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March 22, 2019|alienable, Declaration of Independence, inalienable, John Locke, primogeniture, rights, Robert Nozick

What Use Is an “Inalienable” Right?

by James R. Rogers|

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA (Sean Pavone/Shutterstock.com).
If the right to liberty is alienable, whether despotic rule is just or unjust depends on the actual set of agreements between the people and their ruler.

August 24, 2018|Democracy, Electoral College, John Hart Ely, modality, Pamela Karlan, Republicanism, rights, Senate

“Democracy” Cannot Unlock the Meaning of the Constitution

by John O. McGinnis|

The U.S. Capitol building, as seen between the columns of the Supreme Court (Dan Thornberg/Shutterstock.com).
Republicanism, not democracy, might be a structural principle we can use to guide our interpretation of the Constitution.

December 12, 2017|Federalism, rights, Technological Change

Is Liberty “Natural”?

by Hans Eicholz|

Our idea of liberty has simply become confused, even deranged.

November 15, 2016|Alexander Hamilton, FDR, human nature, rights, Yuval Levin

The Federalist Papers and Us

by Christopher James Wolfe|

In Rekindling Constitutional Ambition, his recent post for Law and Liberty, Yuval Levin offered some particularly helpful insights for thinking through our constitutional problems. As Levin points out, friends of the Constitution are currently in a period of uncertainty about what goals they should be aiming for, even apart from the usual confusion over how to achieve their goals. Some friends of the Constitution argue that the election of Donald Trump to the presidency would allow for a revival (such as the writers at the Journal of American Greatness blog), while others (such as the signers of the Originalists against Trump statement) argue that it would undermine obedience to the Constitution as that document was originally intended.

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August 5, 2015|Abortion, Mary Ann Glendon, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, rights, Roe v. Wade

Roe’s Progeny: The Abortion Extremes

by Greg Weiner|

The kind of extremism on display on the Planned Parenthood videotapes and in the reflexive closing of ranks around the group—whose own leadership has done more to disavow its grotesqueries, or at least the depictions of them, than have its political supporters—is the product of Roe v. Wade, but not for the reasons commonly supposed.

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July 24, 2014|Martha Nussbaum, Religious Freedom, rights, Supreme Court

The Deflation of Rights

by Steven D. Smith|

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments On Arizona Immigration LawPrint up a bunch of money, and the value of money is almost sure to decline. Make up a host of new rights and the value of rights is likely to plummet as well. As our modern experience demonstrates.

Simplifying, we might imagine three stages in the devaluation of rights. In stage one (which, like the “state of nature,” probably never quite existed), a right would be categorical. If you have a right to freedom of speech, say, this would mean that you can say whatever you want (at least within the scope of the right’s coverage) and the government cannot sanction or restrict you. Period. Justice Black sometimes talked as if freedom of speech were or should be an absolute right. The average lay person may sometimes think this is what a right means.

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August 8, 2013|Declaration of Independence, Greg Weiner, Harry Jaffa, Limited Government, Mary Ann Glendon, Natural Rights, rights, Social Contract, Thomas G. West

The Real America

by Ken Masugi|

Thanks to Greg Weiner (and the commenters) for taking on my original piece, which has gathered far more attention than I had anticipated.  Greg argues that, “It has become commonplace to see the Declaration as a radical break with this tradition—and, in some circles, the Constitution as a radical break again—but a continuum of this symbol is clearly traceable.” Yet, though there is some “traceable” continuity, the Declaration is of a different order.

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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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