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"'It’s Good (Not) to be the King': Qualified Praise for Michael McConnell" -- Garrett Snedeker

By The James Wilson Institute • Mar 18 2022

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…

"Once More Unto the Breach" -- Hadley Arkes

By The James Wilson Institute • Mar 7 2022

In a response to Ed Whelan’s critique of “On Overturning Roe,” Prof. Arkes insists that the moral argument against Roe is the only logical one for judges who believe in the deep wrong of abortion. The pro-life cause rests on objective…

Podcast at First Things: Hadley Arkes and R. R. Reno discuss “On Overruling Roe”

By The James Wilson Institute • Mar 3 2022

Professor Hadley Arkes and First Things editor R. R. Reno talk about Arkes’s recent article, “On Overruling Roe,” focusing on originalist jurisprudence, the relevance of natural law to abortion, and the Dobbs case. "On Overruling Roe" may…

"Breaking the Sotomayor Mold" -- Kody W. Cooper

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 25 2022

Kody Cooper argues that a new justice in the mold of Sotomayor would fail to pass the "test of truth" when it comes to abortion, religious liberty, and takings. Some excerpts: "In the wake of Justice Breyer’s retirement…

"Justice Byron White and Abortion" -- Hadley Arkes in The Catholic Thing

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 24 2022

Responding to Richard Doerflinger's critique of "Waiting for Dobbs," Prof. Arkes asserts that conservative justices could successfully outlaw most abortions by returning to Justice White’s standard: only abort to save the mother’s life. At…

"Originalism Is Not Enough" -- Hadley Arkes in Claremont Review of Books

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 17 2022

In a review of Drakeman’s The Hollow Core of Constitutional Theory: Why We Need the Framers, Prof. Hadley Arkes contends that, when debating moral issues such as abortion and freedom of religion, judges should look beyond the text of the…

"On Overturning Roe" -- Hadley Arkes in First Things

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 15 2022

Comparing abortion to slavery, Hadley Arkes explains how conservative jurisprudence has obscured the central issue of abortion--the killing of small lives--by referring the decision to the States. Though popular, such traditional…

"The Smith Case, Religious Freedom, and Originalism" -- Christopher Wolfe in Public Discourse

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 10 2022

Responding to the Fulton decision, Christopher Wolfe argues that conservative judges who wish to uphold originalism should not overturn Smith. Some excerpts: "The Smith opinion was written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the greatest…

"Waiting for Dobbs" -- Hadley Arkes in The Catholic Thing

By The James Wilson Institute • Feb 9 2022

Professor Arkes anticipates what might happen if the Supreme Court seeks to take “the low door under the whole” in the Dobbs case—sustaining the law in Mississippi while affecting not to overrule Roe v. Wade. Some excerpts: "The…

"Recovering a Conservative State Legal Theory" -- Jeffrey Bristol in Anchoring Truths and Law & Liberty

By The James Wilson Institute • Jan 28 2022

Responding to Holden Tanner and Jesse Merriam, Jeffrey Bristol argues that state courts limit themselves by adopting the same sort of originalism as federal courts--and that Erie, far from wrenching common law reasoning from the states,…

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