Dear John,
Project 2025 embodies an agenda led by the Heritage Foundation to revise, reorganize and eliminate vast portions of the statutes, rules and norms that were built over decades, and that have guided our democracy and preserved our freedoms during Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Embodied in a 900-page document entitled “Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Promise,” and developed in collaboration with more than 100 other organizations, Project 2025 would dramatically change both.
It is important to stress that recent changes in the Project’s leadership alter neither the document’s text nor the “Mandate for Leadership” that lies behind it. The president of the Heritage Foundation has made clear that the policy work has been completed as scheduled and their efforts to build a personnel apparatus to carry out this work at all levels of government continues.
All of us, and lawyers in particular, have a role to play in discussing with others the nature of the proposed changes and how they endanger our freedom. To facilitate those discussions, Lawyers Defending American Democracy is publishing a series of “Talking Points” that highlight changes Project 2025 is intent on making and their potential effect.
Each Talking Point will quote directly from a section of the document and explain its impact on our democracy, our freedom, and the rule of law. Please share this information widely with your friends, family, and colleagues in the upcoming months.
Foreword (Pages 4-5)
“The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (‘SOGI’), diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”
Why it Matters: Talking Points
This proposal is appalling in its breadth, scope, and cruelty.
The impact of Project 2025’s callous elimination of these words from every federal statute, rule, or regulation would bring this country back to a time when, for example, Jim Crow laws were legal, sexual harassment in the workplace was a normalized part of the workday, and gay and lesbian workers were unable to live authentic lives because of the discrimination they faced. All of the laws and policies that currently offer reproductive health care coverage, pregnancy benefits, workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities, and other protections against discrimination would be eliminated.
Deleting the words described would, in effect, erase the right to be protected from discrimination and wipe-out the comprehensive body of legislation and case law that has developed for more than half a century to protect categories of individuals and to affirm legal rights.
Project 2025’s appalling reference to these legal protections as “hard targets for woke culture warriors” is an affront to a civilized society and undermines long-held and cherished principles of human decency.
Visit our website for more on our Project 2025 Talking Points Series.
Thank you for your dedication to maintaining our democracy. Please support our efforts by donating to LDAD and by sending this email to your networks. As always, please also feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you may be interested in volunteering or if you wish to share your ideas.
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
