James Wilson Institute Podcast

Newsweek opinion editor Josh Hammer joins the JWI Podcast again to discuss his influential new Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy piece, "Common Good Originalism." Topics include the history of the conservative legal movement, the influence of the Constitution's preamble on interpretation, and how a determination of the common good in constitutional interpretation draws both textual and philosophic support.

We talk about Breidenbach's new book, Our Dear Bought Liberty, and how early American Catholics justified secularism and overcame suspicions of disloyalty during the time of the Founding while also transforming ideas of religious liberty in the process. We also discuss whether the religious character of the colonies and early states exemplified mini-integralist republics.

Prof. Jesse Merriam of Patrick Henry College joins returning podcast guest Josh Hammer of Newsweek to discuss Merriam's critique of Hammer's co-authored piece "A Better Originalism" with fellow author and podcast host Garrett Snedeker.

Author and New York Post opinion editor Sohrab Ahmari joins JWI for a two-part discussion of his new book, "The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos." In Part 2, we continue our discussion of how tradition informs understandings of filial piety and the Sexual Revolution, while also hearing about how Ahmari reconciles modernity's avoidance of death against traditional acceptance of frailty as part of the human condition. 

Author and New York Post opinion editor Sohrab Ahmari joins JWI for a two-part discussion of his new book, "The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos." In Part I, we discuss Ahmari's inspiration for writing the book, the failings of modernity to provide mass satisfaction in the West, traditional religious communities, filial piety, and the Sexual Revolution.

Stephen Soukup, author and publisher of The Political Forum, joins JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker and intern Peter Spence to discuss his new book, "The Dictatorship of Woke Capital". Soukup's book examines the methodical takeover by the left of big business and finance over the last decade and the danger that this poses to our nation. Snedeker, Spence, and Soukup discuss different issues brought up in the book and look at the solutions that Soukup proposes.

Author and Professor Scott Yenor joins JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker and intern Peter Spence to discuss his new book, "The Recovery of Family Life". Professor Yenor's book explores the problems that the institution of the family is facing in modern society, the causes of these problems, and concrete solutions that we can implement to ensure the stability of marriage and the family going forward. Snedeker, Spence, and Yenor examine different issues discussed in the book and the policy solutions that Yenor suggests. 

Author and Professor Greg Collins joined JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker and intern Chance Cook to discuss his new book, “Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke’s Political Economy”. Collins’s book explores the intersection of Edmund Burke’s economic thought and views on natural law in light of newly discovered manuscripts and data. Prof. Collins gives a clear picture of Burke’s views on revenue, taxes, trade, and other economic issues. Snedeker, Cook, and Collins discuss different aspects of the book, and why it is important to study Burke’s philosophy.

Prof. Lucas Morel, distinguished Lincoln scholar at Washington and Lee University, discusses the 1619 Project and its challenge to the American Founding with Garrett Snedeker, JWI Deputy Director, and Jovan Tripkovic, JWI Intern.

Ilya Shapiro joins Garrett Snedeker and Spencer Reeves to discuss his book, "Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court," which concerns the partisan battles over Supreme Court nominations that have become a focal point of judicial politics in the past few decades. He discusses the history of partisan Supreme Court nominations, the role of game theory, and some possible Supreme Court reforms that can finally end the partisan battles. 

Robert Reilly walks us through his book, America on Trial, which pushes back on recent theorists who have argued that the American founding brought with it the "Poison Pill" of modern liberalism. He goes through in detail, the traditions of thought that lead to the  American founding, arguing that it has its roots in Natural Law and the medieval constitutional tradition. 

Author Abigail Shrier on transgenderism and its growth among American female teens

After the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union, the categories of Left and Right continue to be used to describe political ideologies, despite their historic ambiguity and a shared utopian root. The idealistic belief that a perfect world is possible continues to dwell on existential hope for messianic salvation. This belief lay at the heart of the apocalyptic narratives of the Bible and reflects what the Greeks called hubris, a fatal and destructive form of conceit. This conceit reemerged in the Gnostic sects of early Christianity, then again in medieval millenarianism, Jacobinism, Marxism, Fascism, and secular liberal collectivism. Modern-day Salafi Islam is the latest manifestation in this nefarious tradition. In The Utopian Conceit and the War on Freedom, noted political philosopher Juliana Geran Pilon explores the roots of this malevolent ideology as the common ancestor of both anti-capitalism and anti-Semitism in the contemporary world, where political and religious freedom is increasingly under assau

Shoshana Weissmann is the senior manager of digital media and a fellow at the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank. She oversees RSI’s social media, email marketing, and website while also working and writing on a variety of policy and regulatory subjects. She also likes SpongeBob. Jon Schweppe is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for American Principles Project (APP). In this role, he develops and advances the organization’s legislative priorities by working with allied groups and with federal and state lawmakers. Prior to joining APP in late 2014, he worked on a number of political campaigns, focusing mainly on communications and policy. Schweppe was named a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute in 2020. He has been published at a number of outlets, including First Things, the New York Post, The Federalist, and the Daily Caller. He graduated from Augustana College in 2010 with majors in economics and finance. Shoshana and Jon lead us through a discussion of Section 230, the disagreem

On Common Good Constitutionalism, Judicial Supremacy, and Nationwide Injunctions

An Interview with Peter Wallison

June 2019

"John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court" with Richard Brookhiser

On his book: Bureaucracy in America: The Administrative State's Challenge to Constitutional Government (University of Missouri Press, 2017).

Christopher DeMuth is a Distinguished Fellow at Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. He was President of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) from 1986-2008 and D.C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI from 2008-2011. In this lecture from 2014,  Mr. DeMuth addressed the unconstitutional actions taken by the Obama administration,  the active role of congress has in ceding its authority to the executive branch through regulatory agencies, and how these same agencies subvert the separation of powers.