Suppose a state mandated that signs be posted in every public school classroom declaring “Jesus is Lord.” Wouldn’t that violate the First Amendment’s ban on establishments of religion? Until last month, the answer was clearly yes. thehill.com/opinion/cong...

The Danube Institute in Budapest has just published an exchange between me and two of its resident scholars on the question, "Is Liberalism Inherently Authoritarian?" danubeinstitute.hu/en/research/...

I'm pleased to be quoted extensively in Thomas Edsall's NY Times piece on JD Vance, and even more pleased that he linked to my critique of Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/o...

Postliberalism, the claim that liberalism inevitably degenerates into its repressive opposite, is so undertheorized that it is hard to give an intelligible account of its claims. I explain in a new piece at the Unpopulist. open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...

"Is the Supreme Court Legitimate?," a recent panel discussion between me, Gerard Bradley (Notre Dame), and Richard Epstein (Chicago). Now on video. youtu.be/twknPAX7EGk?... via @YouTube

An interesting conversation, on the Danube Institute's podcast from Budapest, with Philip Pilkington and Jacob Williams, delightful interlocutors with dangerously wrong notions about liberalism. open.spotify.com/episode/2cZf...

If any of you happen to be in Budapest on Dec. 3, stop by the Danube Institute for my event and say hi. danubeinstitute.hu/en/events/is...

Some students at my university, Northwestern, have been protesting and refusing a requirement that they watch a training video about antisemitism. This sorry episode is a wasted opportunity for education in an area where ignorance is rife. thehill.com/opinion/educ...

Trump is trying to take away from trans veterans benefits that they've already earned. slate.com/news-and-pol...

The Supreme Court has misrepresented the Establishment Clause history on which it purports to rely, arbitrarily narrowing its description of the paradigmatic wrong the clause aims to end. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Is it a political mistake to kill your voters and their children? That hypothesis will soon be tested. thehill.com/opinion/heal...

I generally don't look for wisdom from politicians. So I'm mightily impressed by the remarkable insightful Rep. Sarah McBride, and agree with every single thing she says in this long interview. Required reading. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/o...

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues has published a symposium on my book, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: HOW LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY WAS CORRUPTED BY DELUSION AND GREED. digital.sandiego.edu/jcli/vol26/i...

It’s refreshing to hear Bill Gates say it about Elon Musk: “the world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/m...

For those who are interested, a somewhat specialized conversation between myself, Michael McConnell, and Vincent Phillip Muñoz on originalism and religious exemptions: www.civitasinstitute.org/research/rel...

Who knew that Justice Samuel Alito was such a trusting person? thehill.com/opinion/judi...

Steve Vladeck is characteristically clear and accurate in explaining what the Supreme Court just did in the deportation cases. www.stevevladeck.com/p/140-the-di...

The principal virtue of Neil Gorsuch's new book is the light it unintentionally sheds on some of the Supreme Court’s least defensible decisions. lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...

John Wilkes Booth was a racist murderer, but that apparently wasn’t the worst thing about him. The worst thing was that he used “the N-word.” thehill.com/opinion/civi...

On the ugly rhetoric of Dobbs v. Women's Health: wm.billofrightsjournal.org/wp-content/u...

I'm looking forward to participating in this online symposium on religion and secularism, run by Chicago-Kent Law, this Friday, Feb. 21. studentorgs.kentlaw.iit.edu/cklawreview/...

Hadley Arkes's natural law arguments against gay rights and abortion neglect important aspects of the natural law tradition. journals.law.harvard.edu/jlpp/critiqu...

Trump would have sent Jewish refugees back to Nazi Germany. Trump Administration Revokes Protections for Venezuelans in the U.S. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/u...

I appeared on Chris Staron's Truce podcast, which examines the world from a Christian perspective. We explored the tensions that arise as Christians are increasingly drawn toward libertarianism. The conversation is here: trucepodcast.com/s6e18-how-li...

Jerome Copulsky’s “American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order” is an engaging historical survey of Christian theocratic opponents of American liberalism, from the American Revolution to the present. I review it at Lawfare: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/divi...

But these are in some ways equivalent: I can make you ashamed only if you and I hold ourselves accountable to at least some of the same standards.

When I'm in a friendly mood, I say that I speak at the Federalist Society to look for common ground. When I feel less friendly, I say that I go there hoping to make at least some people in the audience feel ashamed of themselves.

At a panel at the Federalist Society, I was hissed by the audience when I called for "flat out redistribution of wealth." Then I got them to abruptly stop hissing. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJWd... at 1:39.