The James Wilson Foundation on Natural Rights and the American Founding

In his latest piece, JWI founder and director Hadley Arkes responds to an op-ed in Public Discourse, called “Loose Talk on Free Speech,” in which Iowa Law Professor Robert T. Miller defends classical liberalism’s permissive record on freedom of speech. Miller argues against a claim by First Things senior editor Matthew Schmitz that classical liberalism […]

In the wake of JWI Senior Scholar Michael Uhlmann’s passing in October 2019, Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow, Christopher DeMuth singles out the pivotal role that Ulhmann, then a 30-year-old Senate staffer, played in stopping a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College. In “The Man Who Saved the Electoral College,” published in National Affairs, DeMuth […]

Earlier in January 2020, Professor Hadley Arkes, JWI Founder and Director, appeared on the podcast “Life, Liberty and Law” to discuss the relationships between culture, politics, and law. Is culture downstream of politics and law or are politics and law downstream of culture? Or perhaps all three influence one another persistently? In the podcast, Arkes […]

Writing for The Catholic Thing in the first of a two part series, JWI Founder and Director Hadley Arkes argues that conservative opponents of abortion should heed the lessons of Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans’ attempt to push back on the infamous Dred Scott decision. Lincoln chose to respect the outcome of Dred Scott as […]

AEI Portraits – (Photo by Jay Westcott/for AEI) In November 2019, JWI’s Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker and intern Samuel Lucas had a conversation with Peter Wallison, author of the book Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State. Mr. Wallison is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former White […]

The Claremont Review of Books recently published a collection of tributes, including one by JWI founder and director Hadley Arkes, in memoriam of Michael M. Uhlmann, who passed away on October 8, 2019. Below are some especially moving excerpts from each tribute. “I came to realize that the no-nonsense authority I had first observed in […]

In a speech delivered at the U.S. Senate before an audience gathered by Faith & Law, Prof. Hadley Arkes, JWI Founder and Director, demonstrates how the Supreme Court has caused a deep coarsening in the culture of our nation. Prof. Arkes analyzes a series of cases on religious freedom and free speech that display how […]

Writing in a piece for the National Review, Josh Craddock, a 2019 JW Fellow and the latest addition to our Affiliated Scholars, addresses the shift in rhetoric from “Pro-Choice” to “Pro-Abortion.” A new wave of celebrations of abortion from the “Shout Your Abortion” movement to the popularization of “birthday” cakes for abortions evidence that something […]

We would like to take a minute to look back over the accomplishments and highlights from this past year. We are grateful for all of our community who have helped make these events possible. If you would like to support JWI with a tax-deductible gift during its End of Year Matching Campaign, we invite you […]