fbpx
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Rss
Search
Close this search box.
Robert Lowry Clinton

Robert Lowry Clinton

Robert Lowry Clinton is Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is the author of Marbury v. Madison and Judicial Review, God and Man in the Law: The Foundations of Anglo-American Constitutionalism, and numerous articles in academic and popular publications.

written and unwritten constitutions

Written and Unwritten Constitutions

By
The analogy between individual and political constitutions illustrates the fact that no legal order can be fully encompassed by written instruments, and so it must be elaborated by reference to its underlying historical and philosophic dimensions.
Background image of voting booths decorated with American flags at empty polling station

Democracy Can Be Trusted Because Citizens Can Be Trusted

By
What you think about democracy probably comes down to what you think about the nature of your fellow citizens. What are they like? Are they children of God, made in the image of their Creator and thus in possession of common sense and common reason? Do they have enough sense to distinguish between truth and falsehood on the issues that drive our current political conflicts? Or are they ignorant bumpkins?
The marble columns of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington DC

Dobbs and the Renewal of Federalism

By
We should celebrate Dobbs—but cautiously, for it is only the beginning of the project of constitutional restoration that needs to be done. If Dobbs is to stand, American society must move away from the stifling, tyrannical concentration of national power that we are experiencing now and begin a return to the balanced government of the Founders’ Constitution.
Supreme Court

Textual Literalism and Legal Positivism: On Bostock and the Western Legal Tradition

By
For centuries, judges, lawyers, and legislators agreed that the object, end or purpose of the law—more precisely, the “mischief” that it was enacted to overcome—is crucial for determining its meaning. Any uncertainties in the meaning of the terms employed by the lawgiver must be resolved in accord with general custom and common usage at the time the law was enacted. Bostock is the most recent example of the Supreme Court violating this foundational principle of the rule of law.
Public Discourse

An Orwellian Warning for Conservatives

By
Supporting crony capitalism weakens the appeal of social conservatism; it is difficult to hold the moral high ground on abortion and marriage while defending exploiters of the poor and oppressed.
Public Discourse

Elitism and Judicial Supremacy

By
Faced with an increasingly democratic political system, American elites have turned to the courts as an alternate means of enacting their political and constitutional agenda.
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Rss
Public Discourse © 2024 | All Rights Reserved