John O. McGinnis

John O. McGinnis is the George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law at Northwestern University. His book Accelerating Democracy was published by Princeton University Press in 2012. McGinnis is also the coauthor with Mike Rappaport of Originalism and the Good Constitution published by Harvard University Press in 2013 . He is a graduate of Harvard College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. He has published in leading law reviews, including the Harvard, Chicago, and Stanford Law Reviews and the Yale Law Journal, and in journals of opinion, including National Affairs and National Review.

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The Rise of Formalism and the Decline of Chevron

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photo credit: Rena Schild (shutterstock.com)
The scope of Chevron seems to be shrinking even if the case is not likely to be actually overruled.

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Why the Supreme Court Is Activating the Passive Virtues

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U.S. Supreme Court chambers (stock_photo_world / Shutterstock.com).
In such divided times, we shouldn't be surprised that the Supreme Court embraces passive virtues in order to guard their authority.

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Discrimination Against Asian Americans Reveals the Ugliness of Racial Selection

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Harvard Memorial Hall, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Jon Bilous/Shutterstock.com).
Harvard currently faces a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Asian Americans, and the facts reveal the divisiveness of counting by race.

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Gorsuch Tries (Unsucessfully) To Restore the Contract Clause

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Andrei_R/Shutterstock.com
In Sveen v. Malin, Justice Gorsuch argued for a restoration of the Contract Clause: it is unfortunate he could not persuade his colleagues.

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Masterpiece Cakeshop as a Republican Sermon

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Chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court (Eric Cox Photography/Shutterstock.com)
The right way to understand the Masterpiece decision is as a sermon on the most essential republican virtues.

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Google’s New Slogan: “Don’t Be Good.”

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Burlingham/Shutterstock.com.
In deciding not to participate in research that may be used to harm others, Google's employees are like pacifists in World War II.

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The NFL Is Within Its Rights and Right

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Melinda Nagy/Adobe Stock
The First Amendment only protects us against the government, and that alone makes the NFL's case strong, but they're also correct to limit protest.

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The Golden Braid of Liberty and Tradition in America

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Statue of John Witherspoon, Princeton University (Jay Yuan/Shutterstock.com).
Critics often forget that the theorists at the core of American liberty balance liberty and tradition rather than extol pure reason.

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To Restrain Populism, Revive Federalism

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We need a constitution that will bend to populist winds so that it will not break.

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Law and Liberty’s focus is on the content, status, and development of law in the context of republican and limited government and the ways that liberty and law and law and liberty mutually reinforce the other. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law and Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

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