The James Wilson Foundation on Natural Rights and the American Founding

Anchoring Truths Contributing Editor and 2021 JWI Fellow Josh Hammer discusses the recently filed “Brief for the Petitioner” in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Hammer applauds the good work of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch as she boldly asks the Court to overturn both Roe and Casey, criticizes the erroneous ideas on the Court […]

JWI Fellowship alumnus and associate professor of law at BYU Law School Bradley Rebeiro responded to Professor David Forte’s “Originalism and its Discontents” at JWI’s online journal Anchoring Truths. In a symposium in collaboration with Law & Liberty, Rebeiro utilizes the case study of slavery “to reconsider how we understand this tension between originalism and […]

Anchoring Truths contributing editor and JWI affiliated scholar Josh Hammer joined JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker to discuss his new essay in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, entitled “Common Good Originalism: Our Tradition and our Path Forward.” In the podcast, we talked about the failures of the positivist originalist project, Hammer’s vision for an […]

JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes discusses the Court’s recent denial of a writ of certiorari in Gloucester County School Board v. Grimm. In choosing to remain silent on this issue by not hearing the case, the Court fails to create any resistance to the ever encroaching ideology of gender identity. After the disastrous Bostock […]

In an essay for First Things, JWI Trustee and Senior Scholar Gerry Bradley comments on the Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in Gloucester County School Board v. Grimm. The case turns on whether Gavin Grimm, born a biological female, should be allowed to use the boy’s restroom, with the Fourth Circuit ruling in Grimm’s favor. […]

JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes debated University of Toledo Law School Professor Lee Strang on the question, “Should the Declaration inform the Constitution?”. Watch the full debate on the Federalist Society’s YouTube page here.

Associate Professor and Chair of History at Ave Maria University and Senior Affiliate for Legal Humanities at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania Michael D. Breidenbach joined JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker to discuss Prof. Breidenbach’s new book Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration […]

JWI Intern Peter Spence sat down for an interview with Class of 2020 Fellow Holden Tanner, who recently graduated from Yale Law School. They talked about his experience with the James Wilson Fellowship, the Natural Law, and a special program at Yale that has allowed him to spread the Natural Law teachings. The transcript of […]

In an exclusive essay for JWI’s newest publication, Anchoring Truths, JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes offered some reflections on the recent Supreme Court ruling in Fulton v. Philadelphia. He describes the conservative frustration with the ruling Employment Division v. Smith (1990) but suggests that their ire with the holding is misplaced. Given that the […]

JWI Fellowship alumnus and legal counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Nick Reaves (’15) responded to JWI Scholar Francis Beckwith’s piece declaring Lemon to be dead with a roadmap for Establishment jurisprudence. Reaves begins by listing more criticisms of Lemon, including its unworkability for all the ways government can come into contact with religion, […]