Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a research-based, public policy “think tank.” He is a health policy expert and weekly contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Dr. Matthews is a past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. Dr. Matthews also served for 10 years as the medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation, and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate and The 21st Century Health Care Leader and, in 2009, Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud).

He has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, USA Today, Forbes magazine and the Washington Times. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network.

Dr. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas.

Jeff Mateer is the Chief Legal Officer of First Liberty Institute, where he serves as a member of the executive leadership team and oversees and directs First Liberty’s legal operations, including its litigation, media/communications, and external affairs teams. He rejoined First Liberty Institute in October 2020 after serving as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas from March 2016 through October 2020.

Jeff has served in the legal field for over 30 years, and in addition to having received an A-V rating by Martindale-Hubbell, Jeff has been honored as a Texas Rising Star and Texas Super Lawyer. He received his undergraduate education at Dickinson College, where he graduated with honors in 1987, and his legal education at Southern Methodist University, where he graduated with honors in 1990. While in law school, he served as an editor of the law review. He is licensed to practice law by the state of Texas and is admitted to practice before all Texas State and Federal District Courts, the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Texas State Legislature Passes Ten Commandments, Prayer in Schools Bills, Send them to Governor Bills recognize historic role of Ten Commandments, key U.S. Supreme Court decisions in development of state law. Austin, TX—The Texas legislature ...

Texas Legislature Passes Bill Allowing Students to Attend Off-Campus Religious Instruction for Course Credit The proposed policy allows students to earn up to two units of high school credit for completing religious instruction during the ...

We have been frequent critics of Donald Trump’s tariffs, but we understand that there is a case to be made for reconsidering some of our trade policies. The place to make that case is Congress — not by unilateral presidential declaration ...

Republicans can save $880 billion over 10 years in Medicaid by block-granting the federal portion, providing maximum state flexibility and expanding Medicare Part D to Medicaid.

Republicans’ proposed work requirement for Medicaid recipients between the ages of 19 and 64 is expected to save the government $300 billion over seven years, while helping individuals regain…

By: John Fund and David Simon - nationalreview.com - May 26, 2025 What if we abolished all tax exemptions for nonprofits? The fight between President Trump and Harvard University keeps escalating. On Friday, a federal ...

By: Brittany Bernstein - nationalreview.com - May 29, 2025 Shareholders are using their influence to force companies like PepsiCo to abandon the politicized stances they took during the 2020 moral panic. At the height of ...

It was once a given that a young person would graduate from high school, get a job, marry and then — and only then — have children.