Ohio’s Solicitor General Credits Heritage Internship for His Conservative Principles 

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Ohio’s lead government attorney for appeals cases is this year’s recipient of The Heritage Foundation’s Distinguished Intern Alumni Award. 

T. Elliot Gaiser, tapped late last year as the 11th solicitor general of Ohio, interned 10 years earlier at Heritage.  

Derrick Morgan, Heritage’s executive vice president, presented Gaiser with the award Dec. 9 at the leading think tank’s President’s Club D.C. Summit. 

The honor comes about a year after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, called Gaiser an “appellate ace” in appointing him Nov. 20, 2023, as the state’s lead attorney for appeals in state and federal courts. 

In naming Gaiser, Yost called the Ohio native “a master craftsman of ironclad legal arguments rooted in originalist principles and constitutional restraint.” 

Gaiser previously worked at the Columbus law firm of Jones Day. 

As a Heritage intern in summer 2013, Gaiser wrote articles on politics, society, and foreign policy for The Daily Signal’s predecessor, The Foundry. 

Gaiser credits Heritage for developing his commitment to conservative principles.  

Writing for The Foundry “offered me an education in the ideas of giants,” Gaiser said in his acceptance speech. “Starting out as a Heritage intern means launching a career from the shoulders of giants.” 

The Daily Signal, which succeeded The Foundry in 2014 as a more ambitious source of policy-focused news and commentary, became independent of Heritage earlier this year. 

“Now I write Supreme Court briefs, but I still think of the Heritage style guide,” Gaiser said, recalling that submitting articles to The Foundry taught him how to condense expert opinions into 400-word articles.  

He has his work cut out for him, Gaiser adds, noting that “Ohio is currently a party to 44 cases against the federal government.” 

“Though it grieves me when D.C. bureaucrats besiege us with regulations to shutter our power plants, burden our retirements with ESG mandates, mass-parole people who entered our nation illegally into our states, and mandate that our schools open women’s sports, dorms, and bathrooms to men,” Gaiser added, “it has been the honor of a lifetime to have stood up for Ohio.” 

Since 2016, The Heritage Foundation has honored outstanding alumni of its Young Leaders Program. 

Established in 1979, the program has equipped thousands of young Americans to strive for successful careers in government, academia, public policy, and the private sector. Heritage interns are expected to complete the program with a deeper understanding of America’s rich history and founding virtues.   

“I am humbled to receive the award,” Gaiser told The Daily Signal, noting that the recognition from Heritage is “a great and weighty honor.” 

Past recipients of the award, formally called the Robin and Jocelyn Martin Distinguished Intern Alumni Award, include Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America; Judge Neomi Rao of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; and Vince Coglianese, editorial director of The Daily Caller and host of “The Vincent Coglianese Show” on WMAL-FM.