Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues – including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform -- as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

As manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, von Spakovsky also studies and writes about campaign finance restrictions, voter fraud and voter ID, enforcement of federal voting rights laws, and administration of elections and voting equipment standards. 

Heritage’s election reform project examines not only how to protect the integrity of campaigns and elections but also to achieve greater fairness and security.  “In an era of razor-thin election margins, these issues are vital to the preservation of our republican form of government and the rule of law,” von Spakovsky says.

Before joining Heritage in 2008, von Spakovsky served two years as a member of the Federal Election Commission, the authority charged with enforcing campaign finance laws for congressional and presidential elections, including public funding.

Previously, von Spakovsky worked at the Justice Department, providing expertise in enforcing the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act of 2002, and has a wide background in local election processes.

His analysis and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Politico, Human Events,  National Review Online, and Townhall. His series for PJ Media, “Every Single One,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel and on other national and regional TV and radio news outlets.

He has testified before state and congressional committees, and has taught as an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law.

A 1984 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, von Spakovsky received a bachelor's degree in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Publications include:

   1.  John Fund, Hans von Spakovsky, Who's Counting?: How fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk, 2012.

   2.  John Fund, Hans von Spakovsky, Obama's Enforcer:  Eric Holder's Justice Department, 2014.