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March 12, 2020|Age of Entitlement, Brown v. Board of Education, Christopher Caldwell, Civil Rights Act, Colorblind Constitution, Great Society, Green v. Kent New County, Griggs v. Duke Power, Parents Involved v. Seattle School District, Plessy v. Ferguson, Ronald Reagan

American Agonistes

by Richard M. Reinsch II|

Overhead view of the massive crowd assembled during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, August 28, 1963. (Photo by Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
Caldwell's Age of Entitlement argues that the civil rights state is the anvil upon which our nation wages its incessant political contests.

October 15, 2019|Aristotle, Brown v. Board of Education, James Madison, Liquidation, Living Constitutionalism, Obergefell v. Hodges, Originalism, Originalism's Promise, Progressivism, Roe v. Wade

Justifying Originalism

by Lee J. Strang|

Originalism provides the surest way to access the Constitution's legal meaning and then to implement it over time.

August 14, 2018|Amy Klobuchar, Brett Kavanaugh, Brown v. Board of Education, Neil Gorsuch, Richard Blumenthal, Richard Durbin, Roe v. Wade

How Kavanaugh Should Respond to Senators’ Questions, Part I

by John O. McGinnis|

Brett Kavanaugh delivers remarks after President Donald J. Trump announces his nomination to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, July 9th, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Credit: Alex Edelman/CNP /MediaPunch/Alamy Stock Photo).
Expect to see these questions and lines of attack at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, because senators often use them, regardless of the nominee.

January 16, 2018|Brown v. Board of Education, Fourteenth Amendment, Michael McConnell, original meaning

Moreno on the Original Meaning and Brown v. Board of Education: Part II

by Mike Rappaport|

U.S. Supreme Court. Orhan Cam/Shutterstock
Interpreting the law with original meaning in mind leaves a range of options for defending Brown v. Board.

January 15, 2018|Brown v. Board of Education, David O'Brien, John Harrison, Justice Robert Jackson, Justice William Rehnquist, Michael McConnell, Originalism, Paul Moreno

Moreno on the Original Meaning and Brown v. Board of Education: Part I

by Mike Rappaport|

Panorama of the United States Supreme Court at dusk in Washington DC, USA (Joe Ravi/Shutterstock.com).
Originalists can and do support Brown v. Board, and it's important to understand why.

January 8, 2018|Brown v. Board of Education, Justice Robert Jackson, Justice William O. Douglas, Justice William Rehnquist, Plessy v. Ferguson, Segregation, What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said

The Brown Decision: Even Less Coherent Than You Thought

by Paul Moreno|

The Supreme Court is still living off the moral capital acquired in Brown. This unpublished concurrence wouldn't have added much.

November 3, 2017|Brown v. Board of Education, Reginald Hudlin, Thurgood Marshall

A Mostly Mediocre Marshall

by Mark Judge|

It says a lot about the versatility of Reginald Hudlin that he directed House Party, a fun and frothy 1990 teen comedy, and Marshall, the new biopic about an early case taken by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

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September 15, 2017|

Unsettling Thoughts on Liquidation

by James Stoner|

In response to: The Liquidation of Meaning: Madisonian Originalism for the Living Generation

It is subtle, or at least ironic, to use a term—“liquidate”—that has lost its original meaning to initiate a discussion of constitutional interpretation.  Today the word still has a legal usage, referring to the payment and settlement of debts.  The OED finds that meaning in English publications at the time that Madison and Hamilton employed it to refer to construing the Constitution in The Federalist.  Both Webster’s and the OED give as a secondary definition “to make clear,” with Webster’s citing Hamilton himself, and they agree that that usage of the term is now rare or obsolete.  Gordon Lloyd and…

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More Responses

Give Me Madison, Please!

by Kevin Gutzman

Gordon Lloyd and Steve Ealy provide considerable material to ponder. The gist of their argument seems to be that rather than a Progressive political culture centered on quadrennial presidential elections and a governmental system featuring a considerable policy-making authority for both the president and the Supreme Court, we ought to prefer a “Madisonian” system. While…

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Liquidation and the Problem of Constitutional Settlement

by Greg Weiner

Gordon Lloyd and Steve Ealy make a compelling case for liquidation, what they call “Originalism for the Living Generation,” as the most Madisonian means of settling constitutional meaning. Grounded as it is in Madisonian text and example, from The Federalist to the bank veto, the superb account Lloyd and Ealy offer is difficult to assail…

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September 8, 2017|

Give Me Madison, Please!

by Kevin Gutzman|

In response to: The Liquidation of Meaning: Madisonian Originalism for the Living Generation

Gordon Lloyd and Steve Ealy provide considerable material to ponder. The gist of their argument seems to be that rather than a Progressive political culture centered on quadrennial presidential elections and a governmental system featuring a considerable policy-making authority for both the president and the Supreme Court, we ought to prefer a “Madisonian” system. While sympathetic toward, and indeed enthusiastic for, their criticisms of our current political culture, I demur from their ascription of their views to James Madison. Their Madison is not Madison as I understand him, and I prefer the real thing. Consider the Lloyd/Ealy account of Madison’s response…

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More Responses

Unsettling Thoughts on Liquidation

by James Stoner

It is subtle, or at least ironic, to use a term—“liquidate”—that has lost its original meaning to initiate a discussion of constitutional interpretation.  Today the word still has a legal usage, referring to the payment and settlement of debts.  The OED finds that meaning in English publications at the time that Madison and Hamilton employed…

Read More

Liquidation and the Problem of Constitutional Settlement

by Greg Weiner

Gordon Lloyd and Steve Ealy make a compelling case for liquidation, what they call “Originalism for the Living Generation,” as the most Madisonian means of settling constitutional meaning. Grounded as it is in Madisonian text and example, from The Federalist to the bank veto, the superb account Lloyd and Ealy offer is difficult to assail…

Read More

April 19, 2016|Administrative State, Brown v. Board of Education, Civil Rights Act of 1875, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Civil Rights Cases of 1883, Congress, Executive Power, U.S. Supreme Court

Congress as the Guardian of Individual Rights: A Conversation with Louis Fisher

by Louis Fisher|

This episode of Liberty Law Talk is a conversation with congressional scholar Louis Fisher on his recent book, Congress: Protecting Individual Rights. Fisher argues that contrary to popular belief, Congress, not the Court, has been the foremost champion in protecting the rights of racial minorities, children, Native Americans, and religious liberties.
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Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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