In the introductory paragraph to his dissenting opinion in Trump v. Barbara, Justice Samuel Alito rightly calls the decision one of the most important in the history of the Supreme Court, or, as James Wilson might have put it, Trump v. Barbara is a case of uncommon magnitude.1 Justice Alito then goes further to say …
As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, Jesse Wegman’s new biography The Lost Founder has brought fresh attention to James Wilson, the Institute’s namesake. Wilson, the Scottish-born signer of the Declaration and Constitution, author of the first full draft that began with “We the People,” and one of the first Supreme Court justices, certainly deserved …
Received wisdom of the present moment in constitutional and statutory interpretation begins with the text and moves to the logic, structure, or context of that text, before then focusing on historical practice. What is the role of tradition in American constitutional law? Why do we so often keep coming back to it even when we …
Just as the philosophy of Aristotle is foundational to Western thought, it is also central to the mission and work of the James Wilson Institute. Our weeklong fellowships and seminars on Natural Law Jurisprudence typically begin not with the writings of our institute’s namesake or even other familiar figures from the Founding, but rather with …
JWI Founder and Co-Director Hadley Arkes joined the Civitas Institute’s America 250 panel on Constitution Day 2026. C-SPAN covered and filmed the panel. Hadley P. Arkes, Founder & Co-Director, James Wilson Institute Samuel Gregg, Chair, American Institute for Economic Research Wilfred M. McClay, Professor, Hillsdale College History Department Richard Reinsch, Editor-in-Chief of Civitas Outlook at …
In his recent biography of James Wilson, The Lost Founder, Jesse Wegman characterizes Wilson as a democratic visionary, both an example and a warning for us. According to Wegman, Wilson’s life and works illustrate what a truly democratic America might look like, but Wegman also warns us of the dangers that might occur from passing …
Jesse Wegman’s The Lost Founder is an accessible and engaging introduction to the life of James Wilson. Wegman repeats much of what is said in previous biographies, including Burton Alva Konkle’s early biography of Wilson which has never been published. Wilson’s optimism about the future grandeur and growth of his adopted country, and his optimistic …
America’s 250th has brought forth a wide array of books both praising and criticizing the American Founding. Included among this host of works is the first notable biography in quite some time of James Wilson, the namesake of the Institute that hosts and edits this online journal. The biography, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and …
As we are about to celebrate Constitution Day in 2026, our latest guest on the Anchoring Truths Podcast says we no longer live under the Constitution as the people who wrote and ratified it understood it. That guest is Ilan Wurman, the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota. The topic …
Our latest Anchoring Truths Podcast returns to a topic discussed at the beginning of the summer which has only added resonance since: the true meaning of birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. Our guest is a true giant of the American legal academy—Richard A. Epstein. Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU, Director of …
