Heard at Heritage

The Heritage Foundation is honored to announce that Professor Kurt Lash, the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, will deliver this year's Edwin Meese III Originalism Lecture for his speech titled, “Originalism and Fixing the Fourteenth Amendment.”This annual lecture seeks to honor former Attorney General Ed Meese’s legacy of advancing an understanding and jurisprudence of originalism. When the Framers wrote the Constitution, “Their intention was to write a document not just for their times but for posterity,” Meese said in a 1985 speech to the D.C. Chapter of the Federalist Society Lawyers Division. Meese reiterated the theme of Original Intention in several speeches, warning of the danger of “seeing the Constitution as an empty vessel into which each generation may pour its passion and prejudice.” The Great Debate that he launched over three decades ago placed the idea of judicial originalism at the center of American jurisprudence and fundamentally altered the constitutional landscape of this nation.Today, originalism is no longer a novel concept; instead, it is now widely embraced in legal circles, including academia and the judiciary. Building on the work of Ed Meese, this lecture aims to continue the conversation he started and examine new trends and themes in originalist thought today. Please join us for our second annual lecture.Professor Kurt Lash: Professor Lash is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Richmond where he teaches and writes about constitutional law. He is also the founder and director of the Richmond Program on the American Constitution. He has published numerous works on the subjects of constitutional history, theory, and law, including The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 2014), The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2009), and The American First Amendment in the Twenty-first Century: Cases and Materials (with William W. Van Alstyne) (5th ed., Foundation Press). In 2021, University of Chicago Press published Professor Lash’s two-volume collection of original documents relating to the framing and ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Titled The Reconstruction Amendments: Essential Documents, the collection is the first of its kind. He is currently working on A Troubled Birth of Freedom: The Struggle to Amend the Constitution in the Aftermath of the Civil War (forthcoming, Yale University Press). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Power Hour, a podcast by the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate and Environment. Hosted by Jack Spencer and Travis Fisher, the Power Hour is a weekly podcast that discusses the week’s top energy and environment policy issues with the nation’s top experts. Our special guest this week is energy lawyer, former Department of Energy Official and former FERC Commissioner, Bernie McNamee. We start this week with a discussion about energy policy in general, and then do a deeper dive into electricity markets. And there might be a few other interesting nuggets as well. Listen to find out!Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agendaListen to podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke Sheahan discusses his new Heritage Report “Restoring Civil Society” where he argues that while political and economic institutions receive a great deal of attention, the social realm is arguably the most important of these three because it is more fundamental to individual development than any government or employer. Individuals are citizens and workers but central to human flourishing is the process of socialization in the family, school, and neighborhood and the continuing sustenance these institutions provide shapes human beings into the types of people who act in a politically responsible manner as citizens and thrive economically in a free market. But social institutions are not important only for what they do for the political and economic realms. A social institution is important first and foremost for what it does for itself—what it does for its members as social beings.Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agendaListen to podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Heritage Foundation’s B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies is honored to announce that the Most Reverend Bishop Robert Barron of the diocese of Winona-Rochester will deliver the 2023 Russell Kirk Lecture for his speech titled, “The Breakdown of the Tocquevillean Equilibrium.”The namesake of the lecture—famed scholar Russell Kirk—was a pillar of the conservative movement, bringing like-minded individuals under the very name conservative. Through his well-known books, The Conservative Mind and The Roots of American Order, Kirk provided a philosophical foundation for the conservative movement.Helping to establish the influential publications National Review and Modern Age, Kirk strove to consolidate a rich, academic bedrock for conservatives, developing the six canons of conservatism which defined the tenets of the movement.Following the path of the America’s greatest conservative intellectual, the Russell Kirk Lecture series recognizes those individuals who exemplify Kirk’s commitment to conservative scholarship.Previous Russell Kirk Lectures have been delivered by Robert George, Roger Scruton, Shelby Steele, George Nash, Robert Reilly, David Goldman, Roger Kimball, and Gary Saul Morson.Bishop Robert Barron: This year’s Russell Kirk Lecture speaker, Bishop Robert Barron, is known for his highly influential Word on Fire ministerial organization, which seeks to “proclaim Christ in the Culture” by “utilizing the tremendous resources…of art, architecture, poetry, philosophy, theology, and the lives of the saints in order to explain and interpret the event of Jesus Christ.” Bishop Barron is one of the most followed Catholics on social media and is frequently featured on FOX, NBC, and EWTN. He is an #1 Amazon bestselling author and has received acclaim for two documentary series, Catholicism and Pivotal Players. Despite his international prominence, he remains committed to the faithful of his Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

