Cato Institute
| Cato Institute | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) |
| Affiliation: | Nonpartisan |
| Top official: | Peter Goettler, president and CEO |
| Founder(s): | Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and [Charles Koch]] |
| Year founded: | 1977 |
| Employees: | 37 |
| Website: | Official website |
The Cato Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Washington D.C. As of December 2025, its website stated: "The Cato Institute is an assiduously nonpartisan and independent public policy research organization—or think tank—that creates a presence for and promotes libertarian ideas in policy debates."[1]
The Cato Institute's areas of focus included law and the constitution, economics, international relations, and politics and society.[2]
Background
As of December 2025, the Cato Institute's mission was to "keep the principles, ideas, and moral case for liberty alive for future generations while moving public policy in the direction of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace."[3]
The Cato Institute was founded in San Francisco, California in 1977 by Ed Crane, Charles G. Koch, and economist Murray Rothbard.[4][5] In 1982, the Cato Institute moved to Washington, D.C.[6] According to David Boaz, then-executive vice president, "Cato was named for Cato’s Letters, a series of newspaper essays written in the 1720s. Why that name? Because John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who wrote under the pen name Cato after the defender of the Roman republic who refused to submit to Julius Caesar, took the ideas of great thinkers such as John Locke and Algernon Sidney and applied them to the controversies of the day. And that has always been the approach of the Cato Institute: to apply the great principles of liberty to policy and current affairs."[7]
Leadership
As of December 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at the Cato Institute:[8]
- Peter Goettler, president and CEO
- Linda Ah-Sue, vice president, events and conferences
- Evan Bolick, general counsel
- Chad Davis, vice president for public affairs
- Peggy DeAngelo, chief of staff
- Marissa Delgado, vice president, finance and chief financial officer
- Emily Ekins, vice president and director of polling
- Steve Kurtz, vice president and chief data and AI officer
- Scott Lincicome, vice president, general economics and Stiefel Trade Policy Center
- Norbert Michel, vice president and director, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives
- Harrison Moar, senior vice president for marketing and partnerships
- Clark Neily, senior vice president for legal studies
- Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president for policy
- Ian Vásquez, vice president for international studies, director of the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and David Boaz Chair
Work and activities
The Cato Institute is a nonpartisan organization, with a focus, according to its site, on advocating for individual liberty.[9] It is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party.[3][10]
In its 2024 annual report, President and CEO Peter Goettler wrote, "Thanks to your support, the Institute remains a powerful and independent force in the battle of ideas. Rather than picking sides, we elevate the debate. Rather than chasing headlines, we seek to shape them. Whether in Congress, on campus, in schools, or in the courts, Cato’s scholars are defending freedom where it matters most: economic liberty, free speech, personal autonomy, limited government, and peace."[11]
Scholars at the Cato Institute examine a wide range of issues, including:[2]
- Constitutional Law
- Criminal Justice
- Free Speech and Civil Liberties
- Banking and Finance
- Monetary Policy
- Regulation
- Tax and Budget Policy
- Defense and Foreign Policy
- Global Freedom
- Immigration
- Trade Policy
- Education
- Education
- Government and Politics
- Health Care
- Public Opinion
- Social Welfare and Poverty
- Technology and Privacy
Amicus brief activity
The Cato Institute files amicus curiae briefs in courts throughout the country in order to highlight "the principles of liberty and a commitment to the original public meaning of the Constitution."[12] In 2025, the Cato Institute filed a brief in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, a case about whether "the International Emergency Economic Powers Act IEEPA authorizes the President to impose tariffs." In the brief, the Cato Institute argued IEEPA imposes large costs on American businesses and does not authorize the tariffs President Donald Trump used it to justify.[13]
The following table identifies a selection of U.S. Supreme Court cases in which the Cato Institute filed amicus briefs from 2011 to 2024:
| Amicus briefs filed by the Cato Institute in the U.S. Supreme Court, 2011–2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | ||
| 2023 | ||
| 2022 | ||
| 2021 | ||
| 2020 | ||
| 2019 | ||
| 2018 | ||
| 2017 | ||
| 2016 | ||
| 2015 | ||
| ||
| 2014 | ||
| ||
| 2013[12] | ||
| 2012[12] | ||
| 2011[42] | ||
| ||
Editorial positions
The Washington Examiner wrote: "Among other libertarian priorities, Cato scholars promote less government spending, non-interventionist foreign policy, liberalized immigration and looser regulation of drugs. Cato scholars have been at the center of the high-profile case currently before the Supreme Court concerning the validity of federal subsidies to enrollees in state health care exchanges."[43]
Finances
The following is a breakdown of Cato Institute's revenues and expenses from 2015 to 2024. The information comes from ProPublica.
| Year | Revenue | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $36.1 million | $28.2 million |
| 2016 | $27.9 million | $29.2 million |
| 2017 | $36.9 million | $30.2 million |
| 2018 | $36.7 million | $30.4 million |
| 2019 | $30.3 million | $30.6 million |
| 2020 | $32.5 million | $31.1 million |
| 2021 | $43.0 million | $28.2 million |
| 2022 | $45.9 million | $31.3 million |
| 2023 | $57.7 million | $37.7 million |
| 2024 | $71.9 million | $41.8 million |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cato.org, "About," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cato Institute, "Homepage," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cato Institute, "Mission, Vision, and Principles," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Slate, "Behind the Cato-Koch Kerfuffle," March 1, 2012
- ↑ Mother Jones, "Late Libertarian Icon Murray Rothbard on Charles Koch: He 'Considers Himself Above the Law'," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Cato.org, "25 Years at The Cato Institute," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Our Deep Roots in Defending Free Speech," July 2021
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Leadership," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Cato Institute, "What We Do," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "Peter Goettler named new head of libertarian think tank Cato Institute," March 30, 2015
- ↑ Cato Institute, "2024 Annual Report," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Cato Institute, "Cato at the Supreme Court," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Learning Resources v. Trump," July 30, 2025
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Murthy v. Missouri," December 21, 2023
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo," July 21, 2023
- ↑ Cato Institute, "303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis," October 27, 2021
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Carson v. Makin," September 10, 2021
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid," September 2, 2020
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Axon Enterprise v. FTC," August 17, 2021
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania," March 5, 2020
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau," December 16, 2019
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Gundy v. United States," May 24, 2018
- ↑ Cato Institute, "National Institute of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra," December 26, 2017
- ↑ Cato Institute, "McCoy v. State of Louisiana," November 17, 2017
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Currier v. Virginia," December 7, 2017
- ↑ [https://www.cato.org/legal-briefs/manhattan-community-access-corporation-v-halleck-0 Cato Institute, "Manhattan Community Access Corporation v. Halleck," December 11, 2018
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association," March 2, 2015
- ↑ Cato Institute, "NLRB v. SW General, Inc.," September 26, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Perez-Guzman," accessed December 18, 2025
- ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Matal v. Tam," accessed December 18, 2025
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association," December 2016, 2016
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Zubik v. Burwell," January 11, 2016
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin," September 10, 2015
- ↑ Cato Institute, "Texas v. United States," January 7, 2015
- ↑ American Civil Liberties Union, "Cato Institute amicus brief," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 37.5 37.6 SCOTUSblog, "Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Harris v. Quinn," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSBlog, "Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 SCOTUSblog, "Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency," accessed September 27, 2016
- ↑ SCOTUSblog, "Search: Cato Institute," accessed December 4, 2025
- ↑ The Washington Examiner, "Peter Goettler named new head of libertarian think tank Cato Institute," December 4, 2025
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