The man behind one of the nation’s most important conservative legal victories in recent years — former Illinois government worker Mark Janus — will receive the NRI’s prestigious Whittaker Chambers Award at the forthcoming 2019 Ideas Summit, scheduled for March 28-29 in Washington, D.C.

The plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s Janus vs. AFSCME case — which restored First Amendment rights to five million public employees across the country who were forced to pay union fees to support positions many found detestable (in other words, compelled speech) — Janus is now a Senior Fellow at the Illinois Policy Institute, where he serves as a spokesman for workers’ rights.


NRI established the Chambers Award to honor (at each biennial Ideas Summit) a conservative “profile in courage.” The award is named for the former National Review writer and author of the seminal memoir Witness, who was a profound influence on William F. Buckley Jr. and on the modern conservative movement in its founding era, and who publicly stood — vilified and denigrated by the prevailing liberal establishment — as a true and defiant witness of the Communist threat inside American government. NRI President Lindsay Craig said Janus was chosen for the award — which will be presented to him at the Summit’s opening-night dinner — because “He has been a champion of the First Amendment in the face of relentless pressure and intimidation.”

Brexit champion Daniel Hannan was the recipient of the initial Chambers Award in 2017.


Tickets to the summit — which include participation in and attendance at all events and functions, including the Chambers Award Dinner — are $500. Reserve your spot, and get complete information, here.

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