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"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,…

"When 'Matter' Really Matters" -- Jesse Merriam

By The James Wilson Institute • Jan 17 2022

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…

"States, Courts, and Common-Good Conservatism" -- Holden Tanner

By The James Wilson Institute • Jan 3 2022

Holden Tanner continues his dialogue with Josh Hammer and Jesse Merriam, arguing that to reform American jurisprudence conservatives need a new synthesis of the natural law tradition and the Antifederalist vision of state power. Some…

"And All the Students Said, 'Amen'” -- Keisha Russell

By The James Wilson Institute • Dec 17 2021

Keisha Toni Russell, Counsel at First Liberty Institute, argues that young Americans learn to respect religious liberty--and individual rights more generally--when religion flourishes in public. Some excerpts: "In the early 1960s,…

2021 James Wilson Awards Dinner

By The James Wilson Institute • Dec 10 2021

We were grateful to host an intimate Awards Dinner on Nov. 18, 2021, to honor our first Leadership & the Law Award recipient, Attorney General William Barr. We also celebrated the achievements of the James Wilson Institute so far.…

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