Join Pacific Research Institute for its second annual Milton Friedman Dinner in New York City with renowned legal scholar, author, and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley. At the dinner, we will present PRI’s 2026 Milton Friedman Award to philanthropic leader and scholar James Piereson.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor, columnist, television analyst, and litigator. Since 1998, he has held the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School. He has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, including representing members of Congress, judges, whistleblowers, five former Attorney Generals, celebrities, accused spies and terrorists, journalists, protesters, and the workers at the secret facility Area 51. Turley has testified before Congress over one hundred times, including during the impeachments of Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. He was also lead counsel in the last judicial impeachment in US history. He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and USA TODAY. Called the “dean of legal analysts” by The Washington Post, Turley has worked as a legal analyst for CBS, NBC, BBC, and Fox. In a study by Judge Richard Posner, Turley was found to be thirty-eighth in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” (and the second most cited law professor).
James Piereson is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy where he writes and lectures on philanthropy, higher education, and general political subjects. He is a 2025 recipient of the prestigious Bradley Prize.
Piereson was executive director and trustee of the John M. Olin Foundation from 1985 through 2005. From 2006 to 2022, Piereson was president and trustee of the William E. Simon Foundation, a private grant-making foundation with interests in education and religion.
Prior to joining the Olin Foundation, Piereson served on the political science faculties of several prominent universities, including Iowa State University, Indiana University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Pennsylvania. He holds B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Michigan State University.
Piereson serves on the boards of several not-for-profit institutions, including the Thomas W. Smith Foundation, the Foundation for Cultural Review (The New Criterion), The Pinkerton Foundation, and DonorsTrust. He is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Manhattan Institute, The Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the American Spectator Foundation, and The Philanthropy Roundtable. Piereson is the author of Shattered Consensus: The Rise and Decline of America’s Postwar Political Order (Encounter Books, 2015) and Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism (Encounter Books, 2007). Other books include: The Inequality Hoax (2014); Why Redistribution Fails (2015); and The Growth Deficit (Encounter, 2022). He is the editor of The Pursuit of Liberty: Can the Ideals That Made America Great Provide a Model for the World (2008). Piereson has published articles and reviews in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Commentary, The New Criterion, The Washington Post, National Review, City Journal, and many others.
