Sutherland Institute is a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
public policy
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
located in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, Utah. The Institute was founded in 1995 by
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
businessman and philanthropist
Gaylord K. Swim. The Sutherland Institute believes that families, private initiatives, voluntary associations, churches and businesses are better than the government at solving problems.
Organization
![Justice George Sutherland 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Justice_George_Sutherland_5.jpg)
The Sutherland Institute is a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
organization, which is the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
tax designation for a non-profit that is eligible for tax-deductible donations. According to the Institute's website, Sutherland does not perform contract work or accept government grants.
The Institute's name is derived from
George Sutherland
George Alexander Sutherland (March 25, 1862July 18, 1942) was an English-born American jurist and politician. He served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1922 and 1938. As a member of the Republican Party, he also repre ...
, the first Utahn to serve on the
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
. Sutherland also served as a United States Senator prior to being appointed to the bench in 1922. The Sutherland Institute was founded in 1995 by
Gaylord K. Swim. Swim was a noted Utah businessman and philanthropist. He died in 2005.
Rick B. Larsen serves as President and CEO of the Institute. Prior presidents include
Paul Mero who served from 2000 until 2014, when he stepped down at the board's request. He was replaced by Stanford Swim, son of founder Gaylord Swim, as Interim President. In March 2016, Boyd Matheson, a former chief of staff for US Senator
Mike Lee
Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Lee began his career as a clerk for the U ...
, was appointed president of the think tank
until he stepped down in January 2018 for a position at Deseret News and Larsen (then Vice President of Development) was appointed by the board.
In 2016, the Institute had fifteen staffers and a $3 million annual budget.
History
The Sutherland Institute was founded in 1995 by Gaylord Swim (1948 – 2005) who was its "primary benefactor".
Policy positions
;Economic policy
The Institute's policy research on Utah's economy has focused on issues such as health care and property tax reform. The Institute has advocated for increased charity health care as a method to provide health services for the uninsured (in place of government welfare or assistance programs).
;Education policy
Sutherland has advocated for greater
educational freedom and less reliance on public schools. In March 2007, Utah became the first state to pass a universal
school voucher
A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...
law. The voucher law, which was supported by the Institute, was overturned by referendum vote in November 2007. During the run-up to the referendum election, Sutherland issued a publication that presented the Institute's view on the history of education in Utah. Sutherland released a subsequent companion article in a peer-reviewed law journal as part of an academic conference about school choice.
Sutherland's then-president
Paul Mero collaborated with Daniel Witte, Sutherland's lead attorney, to publish a book titled ''Removing Classrooms from the Battlefield: Liberty, Paternalism, and the Redemptive Promise of Educational Choice'', which focuses on the historical evolution of the Parental Liberty Doctrine.
;Immigration policy
In 2008, Sutherland issued two reports on illegal immigration in Utah, ''Onus or Opportunity: Conservatism and Illegal Immigration in Utah'' and ''Utah's Citizens and Illegal Immigrants: Side-by-Side''. These reports, which concluded that "We should welcome all people of good will to our state" drew criticism from Republican politicians and praise from the editorial board of the ''
Deseret News
The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...
'', who wrote that Sutherland's immigration policy "stands squarely on the side of compassion, accommodation and realistic reforms."
;Family policy
In 2005, Sutherland contacted 232 local Utah governments with a proposal for a resolution whereby cities would state their support of Sutherland's definition of the family as a man, woman, and children. One city,
, accepted and enacted the resolution, which was criticized as
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
by some city residents and elected officials.
In 2013, former Institute president Paul Mero voiced opposition to the annual
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
, saying Utah taxpayers should not have to subsidize a festival which featured obscenity and pornography.
The Institute's opposition to a state-proposed nondiscrimination law placed it in opposition to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
which was pushing for the ordinance in place of possible more sweeping societal changes. Mero's involvement in the matter was later cited by the Institute's board of directors as a reason that he was asked to resign in August 2014.
;Limited government
In February 2007,
Edwin Feulner
Edwin John Feulner Jr. (born August 12, 1941) is a former think tank executive who founded the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation and served as its president from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018. Feulner's positions have in ...
announced the creation of Sutherland's Center for Limited Government, to focus on limiting the size and scope of government, promoting government transparency, and ending taxpayer subsidies of private companies.
;Environment
In November 2002, Paul Mero presented his speech entitled "Why I'm Not an Environmentalist" at a conference called Dialogue Utah organized by "Utah Issues, Sutherland, the University of Utah Hinckley Institute of Politics and the Utah Foundation, a politically neutral public policy research group".
See also
*
State Policy Network
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises ...
*
Libertas Institute (Utah)
References
External links
*
Organizational Profile–
National Center for Charitable Statistics
The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is a clearing house for information about the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy. The National Center for Charitable Statistics builds national, state, and regional databases and develops st ...
(
Urban Institute
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and pr ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland Institute
Political and economic think tanks in the United States
1995 establishments in Utah
Organizations based in Salt Lake City
Organizations established in 1995
Conservative organizations in the United States