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November 21, 2018|Federalist Society, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Tom Lee

Meet the Federalist Society Caucus

by John O. McGinnis|

United States Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx), left, questions witnesses at Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, September 7, 2018. At right is US Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). (Ron Sachs/CNP/MediaPunch Inc/Alamy Live News).
Almost nothing has been said about the rise of U.S. Senators whose careers were fostered by the Federalist Society.

January 26, 2018|Diane Feinstein, Federalist Society, John Kennedy, Mazie Hirono, Nicholas Rosenkranz, Originalism, Ted Cruz

Originalism Needs an Adult Education Program

by John O. McGinnis|

In the academic world, originalism has become the theory of constitutional interpretation to beat.

February 27, 2017|"blue slip" rule, John Cornyn, Neil Gorsuch, Ted Cruz

Reclaiming the Federal Judiciary: Start with the Fifth Circuit

by Mark Pulliam|

Lawyer And The Law

The widely publicized judicial resistance to President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily limiting entry into the United States by foreign nationals from certain countries has focused public attention as never before on the enormous power wielded by activist judges. Many people who do not generally follow the doings of the judiciary were alarmed by the ruling of Seattle-based Judge James L. Robart enjoining the so-called travel ban, despite the dubious “standing” of the two states challenging it (Washington and Minnesota). Many laypeople also listened in dismay to the oral argument before the Ninth Circuit, and have read extensive criticisms of both the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Robart and the unsigned Ninth Circuit decision refusing to stay the TRO, neither of which cited the statute expressly authorizing President Trump to take the disputed action.[1]

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May 9, 2016|Donald Trump, Reagan Democrats, Republican Party, Ted Cruz

Explaining Trump’s Hostile Takeover

by Peter Augustine Lawler|

(Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The outcome of the Republican nomination process is a disaster for the party. The person chosen clearly is unqualified to be President, and many of his views are not those that have dominated the party over the last generation. He is not a man who respects the Constitution and the limits it imposes on political power. He is against, not big government, but stupid government. And Donald Trump really thinks he is the remedy for stupidity we need.

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May 6, 2016|Ann Coulter, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Republican Party, Ted Cruz

“Do You Realize Our Candidate Is Mental?”

by Lauren Weiner|

When Ted Cruz quit the presidential primary on Tuesday not long after the polls closed in Indiana, it was startling. Even Donald Trump, in his victory speech that night in New York, appeared startled to see himself the presumptive Republican nominee.

“Democrats seem to be bouncing back and forth between glee and panic,” wrote an analyst at fivethirtyeight.com. There are two main reasons for that.

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May 3, 2016|Big Government, Donald Trump, inequality, John Kasich, Rand Paul, rational ignorance, Ted Cruz

A Postmortem on Classical Liberalism in the 2016 Presidential Primary

by John O. McGinnis|

At the beginning of the campaign for the Republican nomination, many thought that it was a libertarian moment in which even Rand Paul might well emerge victorious. But with tonight’s results from Indiana, the Republican Party seems poised to nominate the most illiberal candidate in its history—someone who wants to restrict trade and civil liberties and has no interest in taming the growth of the state.

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March 21, 2016|Buckley v. Valeo, campaign finance reform, Citizens United v. FEC, Hillary: The Movie, Plutocrats Protected, Rick Hasen, Ted Cruz

Plutocrats Protected

by Stephen Klein|

Last summer, Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, published a short e-book, Political Realism: How Hacks, Big Money, and Back-Room Deals Can Strengthen American Democracy. The over-the-top title notwithstanding, it made a concise, reasoned case against well-intentioned political reforms—including campaign-finance reform—that actually undermine rather than strengthen citizen participation in the republic. It is important to attract readers, so provocative titles certainly matter, and Rick Hasen makes his own attempt with Plutocrats United: Campaign Money, the Supreme Court, and the Distortion of American Elections. It is a dig at the Supreme Court’s 2010 opinion in Citizens United v. Federal…

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January 19, 2016|George Washington, James Madison, Laws of Nature, Naturalization Act of 1790, Naturalization Act of 1795, Ted Cruz, The Law of Nations, Treaty of Paris, Vattel, William Blackstone

American by Nature

by Richard Samuelson|

A great deal of ink has been spilled of late on the question what, exactly, it means for someone to be a natural born citizen under the U.S. Constitution. As Senator Cruz was born in Canada, to a mother who was a citizen and father who was not a citizen, the question is on point. The Constitution states in Article II that “no Persons except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.”

What, exactly, does that mean?

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January 18, 2016|David Brooks, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, pagan brutalism, Peter Wehner, Ted Cruz

State of the (Angry) Union

by Peter Augustine Lawler|

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Well, I agree with Donald Trump that the President’s big speech was boring and lethargic. That’s partly because there’s nothing more pathetic than a lame-duck President whose party doesn’t control Congress. He may talk big about executive orders and such, but he can’t help but project weakness and irrelevance. It’s true that the President is reduced to acting unconstitutionally, because the Constitution is no longer any President’s friend as his second term nears its end. Let me put forward the heretical thought that it would be better if he could run for reelection, and that constitutionally mandated term limits are counterproductive especially for Presidents. Now that I’ve made you angry, we can talk some about anger.

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January 11, 2016|Congress, Constitution, Executive order, Executive Power, Presidency, Separation of Powers, Ted Cruz, The Federalist

Living the New Constitutional Morality

by Greg Weiner|

Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times

The presidential nominating contests continue to befuddle prognosticators, but the consensus winner of the Syntactical Caucus of 2016 is already in. Whether Republican or Democrat, the next President will almost certainly display an unreasoning proclivity for the first person singular.

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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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