Welcoming Our First Senior Fellow, Justin Dyer

Justin Dyer

Professor of Government & the Inaugural Dean of UT Austin's School of Civic Leadership

Over the past two years, and in response to growing demand, the James Wilson Institute (JWI) has celebrated several "firsts." Gerry Bradley, our first co-director; the Winter Fellowship, our first course expansion; and now, with Justin's arrival, our first Senior Fellow. This unique, new role was (happily!) created because of our growth from one to two fellowships, and two to six law school seminars - each year.

Professor Dyer is professor of government and the inaugural dean of UT Austin's School of Civic Leadership. [We encourage you to read his impressive bio below.] But, more than that, he is a long-serving JWI faculty member. The addition of Professor Dyer, a rising-star in the academy, as a Senior Fellow, represents our commitment to cultivating the next generation of teachers of Natural Rights and the American Founding.

There is simply no other organization that does this.

"We count it as glad news and a blessing: Justin Dyer will be joining us as the first Senior Fellow of our James Wilson Institute...Of all of the scholars rising—and risen—on the scene now, it is hard to find anyone who comes as close to our concerns and perspectives on the anchoring ground of the Natural Law in a jurisprudence with moral coherence."

-Hadley Arkes, JWI Founder & Co-Director

Professor Dyer (left) and Fellow Aaron Haviland (right) at our 2021 James Wilson Fellowship.

"The James Wilson Institute provides a unique opportunity for judges and lawyers to study the anchoring truths of our Constitution and the moral ground of our law. JWI's mission is critical, and I'm honored to work with Hadley Arkes and Gerry Bradley to advance that mission."

- Professor Justin Dyer, JWI Senior Fellow

"Justin Dyer brings to our work a unique blend of civic and scholastic leadership," said Board Chairman Doug Neff. "He will enrich our teaching of Natural Law and grow our professional relationships."

Professor Dyer's willingness to join JWI is a testament to the organization's rather distinct profile in the landscape of scholars and writers dealing seriously with the law. The advent of a new member to the JWI leadership team offers the deep assurance that this project in Natural Law will endure into the next generation.

So, a hearty welcome to Justin from everyone at JWI and beyond. This is just the first of much great news to share in 2025!

Professor Dyer lecturing at our 2024 Summer James Wilson Fellowship.

"Justin Dyer is the perfect addition to the JWI leadership group. His accomplishments as a scholar of the founding and, indeed, of American political thought from front to back, place in the top rank of all those working in these vital fields. His commitments to Natural Law and natural rights have already enriched the work of JWI, and will do so even more now."

- Gerry Bradley, JWI Co-Director

Meet Professor Justin Dyer

Justin Dyer is professor of government and the inaugural dean of UT Austin's School of Civic Leadership.

Dyer writes and teaches in the fields of American political thought, jurisprudence and constitutionalism, with an emphasis on the perennial philosophical tradition of natural law. He is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles, essays and book reviews. His most recent book, with Kody Cooper, is The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding, published in 2022 by Cambridge University Press. His previous books with Cambridge University Press include C.S. Lewis on Politics and the Natural Law (2016); Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning (2013); and Natural Law and the Antislavery Constitutional Tradition (2012). He also is co-editor of the two-volume constitutional law casebook American Constitutional Law (4th edition, West Academic), which has been adopted at leading universities across the country.

Previously, he was a professor of political science at the University of Missouri, where he served as the founding director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, a signature academic center for the study of American political thought and history. After attending the University of Oklahoma on a wrestling scholarship, he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government at The University of Texas at Austin.

Search