The Buckeye Institute

05/29/2026

Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, joins Hans von Spakovsky on Court is Adjourned, where they discuss The Buckeye Institute cases—Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury and McNutt v. U.S. Department of Justice—to overturn the federal ban on home distilling.

Hans von Spakovsky’s guest is Robert Alt, president of the Buckeye Institute, discussing two lawsuits the Ohio organization is pursuing challenging the feder...

05/28/2026

Buckeye sent a demand letter to Cleveland calling for the city to end its numerous, unconstitutional, and discriminatory race-based contracting programs and requirements, which violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and several U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The Buckeye Institute sent a demand letter to Cleveland calling for the city to end its numerous, unconstitutional, and discriminatory race-based contracting programs and requirements. The Buckeye Institute informed Cleveland that its programs and practices violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the...

05/22/2026

Buckeye’s Rea Hederman commented on Ohio’s April 2026 jobs report, saying…

“In April, Ohio’s unemployment rate fell from 4.1 to 3.9 percent, significantly better than the national average. Although—as reflected in the slide in Ohio’s labor force participation rate—the drop in unemployment is primarily due to unemployed Ohioans no longer looking for work, and mirrors a similar decline seen in the national labor force participation rate.”

Read Rea’s full statement 👇

The Buckeye Institute commented on the April 2026 jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, "In April, Ohio's unemployment rate fell from 4.1 to 3.9 percent, significantly better than the national average. Although--as reflected in the slide in Ohio's labor force pa...

05/21/2026

SPN is pleased to announce that Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, is 2026 recipient of the Thomas A. Roe Award.

05/21/2026

It is with tremendous pride that The Buckeye Institute announces our intrepid president and chief executive officer Robert Alt will be recognized with the 2026 Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership.

Established in 1992 and named after the now-late businessman and generous philanthropist, the Thomas A. Roe Award pays tribute to those whose achievements have greatly advanced public policy solutions grounded in free-market principles—particularly in the state policy movement—recognizing leadership, innovation, and accomplishment.

Edwin Meese III, 75th Attorney General of the United States and counselor to President Reagan, congratulated Robert, saying, “Robert has elevated The Buckeye Institute and the entire conservative movement to new heights! I am pleased he has been selected for this accolade he richly deserves, and extend my hearty congratulations as I have enjoyed his strategic approach, humor, character, and friendship since we first worked together in 1997.”

When announced, Robbert praised Tom and Shirley Roe, saying, “I am deeply honored to receive such a prestigious national award named after someone I have long admired. Tom and Shirley Roe were enthusiastic supporters and dear friends of The Buckeye Institute, and their legacy carries on through everything we do at Buckeye. Tom set a fantastic example of how to serve the cause of freedom well and faithfully. I hope I’m making him proud.”

It is with tremendous pride that The Buckeye Institute announces our intrepid president and chief executive officer Robert Alt will be recognized with the 2026 Thomas A. Roe Award for Excellence in Leadership. Established in 1992 and named after the now-late businessman and generous philanthropis...

05/18/2026

05/18/2026

Care about developing courageous leaders? Buckeye does.

That’s why Robert Alt, Buckeye’s president and CEO, joined a panel discussion at THE 2026 Annual Conference, Developing Courageous Leaders, hosted by The Fund for American Studies (TFAS).

Robert joined retired Judge Janice Rogers Brown, and Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, for a panel “Protecting Liberty Through Separation of Powers.”

Check out the discussion and learn what it means to lead with conviction and equip the next generation with the values needed for a free society.

TFAS 2026 Annual Conference Developing Courageous Leaders Protecting Liberty Through Separation of P

05/13/2026

In a new policy memo, Buckeye’s Rea Hederman urged Ohio policymakers to do more to combat waste, fraud & abuse in Ohio’s SNAP program, writing that SNAP is “marred by improper enrollment and insufficient oversight.”

Hederman called for Ohio to:
1️⃣ Do more to reduce its erroneous payment rate and monitor the entitlement program more responsibly.
2️⃣ Improve the state’s integrated data system, Ohio Benefits, to be more efficient.
3️⃣ Encourage more coordination between county and state caseworkers.
4️⃣ Pursue policies that protect against “benefit cliffs”—such as Senator Jon Husted’s Upward Mobility Act.

In a new policy memo, The Buckeye Institute urged Ohio policymakers to pursue reforms to how Ohio manages the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to avoid being hit with a $321 million bill for high rates of fraud, waste, and abuse. Rea S. Hederman Jr., vice president of policy at Th...

05/12/2026

Buckeye’s Greg Lawson testified before the Ohio House Finance Committee on the policy in Ohio House Bill 645, which, if adopted, would make state government better stewards of Ohio’s taxpayer dollars and make state government more accountable to voters by implementing zero-based budgeting.

The Buckeye Institute testified before the Ohio House Finance Committee on the policy in Ohio House Bill 645, which, if adopted, would make state government better stewards of Ohio's taxpayer dollars and make state government more accountable to voters by implementing zero-based budgeting, which ...

05/12/2026

Robert Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, and John Ream, Buckeye’s client in Ream v. U.S. Department of Treasury, join Kyle Brown, the owner of Clawhammer Supply, to discuss John’s challenge to the federal ban on home distilling, a law that makes it a felony to make whiskey at home.

Robert breaks down the landmark court case, the Fifth Circuit vs. Sixth Circuit split, and why this case could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Is home distilling illegal in the United States? A brewery owner from Ohio is suing the federal government to overturn the federal ban on home distillation, ...