Saturday, January 4th marked the beginning of our Winter 2025 James Wilson Fellowship. With 24 intensive seminars over the course of six days, our Fellows engaged with the timeless thought of not only the preeminent minds of the American Founding such as James Wilson, John Marshall, and Alexander Hamilton, but also Aristotle, Aquinas, and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a few.

We are thrilled to share a brief reflection of the week with you, as a way of celebrating our 2025 Winter class. Our 2025 Winter session exceeded our considerably high expectations, for the week was memorable not only for the 11 inches of snow that fell that Monday but also for the energy and friendship so quickly demonstrated by this cohort.

Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year's feasts may suppress some students' appetite for intensive study, but the 2025 Winter class, comprised of young lawyers, advanced law school students, and several judicial clerks was energetic to the last man. Despite trekking through the snow to arrive at the seminar room, each fellow demonstrated an eagerness to engage during and following our formal lectures. Debates were often intense. Featuring pointed questions from the fellows and insightful responses from our scholars, the conversations regularly carried over into the break and lunch periods.

The first half of the program aimed to put in place a lens of Natural Law jurisprudence through which to view our constitutional order and oppose the liberal framework propagated by law schools.

The second half of the program delved into the practical application of Natural Law Jurisprudence. Topics included freedom of speech and religion, economic regulation, criminal law, and abortion. By the end of the week, Fellows grasped the central points of the connection between the logic of morals and the logic of law and are prepared to apply what they have learned to the practice of law.

We were privileged to reconvene our esteemed Faculty, whose dedication to our Nation's founding principles and profound knowledge of the Natural Law continues to inspire. All faculty this winter were veterans of previous fellowships.

JWI Co-Directors Hadley Arkes and Gerry Bradley led the majority of the seminar sessions, but we were thrilled to again welcome the irreplaceable contributions of Professor David Forte (Cleveland State Law), Professor Justin Dyer (University of Texas at Austin), and Dr. Ryan Anderson (Ethics & Public Policy Center).

Special events and guest speakers bolstered discussion periods. We were particularly excited to welcome Judge Edith Jones, who offered remarks regarding her experience as an appellate court judge. Her presence was particularly meaningful as two of her former clerks were among our Winter 2025 class.

We were also privileged to host Michael Fragoso, Chief Counsel in the Office of the Senate Republican Leader, David Rosenthal and Conor Woodfin, two of our Fellowship Alumni who now practice law at Consovoy McCarthy, and Jeff Wall, the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States and a current Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. As an unexpected treat, we learned that when Jeff was an undergraduate he was a devoted student of the late Professor Dan Robinson, who taught at the Fellowship for three years before his death.

While the principal focus of the week was an academically rigorous introduction to the Natural Law, its relevance to American law, and its practical application, Fellows were afforded several opportunities to connect with both scholars and peers in more relaxed settings. They are encouraged to grow their professional networks, but, as is often the case, frequently found themselves forming life-long friendships. This cohort was no exception, and in fact, they have set a new measure of success.

Our "late night" offerings included a cocktail hour with alumni and JWI friends, a lecture on historic Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, and a Fighting Irish football watch party. We also heard rumors of "off-the-record" gatherings independently formed by the Fellows; this came as no surprise, for even among previous classes, the 2025 Winter Fellows seemed to connect instantly.

The week concluded with a wonderful dinner at storied Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town, filled with boisterous laughter, delicious food, and heartfelt thanks; we could not have asked for a finer farewell. Yet this was, of course, not "goodbye," but "see you soon!"

We are thrilled to now welcome this superb group of young lawyers into the James Wilson Institute Alumni network; through which they will be afforded several opportunities to continue their pursuit of truth and find the support they need to strive for a better jurisprudence.