JWI Presents: Anchoring Truths Podcast

Join us for a lively hour discussing conflicts in state constitutional law with Judge Jeff Sutton of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Topics also include judicial review, administrative law, and why lawyers do not sue in state court as often as federal court. Judge Sutton is the author of a new book, "Who Decides?: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation," available from Oxford University Press. 

In this special episode, Garrett speaks with JWI Scholar David Forte and AEI Fellow Adam White about the history of fetal heartbeat legislation, the new Texas Heartbeat Law, and its unique enforcement mechanism allowing a private right of action for any citizen to bring suit.

Join Garrett Snedeker and Seth Root as they interview Judge Robert Conrad of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. They discuss his new book, John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads, and how the faith and integrity of these two men carried them through challenges and social upheaval.

Michael Knowles, author of the new book "Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds," joins the Anchoring Truths Podcast to discuss how conservatives should not expect to win the culture war by abandoning all standards, how critical theory made its “long march through the institutions,” and the need for conservatives to adopt a view of free speech that is consonant with a coherent conservative worldview.

And now for something different: a peek behind the curtain. For a special edition of our podcast, JWI Deputy Director Garrett Snedeker convened Summer Interns Tom Sarrouf and Sean Tehan for a discussion of their experience with us. Topics included how they grappled with JWI's unique approach to law, their views on how JWI adds to their own understanding of jurisprudence, learning new skills such as podcasting, and becoming accustomed to juggling independent and team-based responsibilities. 

Glenn Ellmers, author of "The Soul of Politics: Harry V. Jaffa and the Fight for America," joins the Anchoring Truths Podcast to discuss the singular contributions of Jaffa to our understanding of the moral ground of the American regime. Topics include how Jaffa and JWI Founder Hadley Arkes overlap in their views on morality and law, the fight over conservatism in America since World War II, and Jaffa's recasting of Lincoln as the securer of the Founding.

Dr. Charles Murray, Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the podcast to discuss his new book "Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race in America." Author of "The Bell Curve" and "Coming Apart," Murray shares insights into his book, which he believes is a timely reminder that the timeless moral principle of "all men are created equal" need not mandate equal outcomes for all racial groupings. 

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.