Isn't AEI a Conservative think-tank?
Policy Advocacy
As a tax-exempt educational organization governed by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, AEI is generally prohibited from attempting to influence legislation in the U.S. Congress or other legislative bodies. Legal requirements aside, AEI has important reasons of its own for abstaining from any form of policy advocacy as an institution. Policy research of the kind AEI specializes in--emphasizing empirical analysis, intellectual depth and originality, unflinching criticism, and concrete proposals for reform--is an inherently individual activity, best pursued by a single scholar (or a pair or small group of scholars) rather than by a committee or hierarchy. Moreover, AEI scholars or authors may disagree on particular policies or on the conclusions to be drawn from a set of research findings. Attempting to forge an Institute-wide consensus or corporate position would interfere with the intellectual independence of individual scholars and with the sharpness, clarity, and interest of AEI publications. For these reasons, AEI takes no institutional positions on policy issues (whether or not they are currently before legislative, executive, or judicial bodies) or on any other issues.
AEI scholars and fellows frequently do take positions on policy and other issues, including explicit advocacy for or against legislation currently being considered by the Congress. When they do, they are speaking for themselves and not for AEI or its trustees or other scholars or employees. It is customary for AEI scholars and fellows to include an explicit disclaimer to this effect when they present formal testimony to a congressional committee or other government body. Many also include such a disclaimer in books, articles, speeches, and other presentations addressed to the general public, especially when they are addressing subjects of active controversy and disagreement--but the disclaimer is often well understood in these contexts and the appropriateness of stating it explicitly varies from case to case.
AEI's abstaining from institutional positions on policy issues does not, of course, apply to policy issues affecting its own institutional interests.
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