Columbus, OH – America’s upcoming 250th birthday offered a special opportunity to examine how we, as a nation, teach the American Founding. That was the focus of The Fund for American Studies’ 2026 Annual Conference, “Developing Courageous Leaders: Revitalizing Civic Education and America’s Founding Principles.”

Robert Alt, The Buckeye Institute’s president and CEO, joined the discussion on a panel “Protecting Liberty Through Separation of Powers,” which also featured Judge Janice Rogers Brown, U.S. Circuit Court Appellate Judge, D.C. Circuit (retired), and was moderated by Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and a member of TFAS’s law fellowship advisory committee. Alt and Judge Rogers Brown highlighted the importance of the separation of powers within the federal government and what happens when that separation breaks down.

In discussing ways to re-establish a more limited government as the Founders intended, Alt highlighted Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury and McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice, The Buckeye Institute’s cases challenging the federal ban on home distilling and the expanse of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause. 

The discussion is well worth listening to.

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