Sutherland Institute

Organization

The Sutherland Institute is a 501(c)(3) organization, which is the IRS 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, the first (and as of 2016 the only) Utahn to serve on the US Supreme Court. 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.

Paul Mero served as president 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, was appointed president of the think tank.

In 2016, the Institute had fifteen staffers and a $3 million annual budget. Matheson said he intends to remake the organization into a "nationally recognized idea factory for political entrepreneurs, a launching pad for thought leadership and a guardian of timeless principles."

Policy positions

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).

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 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.

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, who wrote that Sutherland's immigration policy "stands squarely on the side of compassion, accommodation and realistic reforms."

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, Kanab, Utah, accepted and enacted the resolution, which was criticized as homophobic by some city residents and elected officials.

In 2013, former Institute president Paul Mero voiced opposition to the annual Sundance Film Festival, 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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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.

In February 2007, Edwin Feulner 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.