natural law

Parental Rights from the Natural Law Tradition to Skrmetti and Mahmoud: Foundations and Applications with Professor Melissa Moschella

| October 23, 2025
melissa moschella

Professor Melissa Moschella of the University of Notre Dame joins us to discuss the contents of her recently published book titled, “⁠Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing⁠.” A rich yet cogent articulation of New Natural Law Theory (NNLT), Moschella’s work has been described as “the clearest, most readable exposition and defense of contemporary natural law theory yet to …

The Golden Thread with Prof. Allen Guelzo

| September 25, 2025
Allen Guelzo Princeton aspect ratio 560 653

Think back to when you were in high school or even middle school. Do you remember the history textbook you used? Perhaps that’s the problem: what passed for your reading material was so forgettable. Or if you do remember it, do you remember it being so ideologically slanted you were constantly fighting the story you …

Our Natural Law Moment(s) with Dennis Wieboldt

| July 31, 2025
Dennis Wieboldt

Devotees of the Anchoring Truths Podcast are no doubt aware that interest in the moral foundations of law has reached a fever pitch among those in the conservative legal movement. Culture-shaping decisions of the Supreme Court such as in Bostock and Dobbs have focused the attention of lawyers, judges, and scholars to the fact that …

The Preamble, Aristotle, and the Common Good

| July 24, 2025
Constitution of the United States page 1

What if I told you that hidden in the Constitution is a little-known provision that contains a gateway of sorts to a natural law, common-good inspired jurisprudence? And that this little treasure is hiding in plain sight, inexplicably ignored by jurists for decades? Well, there is such a section, and its contained in the opening …

Natural Law Moment Ep.3: The Moral Framework of Parental Rights

| July 22, 2025
NLM Show Cover Channel Icon 4

Join us for the third episode of the Natural Law Moment! In an episode recorded before the Supreme Court decided U.S. v. Skrmetti, Professors Arkes and Bradley take up the issue of parental rights in our jurisprudence. Does deference to parental rights truly encompass a right to opt-out of regime that would regulate surgeries and therapies related to …

Natural Law Moment Ep.2: Abortion After Dobbs: A Precarious Moment

| July 22, 2025
NLM Show Cover Channel Icon 2

For the second episode of Natural Law Moment, join Professors Hadley Arkes and Gerry Bradley as they examine the current state of the Pro-Life movement in the United States. Longtime leaders in the movement, Professors Arkes and Bradley have played key roles in shaping the intellectual arguments opposing abortion. Yet now, after the Dobbs decision from 2022, …

Natural Law Moment Ep. 1: The Natural Law Revival is Now

| July 22, 2025
NLM Show Cover Channel Icon

We are beyond ecstatic to announce the launch of Natural Law Moment! Co-hosted by JWI’s team of Co-Directors, Professors Hadley Arkes and Gerry Bradley, Natural Law Moment is a bi-weekly podcast that will explore fundamental questions of law, politics, and culture. The legal world today is a tumultuous one, and to comprehend it, we must …

The Disappointment of Skrmetti

| July 14, 2025
skrmetti opinion

Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared at Humanum Review. It is reprinted at Anchoring Truths with permission. The Tennessee law challenged in Skrmetti banned “[p]rescribing, administering, or dispensing any puberty blocker or hormone,” for the purpose of (1) “[e]nabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex,” …

Judicial Courage with Judge Janice Rogers Brown

| July 10, 2025
t 1 t 1 JudgeJaniceRogersBrown

Join us for this special episode featuring Judge Janice Rogers Brown (U.S. Circuit Court for D.C, ret.). Her remarks, given in 2023 as she received the James Wilson Leadership & the Law Award, comment on the need for judicial courage and fortitude, especially for those who take the Natural Law seriously. Judge Janice Rogers Brown …

Anchoring Truths
Anchoring Truths is a James Wilson Institute project
The James Wilson Institute’s Mission is to restore to a new generation of lawyers, judges, and citizens the understanding of the American Founders about the first principles of our law and the moral grounds of their own rights.
Learn More