The James Wilson Foundation on Natural Rights and the American Founding

Dr. Yuval Levin is the founding editor of National Affairs and contributing editor to National Review and The Weekly Standard. The Hertog Fellow and Director of the Bioethics and American Democracy program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Dr. Levin is a leading figure in the health care policy  debate. We invite you to read our interview with Dr. Levin: […]

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 […]

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 […]

Professor Mark was recently elected chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). He is an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, and a JWI Affiliated Scholar. We invite you to  read our interview with Dr. Mark. You are the Chairman of […]

Jack Phillips, Barronelle Stutzman, Blaine Adamson, and the Larsen Family: each are blessed with extraordinary creativity and faith along with success in their private businesses. Jack bakes personalized cakes, Barronelle designs unique floral arrangements, Blaine prints custom shirts, and the Larsen’s videography captures the intimate stories of others. Each take pride in their faith and […]

On Life Talk , a production of Sacred Heart Radio in Washington State, Prof. Hadley Arkes gives a behind-the-scenes look into his recent essay  in First Things, “The Moral Turn.”  Prof. Arkes discusses how he came to write the essay, the moral grounds of American jurisprudence,  and the contradictions in legal reasoning that arise when this is forgotten. Listen […]

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 […]

Prof. Arkes joined The Mike Janocik Show to discuss his recent essay in First Things,  “The Moral Turn.” Prof. Arkes examines the treatment of moral arguments by progressive and conservative lawyers, explains several schools of constitutional interpretation, and discusses what he describes as President Trump’s common-sense approach to the law. Listen to the Interview:   Audio courtesy […]

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 […]

Father Arne Panula, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, passed away on July 19, 2017 after several months’ battle with cancer. Fr. Arne was a humble servant of Christ and a beloved friend of Professor Hadley Arkes. In a memoir entitled, “What Fr. Arne Shaped” for The Catholic Thing, Prof. Arkes recounts Fr. Arne’s final […]