James Wilson Institute Podcast

Listen as Joshua Turner, Chief of Constitutional Litigation and Policy for the State of Idaho and James Wilson Fellowship Alumnus, unpacks the ramifications of the Court's decision to return the case of Idaho v. United States back to the 9th Circuit, dismissing it as improvidently granted. Josh outlines some of what we may expect from this case as it progresses.

Host Garrett Snedeker and JWI intern Isaac Michael speak with Prof. Andrew Walker of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary about his new book Faithful Reason: Natural Law Ethics for God’s Glory and Our Good. Professor Walker discusses his intended audience for the book, its main ideas, and his hopes for a revival of the Natural Law in American legal discussions. He also touches upon common difficulties many Protestants have with the Natural Law and makes the case for the authority of the Natural Law in Protestant moral thought. He ultimately presents a Christ-centered case for Natural Law reasoning which he sees as essential to any coherent account of a natural moral order.   Dr. Walker serves as Associate Dean in the School of Theology, and Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology. He is also the Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement. Additionally, he is a fellow in Christian Political Thought at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and serves as the Man

For a special minisode, Hadley Arkes and Garrett Snedeker, who attended the 2024 National Conservatism Conference July 8-10, share impressions of both the public panel discussions and how the conference fits within our larger political and cultural moment. Edmund Burke Foundation, Organizer of NatCon 4 Video of NatCon 4 speeches and panels

Esteemed constitutional scholar and gifted law professor Randy Barnett joins the Anchoring Truths Podcast for a discussion of his new memoir A Life for Liberty: the Making of an American Originalist (Encounter). Prof. Barnett shares vignettes spanning his entire life from his deeply personal memoir on scholarship and practice, mentorship, his reconciling libertarianism and Natural Law, and his fights against anti-semitism. Randy Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he directs the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. After graduating from Northwestern University and Harvard Law School, he tried many felony cases as a prosecutor in the Cook County States’ Attorney’s Office in Chicago. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Constitutional Studies and the Bradley Prize, Professor Barnett has been a visiting professor at Penn, Northwestern and Harvard Law School. His publications includes thirteen books and countless scholarly articles,

June 28, 2024 will be remembered as a historic day in U.S. Supreme Court history. The Court reversed its forty year old precedent in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, a precedent that was the most important and most cited decision in all of administrative law. The Court’s Chevron precedent established a forty year practice of broad judicial deference to federal agency’s authority to interpret ambiguous statutes according to those agencies’ own criteria. In its decision in a pair of cases concerning the regulation of activity on fishing boats falling under the purview of such a vague statute, Loper-Bright v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce, the Court established new grounds according to which courts, agencies, and Congress would act. To discuss this "sea-change" in the law, we’re bringing you an exclusive, immediate mini-sode with one of the lawyers part of the team that prevailed, John Vecchione. Mr. Vecchione is a Senior Litigation Counsel for the non-profit New Civi

Minisode 4 features JWI Founder & Co-Director Hadley Arkes, who shares scenes from his recent trip to Budapest, Hungary where he keynoted a conference on the rule of law. With host Garrett Snedeker, they discuss how the Hungarian government is offering an alternative to the reigning orthodoxies and policy prescriptions of the European Union. He also details some colorful personalities with whom he enjoyed the conference hosted by the Danube Institute.

Daily Signal reporter Mary Margaret Olohan devoted book-length treatment to shed light on the little-known stories of detransitioners, those individuals who undergo hormone therapies and often transgender surgeries and then reject the path they went down. In this latest Anchoring Truths Podcast episode, Olohan shares her perspective on writing this book as a journalist under the scrutiny of the ideologically-driven establishment media. She also discusses the emotional and physical complexities of transition, as well as the manipulation that has now become commonplace in anything from social media platforms to doctors' offices. Ultimately, Olohan gives a voice to young people she profiles in her book who have undergone intense transgender treatment. Buy Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult here. Follow Mary Margaret Olohan on Twitter/X here and her reporting at the Daily Signal here. Mary Margaret Olohan, a senior reporter covering culture and politics for The Daily Signal, previo

2020 represented an inflection point for what some refer to as the Marxist "long march through the institutions." However, this inflection point was not spontaneous. Rather, according to our Anchoring Truths Podcast guest Mike Gonzalez, Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, it was evidence of what he and his co-author call NextGen Marxism. We discuss how this NextGen Marxism arose, what it means for how the Left operates, what it portends for this coming summer's Democratic National Convention, and any hopeful signs it may be abating. Buy NextGen Marxism here Follow Mike Gonzalez on X.com/Twitter here Mike Gonzalez, the Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, writes on critical race theory, identity politics, diversity, multiculturalism, assimilation and nationalism, as well as foreign policy in general. He spent close to 20 years as a journalist, 15 of them reporting from Europe, Asia and Latin America. He left journalism to join the administration of

Arabella Advisors is the largest network advising and steering billions of dollars to left-of-center causes. All but a tiny percentage of Americans is unaware of its influence. Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, and author of a new book about Arabella, joins host Garrett Snedeker to explore what is Arabella and how it drives so much of what happens on the Left, particularly for progressives in the legal sphere through more well-known initiatives such as Demand Justice and Fix the Court. Scott Walter is president of Capital Research Center. He served in the George W. Bush Administration as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and was vice president at the Philanthropy Roundtable, editing Philanthropy magazine and producing donor guidebooks on assistance to the poor, school reform, public policy research, and other topics. Walter has written for and been quoted in such outlets as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Chronicle of Philanthropy. A Ge

