Articles tagged as American Founding
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VIDEO: Webinar on “The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics”
JWI, with our co-sponsors, the Center for Religion Culture and Democracy at First Liberty Institute, and the Civitas Institute, present this webinar. The webinar featured Profs. Justin Dyer and Kody Cooper discussing their new book on the natural law influences of the American Founding. The book is available for purchase here. We were also joined […] -
“Religious Liberty and the American Founding” – Anchoring Truths Podcast with Professor Phillip Muñoz
In this episode of the Anchoring Truths Podcast, Garrett Snedeker joins Notre Dame Professor Phillip Muñoz to discuss his new book on religious liberty. They discuss the Founders’ natural rights understanding of the freedom to worship, their disagreements about the separation of church and state, and the future of religious freedom in our law. You […] -
“‘It’s Good (Not) to be the King’: Qualified Praise for Michael McConnell” — Garrett Snedeker
Anchoring Truths co-founder Garrett Snedeker offers qualified praise for Prof. Michael McConnell’s recent book on executive power under the Constitution. While McConnell argues convincingly for public meaning originalism, he implicitly reaffirms judicial supremacy over interpretive disputes between the legislative and the executive branches. “McConnell’s most significant contribution to the scholarly literature is his thorough evaluation of Article II with a […] -
“When ‘Matter’ Really Matters” — Jesse Merriam
Jesse Merriam argues that Engel and Schempp are here to stay because the “matter” of modern-day society has corrupted the “form” of American jurisprudence. Rather than attempting to overturn these cases, conservative legal scholars and judges should learn how to make Founding ideas work in the twenty-first century. Some excerpts: “Incorporation of the Establishment Clause…means […] -
“How to Apply a Jurisprudence of Natural Law”: Prof. Arkes on In the Trenches Podcast
Hadley Arkes & Garrett Snedeker joined the In the Trenches Podcast to talk about the principles of the American Government that were before the Constitution and how those principles helped inform it. They discuss how Natural Law provides insights into issues such as Abortion and Free Speech. -
PODCAST: Prof. Michael D. Breidenbach on “Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America”
Associate Professor and Chair of History at Ave Maria University and Senior Affiliate for Legal Humanities at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania Michael D. Breidenbach joined JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker to discuss Prof. Breidenbach’s new book Our Dear Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration […] -
“In Defense of ‘A Better Originalism'” – Prof. Hadley Arkes in Law & Liberty
In an essay for Law & Liberty, James Wilson Institute Founder and Director Prof. Hadley Arkes defends JWI’s recent call in The American Mind for judges to adopt an “originalism of moral substance” against criticism by John Grove. Prof. Arkes argues that Grove misconstrues the nature of moral truths and their role in adjudication, which […] -
“Toward a New Jurisprudential Consensus: Common Good Originalism” – Josh Hammer in Public Discourse
In an essay for Public Discourse, JWI Affiliated Scholar Josh Hammer implores conservatives to embrace a new approach to originalism that emphasizes the common good. He argues that originalism has become entirely unmoored from conservatism rightly understood, particularly in light of Justice Gorsuch’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. It must be replaced by a […] -
“Civic Virtue as Moral Facts: Recovering the Other Half of Our Founding” – Professor Daniel Mahoney in RealClearPublicAffairs
In an essay for Real Clear Public Affairs, Professor Daniel Mahoney of Assumption University argues that the American Founding presupposed a belief in moral facts and the immutability of human nature. The Founding Fathers, and the American people more broadly, understood that society required a strong moral foundation. They knew that self-government required a virtuous […] -
Podcast: “America on Trial” discussing the American founding with author Robert Reilly
Robert Reilly is a writer and senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. He has published on topics of US foreign policy and “war of ideas.” He walks us through his timely new book, America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding, which pushes back on recent theorists who have argued that the American […]