The James Wilson Foundation on Natural Rights and the American Founding

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. […]

JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes provides some background for our sharing of a video of a panel at the Heritage Foundation in January 2019 on the proposed Equality Act: Our dear friend Ryan Anderson put on at the Heritage Foundation one of the most powerful and moving presentations we have ever seen.  Four people […]

In an eloquent essay for the Library of Law and Liberty, JWI Senior Scholar Prof. David Forte articulates the “radical premises” Founding Father John Dickinson used as justification for independence. Dickinson’s chief contributions to The Bill of Rights and Declaration of Grievances, along with the implementation of the Articles of Association, make him one of […]