniably good things that we should…

The federal government’s budgetary process is complex. In this analysis, a former CFO of a federal government agency breaks down the process and explaining how the federal government is funded. Download PDF

When our Founding Fathers set out to create a new nation, they were all too familiar with the past centuries of sectarian religious wars suffered by the people of Europe. Even some of the American colonies had established official state religions, and different congregations often…

Just a couple of decades ago, the famous rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” described in the Declaration of Independence were almost universally understood to be good things, the bedrock principles upon which our entire country was founded. In recent years, however,…

On May 17, 2021 the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case involves a 2018 Mississippi law that bans abortions 15 weeks after conception, except in cases of “medical emergency or severe fetal abnormality.” Lower courts had…

Senator Tuberville, along with Senators Thom Tillis, and Mike Rounds, introduced the Empowering Law Enforcement Act of 2021 which grants state and local law enforcement the authority to enforce immigration laws. This bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to… Download PDF