The Moral Turn

For some conservatives, bracing themselves on the night of the election, the evening offered nothing less than a miracle unfolding. But that sense of things was even more pronounced for young lawyers defending religious plaintiffs in the courts, and for the small band of conservatives on the Supreme . . . . Continue Reading »

Gorsuch and the Washington Script

A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Continue Reading »

The Flight 216 Selection

Gorsuch is an insider's insider: child of the Beltway, Columbia undergraduate, Harvard Law, Oxford jurisprudence degree under John Finnis, and two Supreme Court clerkships for Justices White and Kennedy. The Trump team chose a consummately elite transatlantic jurist. Continue Reading »

Gorsuch After Scalia

The president’s introduction of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the nation as his nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death gave us a lift we sorely needed. Finally, something to be at peace about in our public life. Continue Reading »

The Court After Scalia

The term’s defining event was the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Everyone wonders how his successor will affect the future of the Supreme Court. Very soon after his demise, political controversy erupted when Senate Republicans announced that no nominee to replace Scalia would be . . . . Continue Reading »

Obergefell and the New Gnosticism

For decades, the Sexual Revolution was supposed to be about freedom. Today, it is about coercion. Once, it sought to free our sexual choices from restrictive laws and unwanted consequences. Now, it seeks to free our sexual choices from other people's disapproval. Continue Reading »