Articles tagged as James Wilson
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“‘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 […] -
“Whelan-Arkes Exchange: Last Round” — Hadley Arkes
Hadley Arkes responds to Edward Whelan in the last of five pieces on Originalism and the rightful place of moral reasoning. Appeals to Scalia only reinforce the position of common-good originalists: that conservative judges have forgotten the objective moral truths which once governed American jurisprudence. (Links to the other four pieces, in order of publication, can […] -
“The James Wilson Institute Teaches the Moral Foundations of the Law” — Mike Sabo at RealClearWire
Mike Sabo explains JWI’s project of recapturing the wisdom of the Founding Generation and their application of Natural Law as they created a republican society. Some excerpts: “Arkes founded the James Wilson Institute to ‘restore to a new generation of lawyers, judges, and citizens the understanding of the American Founders about the first principles of our law […] -
PODCAST: Jesse Merriam and Josh Hammer on “An Even Better Originalism?”
Patrick Henry College Associate Professor Jesse Merriam and JWI affiliated scholar Josh Hammer joined JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker to discuss Professor Merriam’s article, “A Better Legal Conservatism,” published in The American Mind. Prof. Merriam’s article was in response to “A Better Originalism,” co-authored by Prof. Hadley Arkes, Garrett Snedeker, Josh Hammer, and Matthew Peterson. […] -
VIDEO: “A Better Originalism” Debate featuring JWI’s Garrett Snedeker and Prof. Ilan Wurman
JWI’s Garrett Snedeker and Prof. Ilan Wurman debated the merits of the statement Snedeker co-authored in March 2021, titled “A Better Originalism,” for the Scalia Law School Federalist Society Chapter. -
“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 […] -
“The Mysteries of the Born-Alive Acts” : Hadley Arkes in The Catholic Thing
In his column for the Catholic Thing, Professor Arkes discusses the bill named the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act,” which argues that even an unborn baby marked for abortion has the right to be protected. He raises in this piece the matter of Bret Baier and the remarkable reluctance of Catholic figures in the media to […] -
“Memories of Ralph and Lessons for Lawyers in Crisis”: Hadley Arkes in The Catholic Thing
In his column for The Catholic Thing, Prof, Arkes honors his late friend Ralph McInerny by drawing on McInerny’s explanation of natural law as “something your grandmother would understand.” Rather than being an esoteric theory, natural law is fundamentally about common sense propositions that your grandmother would have instinctually apprehended and that only a professional […] -
“The Supremes Ride the Spiral Down” — Prof. Hadley Arkes in Law & Liberty
In a recent essay published at Law & Liberty titled, “The Supremes Ride the Spiral Down,” Prof. Hadley Arkes laments the recent Supreme Court decision in Iancu v. Brunetti, in which the Court allowed a profane trademark for a streetwear company. Drawing on the great Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Reid, Prof. Arkes criticizes some justices […] -
“The Pursuit of Happiness Rightly Understood”–Justin Dyer in Public Discourse
In an essay for Public Discourse titled “The Pursuit of Happiness Rightly Understood”, JWI-affiliated scholar Justin Dyer reintroduces the classical understanding of liberty that inspired the Declaration of Independence. He challenges the deeply entrenched fallacy that American liberalism is a philosophy of license: hardly a synonym for property, Jefferson’s careful wording reflects the Aristotelian and […]