Dr. Jay Richards, author of Fight the Good Fight, joins host Garrett Snedeker for a spirited discussion of how to fight the culture war in 21st century America. Dr. Richards is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, Executive Editor of The Stream, Assistant Research Professor in the Busch School of Business and Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America. Buy the book here Follow Dr. Richards here on Twitter

Statistics on marriage and family formation in modern America seem to get worse year after year. Why is this the case, and what can be done about it? Prominent sociologist Brad Wilcox joins host Garrett Snedeker for a in-depth discussion of Wilcox's new book "Get Married." The book describes why America’s most fundamental institution matters for our civilization more than ever. And for men and women looking to establish strong, stable, and happy unions for themselves and their children. Brad Wilcox is a professor of sociology and the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, the Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He studies marital quality; marital stability; and the impact of strong and stable marriages upon men, women, and children. The author and editor of six books, Wilcox has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and National Review

JWI Founder & Co-Director Hadley Arkes celebrates the advent and arrival of new JWI Co-Director Gerry Bradley at a conference JWI co-hosted with First Liberty Institute in March 2024. Prof. Arkes details and praises Prof. Bradley's intellectual contributions over a lifetime of teaching constitutional law.

Popular columnist, radio host, lawyer, and legal commentator Josh Hammer returns to the Anchoring Truths Podcast to discuss his latest piece of legal scholarship in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Common Good Originalism and Common Good Constitutionalism: a Convergence? Host Garrett Snedeker, who has co-written several times with Hammer, draws Hammer out on debates animating legal conservatism such as originalism, legal positivism, and the moral ground of law. Hammer is the Senior Editor-at-Large of Newsweek, where he also hosts "The Josh Hammer Show" podcast, "America on Trial" podcast, a syndicated radio show, and writes a weekly newsletter, "The Josh Hammer Report." Hammer is also a syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, host of the "America on Trial" podcast for The First, a fellow at the Edmund Burke Foundation and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute, and a popular campus speaker. He was a John Marshall Fellow with the Claremont Institute. P

For Minisode 3, Host Garrett Snedeker & JWI Program Director Daniel Osborne discuss their recent visit to Harvard Law School for the Federalist Society National Student Symposium. The theme of the symposium was "Why Separate Powers." Snedeker and Osborne share how two panels in particular focused on topics central to JWI's work, as well as sharing observations about the student interactions they enjoyed.

Nate Fischer of the venture firm New Founding joins host Garrett Snedeker for a Mini-Sode to discuss Fischer's provocative essay in The American Mind "Meritocracy Must *Not* Be Our Goal." Fischer provides some fascinating angles on why common understandings of merit in 21st-century America undermine a flourishing society. Read the piece here: https://americanmind.org/salvo/meritocracy-must-not-be-our-goal/ Nate Fischer on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NateAFischer New Founding: https://www.newfounding.com/

Professor Aaron Zubia joins Anchoring Truths Podcast host Garrett Snedeker to discuss his new book analyzing David Hume’s political theory with its implications on liberalism. Professor Zubia gives a glimpse into what the state of affairs was in the age of the Scottish Enlightenment, the ancient and Epicurean roots Hume has, and the modern applications and ramifications of his political theory. In a time of ever growing political turmoil, Zubia’s renewal of David Hume’s thought and proposal of a “politics of truth” is well worthy of listening. Aaron Zubia is Assistant Professor of Humanities at the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida. He specializes in the moral and political philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment and the American founding. His first book, The Political Thought of David Hume: The Origins of Liberalism and the Modern Political Imagination (ND Press) is available now. His scholarly work has appeared in Hume Studies and Interpretation: A Journal of Po

In this special "minisode," JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker and Programs Director Daniel Osborne sit down to talk a bit about the ideas and debates that came to characterize 2023. They discuss Mere Natural Law, Originalism, Historicism, and Courage.

Catherine Glenn Foster (James Wilson Fellowship Alumna '16) joins Anchoring Truths Podcast host Garrett Snedeker to discuss the state of the pro-life movement in America. They discuss recent developments in the movement, and Foster conveys the challenges that arise from outlawing abortion, encouraging pro-lifers to help and redirect young moms and families in their communities. The podcast also delves into Foster's personal experience as a post-abortive woman and how that experience provides her with conviction to build a culture of life from natural birth to natural death. Catherine Glenn Foster, M.A., J.D., is a constitutional attorney and a mother. She is the former President and CEO of Americans United for Life. She writes, speaks, and testifies around the country on all issues related to building a culture of life. You may follow Catherine Glenn Foster on Twitter/X at @cateici and at CatherineGlennFoster.com

Join the Anchoring Truths Podcast team for our first episode of 2024, featuring an extended episode. Our guest is the distinguished political scientist Prof. W.B. "Bill" Allen, who chatted with us about his new translation, fifty years in the making, of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. JWI Founder & Co-Director Hadley Arkes paid a surprise visit to the podcast to join the discussion.

For the final episode of the year, Anchoring Truths presents a special episode featuring Professor David Bernstein of the Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Prof. Bernstein delivered remarks on the American Law of Race post the Harvard cas, Students for Fair Admissions, delivered at our James Wilson Senior Seminar on October 20th. Host Garrett Snedeker served as a research assistant on Prof. Bernstein's book Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.