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August 16, 2018|Brett Kavanaugh, judicial confirmation, Merrick Garland, Supreme Court

Confirmation Wars and Constitutional Authority, Part II

by James Wallner|

Judge Merrick Garland, chief justice for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia visiting Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 after his nomination to the Supreme Court (Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP /MediaPunch / Alamy Stock Photos).
The Senate is free to process judicial nominations however its members so choose, and mental gymnastics are not required.

July 31, 2018|Brett Kavanaugh, Court-Packing, David Brewer, Ian Ayres, John Fabian Witt, Joseph Biden, Merrick Garland, stable equilibrium

The Ideological Blinders of Court Packing Proponents

by John O. McGinnis|

Panorama of the United States Supreme Court at dusk in Washington DC, USA (Joe Ravi/Shutterstock.com).
The Court may seem unbalanced to Yale professors, but that appearance is a function of Yale's ideological bubble.

June 19, 2018|Alexander Bickel, Donald Trump, Gerrymandering, Gill v. Whitford, Merrick Garland, Neil Gorsuch, passive virtues

Why the Supreme Court Is Activating the Passive Virtues

by John O. McGinnis|

U.S. Supreme Court chambers (stock_photo_world / Shutterstock.com).
In such divided times, we shouldn't be surprised that the Supreme Court embraces passive virtues in order to guard their authority.

March 18, 2016|centrism, leftward drift, Merrick Garland, Originalism, Precedent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Garland’s “Centrism” Is No Reason for Confirmation

by John O. McGinnis|

Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, has been touted as a centrist on the court of appeals. Whatever reasons there are to confirm him, that should not be one of them.

First, the centrism of a lower court judge is likely an illusion. He is bound by Supreme Court precedent and thus has limited ability to change the status quo. Thus, he tends to be centrist simply by virtue of his position. To be sure, there are some lawless circuit judges, who do not make a good faith effort to follow Supreme Court precedent, but they are relatively few. And none of these could be serious candidates for the Supreme Court, where a record of reversal and obvious disobedience would be seized on by the opposition.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was pretty faithful in applying precedents when she, like Garland, was on the D.C. circuit. And she too was praised as centrist. But on the Supreme Court she has led the left on the Court. Some of her rulings and views are in fact outlandish, if not Orwellian.

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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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