Dr. Ryan T. Anderson is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of Public Discourse, which is the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey.
He is the author of When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment (2018) and Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom (2015). He is the co-author of What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense (2012), with Princeton’s Robert P. George and Sherif Girgis. Justice Samuel Alito cited this book twice in his dissenting opinion on the federal Defense of Marriage Act case in 2013 and Justice Clarence Thomas cited Anderson’s research in his dissenting opinion in the 2015 Supreme Court marriage case.
Anderson received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, and he received his doctoral degree in political philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His dissertation was titled: “Neither Liberal Nor Libertarian: A Natural Law Approach to Social Justice and Economic Rights.” Anderson is a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University, a Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America, and a Visiting Fellow at the Veritas Center at Franciscan University.
Anderson has made appearances on ABC, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Harvard Health Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, and National Review.