China’s lending activities in Africa have increased significantly in the past decade. This strategy might result in China having privileged access to minerals in Africa, especially if some debt repayment is made in exchange for minerals. This would give China a monopoly over key minerals, including those needed for the batteries that operate our cell phones and electric vehicles. This would put America at a serious competitive disadvantage and, as a result, put the strength of the U.S. economy at risk.At the same time, China’s lending activities in Africa, when not made on concessional basis, could result in a debt trap for the continent, raising uncertainty about its ability to repay debt.America can counter this trend by promoting and strengthening African institutions to improve governance and by supporting African development through targeted technology, training, and long-term investment. African countries could then export minerals more widely, giving them access to a much larger market beyond China. Join us to learn more about the benefits of such a partnership and steps we should take to achieve it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Americans should hear a truth that few in Washington will acknowledge: If China invades Taiwan, it will likely succeed. For decades, America has pursued a foreign policy of bad trade deals, forever wars in the Middle East, and now overspending on Ukraine. And America’s position in the Pacific has suffered. In his speech, Senator Josh Hawley will chart a new defense policy that prioritizes our biggest threat, challenges the consensus on Ukraine, and safeguards Americans at home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 1980s, theories of constitutional and statutory interpretation that focus on the intent of the lawmaker have been on the decline, especially among originalists. But over the last decade, there has been a revival of interest in intentionalism. Originalism, though, is really a collection of arguments about what the words could mean, what the words should mean, and what we’d like the words to mean. Have we missed something more fundamental in this debate? Intentionalism recovers something that was believed since the beginning of written laws in the Western legal tradition, that is, the law was the written instrument that was made by a lawmaker. Where that once meant the king or crown, it now means for us, the legislature.Is the revival of intentionalism a good thing, and should scholars and jurists reconsider the role of intent in legal interpretation?Richard Ekins’ groundbreaking work on intentionalism has played a major role in its reemergence, as has Donald Drakeman’s recent work on originalism. Tara Grove, by contrast, has been one of the foremost critics of intentionalist approaches to legal interpretation. Join us as they debate whether a superior originalism understands that the core of interpretation is discerning and applying the will of the lawmaker. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iran’s Islamist dictatorship has been rocked by widespread popular protests calling for its overthrow, but it remains a dangerous threat to the United States and many of Iran’s neighbors. Tehran’s nuclear efforts have accelerated, and the regime continues to orchestrate proxy militia attacks, drone strikes, and terrorist attacks against U.S. forces, allies, and partners in the Middle East. Outside the region, Iran is supporting Russia militarily in its unjust war on Ukraine.Join us as experts examine the global threats Iran is expected to pose in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What waters can be regulated as “navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act? This seemingly simple question has been anything but simple, with decades of federal overreach by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. As property owners, from farmers to homebuilders know all too well, there is massive confusion. This confusion is largely due to the government applying vague and subjective definitions of regulated waters, including what is meant by “waters of the United States” or WOTUS. In many instances, property owners may unwittingly violate the government’s often changing and inconsistent application of the CWA, and this can lead to harsh civil and criminal penalties. The good news is the U.S. Supreme Court could provide some clarity in a case called Sackett v. EPA. In this latest edition of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment’s PowerCast, Daren Bakst, host of the PowerCast and Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Policy and Regulation, is joined by Charles Yates, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, the organization representing the Sacketts, to help explain the WOTUS issue, the Sackett case, and recent developments, including the Biden administration publishing yet another final WOTUS rule. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last decade, U.S. energy production has soared thanks to the shale revolution. By generating natural gas through shale, we can lower energy prices, create jobs, and reduce emissions. What will American energy production look like in 2023? For centuries, energy use has been correlated with strides in human wellbeing.Learn more as Chris Wright, Liberty Energy CEO, joins Heritage to discuss the shale revolution and potential for human betterment provided by energy-intensive fuels. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.