The James Wilson Foundation on Natural Rights and the American Founding

Over the past year, the conservative legal movement has celebrated victories for religious freedom. However, in a recent piece for First Things, Professor Arkes expressed his concern that the conservative jurists on the Supreme Court might be falling into a kind of relativism in the way that they articulate their opinions. Take Masterpiece Cakeshop v. […]

On April 23, 2019, Prof. Arkes delivered a lecture to students and faculty at Christendom College in Front Royal, VA. The lecture, entitled “The Case for Natural Law,” was hosted by the Cincinnatus League (an Intercollegiate Studies Institute student group) and Christendom’s Political Science and Economics Department.

In a review for the Spring 2019 Claremont Review of Books, JWI Senior Scholar Professor David F. Forte hails Ronald R. Rotunda’s abridgment of Albert J. Beveridge’s seminal work, Life of John Marshall, as an impressive work. The book incorporates Rotunda’s own commentary, yet importantly retains the spirit and rhythm of Beveridge’s writing. Professor Forte […]

In a piece for the Claremont Review of Books, JWI Senior Scholar Prof. Michael Uhlmann reviews Richard Brookhiser’s new biography, John Marshall: The Man who Made the Supreme Court, which provides a concise account of Chief Justice’s accomplishments.  In his review, Professor Uhlmann points to John Marshall as an underappreciated titan, whose work and influence–from Marbury […]

Nick Reaves, a 2015 James Wilson Fellow, is currently serving as Counsel at the Becket Fund, a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute with a mission to protect the free expression of all faiths. Previously, he was an associate at Jones Day. He also clerked for Judge D. Brooks Smith on the US Court of […]

Professor Hadley Arkes, Founder and Director of the James Wilson Institute, was a guest of Mike Janocik on The Mike Janocik Show on WLCR 1040AM in Louisville, KY in early March 2019. Prof. Arkes discussed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and its political implications.  Listen to the full discussion below. Audio courtesy of 1040AM

JWI Affiliated Scholar Justin Dyer,  in an essay for Pubic Discourse, contextualizes the pronounced decline in America’s social fabric, as a result of the collapse of marriage. Professor Dyer presents a set of diverse narratives that seek to establish the reasoning behind this breakdown of marriage. In the essay, Professor Dyer emphasizes the thoughts and […]

Professor Hadley Arkes, Founder and Director of the James Wilson Institute, was recently a guest of Jeff Shafer on the Issues, Etc. podcast to discuss abortion, Congress, and the courts. Within the conversation Prof. Arkes gives his opinion on the Trump administration’s handling of its pro-life agenda, along with insights on the way the Supreme […]

JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes, in an essay for The Catholic Thing titled “The Rediscovery of the Born-Alive Act,” points out the disturbing position of the nation’s political left on abortion, along with the role the media and pro-choice politicians have had in keeping bills, such as the “Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act of 2002,” […]

In an essay for Public Discourse titled “What’s the Difference Between Abortion and Infanticide?”, JWI Affiliated Scholar Prof. Justin Dyer evaluates the legally problematic link between the so called “right to abortion” and infanticide. This connection, he states, has allowed advocates of abortion to use legally muddled precedent in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. […]