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Pillar

Politics & Law

The third pillar of a decent society is a just system of politics and law. Such a government does not bind all persons, families, institutions of civil society, and actors in the marketplace to itself as subservient features of an all-pervading authority. Instead, it honors and protects the inherent equal dignity of all persons, safeguards the family as the primary school of virtue, and seeks justice through the rule of law.

Solidarity, Communion, and The City of God 

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Constitution 101: A Lesson for Donald Trump

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The American Founders understood that good government requires judicious “rigging.” Such rigging is only “crooked” if one wrongly assumes that consent alone is a sufficient condition for justice.

Renting Wombs is a Human Wrong, not a Human Right

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The Council of Europe has rejected a report recommending the legalization of surrogacy. This decision is a victory for human rights: Despite arguments that surrogacy is “compassionate,” its history of contentious litigation and documented human rights abuses make clear that it is a grave wrong.

Federal Courts, Government Agencies, and Transgender Bathroom Policy

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A federal court has said a student’s subjective understanding alters the meaning of an unambiguous, federal law. And it alters the meaning of the law for everyone in the Gloucester County school district and, potentially, everyone who resides in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The Bard, the Bathroom, and the Common Good: Shakespeare’s Timeless and Timely Political Thought

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Whether we discuss the nature of marriage or the rules governing bathroom use, Shakespeare calls on us to remember who we are as human beings and how our nature should be reflected in our society’s mores and laws.

Inside the Refugee Crisis: Following Iraqis in Jordan

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At the heart of the international refugee crisis are political realities we are so far unwilling to acknowledge. Iraqi refugees wait in Jordan, powerless and running out of money and options, holding on to the hope that passage to the US or Europe will somehow materialize.

“Shut Up, Bigot!”: Civil Rights and Same-Sex Marriage

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Supporters of “same-sex marriage” claim that its opponents are bigots, like racists or misogynists, whose views should not be tolerated in the public square. In fact, marriage traditionalists are not bigoted but rather are realistic and honest about what marriage actually is.

North Carolina’s Bathroom Bill and the Constitution

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North Carolina’s state legislature recently passed HB2, requiring governmental bathrooms and locker rooms to be separate based on biological sex. Despite LGBT activists’ insistence that hateful animus against transgender people motivates this law, in reality the law does not discriminate against LGBT people any more than it does against other special classes, and instead offers a reasonable balancing of conflicting privacy interests.

Constitutional Conservatism: Its Meaning and Its Future

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The project of constitutional conservatism must be about more than restoring limits on government. It must also invoke the ends of the American experiment in ordered liberty if the United States is to resist the siren-calls of egalitarianism and populism.

Aristotle Explains the Trump Phenomenon

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Aristotle’s discussion of factional conflict in his Politics gives historical insight into Donald Trump’s meteoric rise to political popularity. Ordinary Americans are acting in defense of their perceived economic interests and against the reign of political correctness.

Sovereign Debt Crises, Justice, and State Authority

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The significance of sovereign debt crises goes beyond economics. How we address these situations gives important insight into our understanding of the nature and limits of state authority.
Public Discourse

Freedom of Conscience and New “LGBT Rights” in International Human Rights Law

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“LGBT rights” are being elevated above conscience rights when the two come into conflict—but this trend is to the detriment of human rights, which can stand the test of time only when they are grounded in transcendent, fixed authority.
Public Discourse

An Originalist Critique of the Court’s Free Speech Tradition

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Free-speech jurisprudence has reached a state where it is acceptable to abridge speech on matters of public concern, but not on vile or private speech. And the Supreme Court has usurped the authority of line-drawing from the people to empower itself.
Public Discourse

What Trump and Sanders Teach Us about America

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Enthusiastic support for Trump and Sanders shows the stranglehold that materialistic individualism has on American political culture. Unless we can find a counterbalance to our excessive focus on economic interests, we should expect to be crushed beneath their weight.
Public Discourse

Answering the Question of Every Human Life

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Every person is born with a heart, mind, and conscience that desire to seek truth and goodness—but these can only be found in an atmosphere of genuine freedom.
Public Discourse

Women and the Power to Change the World

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Women are called to shape the moral dimension of the culture, but current trends seem to indicate that the wrong women have been doing the job. Fortunately a new generation of women is rising up eager to give joyful witness to the complementarity of men and women and to the happiness they have found in Christ.
Public Discourse

The National Bank: An Early Lesson in Constitutional Fidelity

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The debate over the creation of a national bank reveals how Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton, despite profound disagreements, argued respectfully with prudence and fidelity to the Constitution. All three men offer valuable examples to today’s statesmen.
Public Discourse

Supreme Court Nominations and the Virtues of a Resolute Senate

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Liberal activists claim that the Senate must consider an Obama nomination to the Court. In fact, it would be unprecedented for a Supreme Court justice to be confirmed under a divided government during a term-limited president’s final year in office.
Public Discourse

The Law of Benedict

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Pope Benedict XVI often ventured into venues historically hostile to the Judeo-Christian tradition. A new collection of essays discusses many of these speeches, probing the relationship of reason to religion, the West, and natural law.
Public Discourse

The Supreme Greatness of Justice Antonin Scalia

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For his immense contributions to constitutional discourse, his sound constitutional vision, his rigorous and vigorous opinions, his fearlessness and peerlessness, Justice Scalia is one of the greatest Supreme Court justices of all time.
Public Discourse

The National Parks: “America’s Best Idea”

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We will benefit most from the national parks if we can remember their role as natural cathedrals that orient us to the crucial relevance of “Nature” for politics and society.
Public Discourse

Immigrants, Assimilation, and Religion

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Our nation faces an assimilation crisis as many Middle Eastern immigrants reject our culture, which they perceive as libertine. We could improve the situation through a renewed commitment to our founding principles, particularly the reunification of faith and reason.
Public Discourse

Setting the Record Straight on Texas’s Abortion-Safety Law

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The Supreme Court is a vote away from unraveling years of incremental pro-life legislation as it examines the case surrounding Texas’ abortion-safety law HB2. But holding the abortion industry to a high standard of care should not be controversial, as the health of real women is at stake.
Public Discourse

Girls Just Want to Be Born

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The global pro-life movement will continue to speak out and defend the girl child. We must work to oppose all acts of gender based violence, protect women’s and girls’ lives, and seek consistent non-discriminatory life-affirming laws and policies.
Public Discourse

The Fight over Abortion in the UN’s New International Development Agenda

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Pro-life countries must arm themselves against the UN’s intense pressure toward population control, while at the same time supporting and holding the UN accountable to its legitimate development objectives.

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