History
-
“Conservatives And Freedom Of Speech” – Prof. Hadley Arkes in the Claremont Review of Books
Writing in the Claremont Review of Books, Prof. Hadley Arkes details the intellectual poverty of defending a notion of “free of speech” that denies any limiting principles on speech. The piece, “Conservatives and Freedom of Speech: Backing into Relativism?” is nicely described by Scott Johnson of PowerlineBlog: “Professor Arkes focuses on the philosophical ground on […] -
“What’s Wrong with Rod Dreher’s Straussian Narrative of the American Constitution” – Paul DeHart from Public Discourse
In “What’s Wrong with Rod Dreher’s Straussian Narrative of the American Constitution” Professor Paul R. DeHart examines the argument that modernity begins with the Enlightenment and how that premise impacts any understanding of the constitution. Professor DeHart teaches Political Science at Texas State University. Some Excerpts: “While it is certainly true that Christianity has moral implications and […] -
“The Left’s Dirty Little Secret” – Prof. Michael Uhlmann in the Claremont Review of Books
Earlier this year the Claremont Review of Books published Prof. Michael Uhlmann’s review of Thomas Leonard’s Illiberal Reformers. Prof. Uhlmann, a JWI Senior Scholar, notes “that eugenics lay at the very center of the progressive program,” and how it it powerfully brought together “a dogmatic faith in science and the scientific method, a comparable belief in […] -
“Jack Phillips Has His Day In Court” – Prof. Hadley Arkes in the Claremont Review of Books Digital
In early December 2017, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The case concerns a weave of questions on freedom of religious expression, limitations on speech, and laws on public accommodations in the state of Colorado. In an essay for the Claremont Review of Books Digital, ”Jack Phillips Has His Day […] -
“Are Intellectual Property Rights Moral?” – Gunnar Gundersen in Starting Points Journal
In the digital age, intellectual property – from proprietary algorithms to music – may be just as valuable as real estate and factories. In a piece for Starting Points Journal entitled, “Are Intellectual Property Rights Moral?,” JWI Affiliated Scholar and intellectual property attorney Gunnar Gundersen examines the moral grounds and judicial precedents concerning property rights, with […] -
Forgotten Cases: “Worthen v. Thomas and the Contract Clause” –Prof. David Forte in The Federalist Society Review
In a recent article for the Federalist Society Review, Professor David Forte, JWI Senior Scholar, corrects our jurisprudential history on the Contract Clause by re-examining two opinions from the Supreme Court of the 1930s: Home Building & Loan v. Blaisdell and Worthen v. Thomas. Professor Forte articulates how, contrary to a standard narrative in constitutional […] -
James Wilson Lecture – “The Scottish Enlightenment and the Founding” –Prof. Daniel Robinson
On November 3rd, 2017, Prof. Daniel Robinson, Fellow of the Faculty at Oxford University and Senior Fellow at the Wheatley Institution, delivered the bi-annual James Wilson Lecture. Prof. Robinson has published over 40 books on psychology and philosophy. He writes widely on the constitutional history of the United States and its philosophical foundations with original research […] -
“Natural Justice and the Amistad”–Professor Justin Dyer in Starting Points
Justin Dyer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri and an Affiliated Scholar of JWI, recalls the oral argument of John Quincy Adams in the historic Supreme Court case of United States v. Amistad (1841). In a piece published at Starting Points, a journal of the Kinder Institute, Dyer explains Adams’s use of arguments based […] -
The Seth and Chris Show – Prof. Hadley Arkes on Charlottesville and Free Speech
Prof. Arkes joined The Seth and Chris Show to discuss the protests in Charlottesville, VA and analogies to the Nazis who marched through Skokie in the late 1970s. Prof. Arkes examines the contradictory position of the ACLU in its defense of “the freedom to choose the Nazis” and outlines how those moral principles which underlie […] -
“The Moral Turn”–Hadley Arkes in First Things
We share with you Prof. Arkes’s latest piece in the May 2017 print edition of First Things titled, “The Moral Turn.” “The argument in the piece is largely drawn from an ongoing topic of discussion in one of our JWI programs, our biannual Senior Seminar. A year ago, our core attendees of judges and law professors contrasted the dissent from conservative justices Rehnquist […]