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John O. McGinnis Subscribe

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.

April 23, 2018|Clarence Thomas, Due Process Clause, Language of the Law, Neil Gorsuch, original methods, Originalism, Sessions v. Dimaya

Gorsuch’s Originalist Exploration of the Legal Meaning of Due Process

by John O. McGinnis|8 Comments

Chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court (Eric Cox Photography/Shutterstock.com)
An originalist approach to due process can take several forms, and Justice Gorsuch's "surprise" decision in Dimaya v. Sessions reinforces this.

April 18, 2018|homosexuality, Liberalism, MIke Pompeo, Religion, Rocco Buttiglione, Same Sex Marriage

Explaining the New Illiberal Liberalism

by John O. McGinnis|23 Comments

The European Commission Berlaymont building illuminated in rainbow colours to highlight the EU's commitment to the Day for Fight against Homophobia in Brussels, Belgium on May 16, 2017 (Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock.com).
What might explain the rise of illiberal views among putatively liberal people?

April 13, 2018|CFPB, cost-benefit, Independent Agencies, Kiristin Hickman, OIRA, OMB, Tax Regulation

Expanding Cost-Benefit Analysis Helps Tame the Administrative State

by John O. McGinnis|4 Comments

Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock.com
The Trump Administration is moving to ensure new taxes face a cost-benefit analysis, and this offers a new way to control the administrative state.

April 10, 2018|Administrative State, affirmative action, mulitculturalism, Populism, Ran Hirschl, Same Sex Marriage

Elite Constraints on Democracy Encourage Populism

by John O. McGinnis|11 Comments

Democracy has been endangered and populism enlivened by the relentless rise of institutions which elites use to insulate issues from democratic contestation.

April 6, 2018|Antonin Scalia, Bob Dole, Conservatism, Economic Folly, Originalism

Justice Scalia’s Conservatism Does Not Detract from His Originalism

by John O. McGinnis|3 Comments

Justice Antonin Scalia (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The ideas of Justice Scalia remain at the center of constitutional discourse even after his death.

April 4, 2018|bankruptcy law, coal, Crony Capitalism, Donald Trump, ethnics preferences, Republican Party, unions

Classical Liberalism Does Not Play Favorites

by John O. McGinnis|8 Comments

A rule of law that is worthy of the name does not play favorites, and this insight remains one of the highest ideals of classical liberalism.

April 2, 2018|New Originalism, noscitur a sociis, original methods originalism, Public Meaning Originalism, The Legal Turn

The Legal Turn

by John O. McGinnis, Mike Rappaport|4 Comments

We argue that the U.S. Constitution was written in the language of the law, and that treating it as a legal document strengthens originalism.

Responses

Original Methods Originalism Is Already the Norm

by Ilya Shapiro

Unless one thinks that the Constitution doesn’t matter or shouldn’t be enforced, it’s a legal text that legal training can help explicate.

The Legal U-Turn

by Ilan Wurman

On the rare occasion when the public meaning diverges from the legal meaning, the public meaning probably ought to prevail.

Originalism’s Circle of Life

by Kevin Walsh

A core aspect of the new originalism is best understood as a shift to originalism as a theory of law.

March 30, 2018|Federalist Society, Jack Balkin, John Bush, Originalism, Raymond Kethledge, Sixth Amendment, Turner v. United States

The Rise of the Culture of Originalism

by John O. McGinnis|3 Comments

John Bush. (Screen Grab via Bingham Greenbaum Doll).
Persuading the courts to accept originalism is a long-term project, and involves changing the culture of the legal profession.

March 27, 2018|

Subsidiarity by the Progressives, of the Progressives, and for the Progressives

by John O. McGinnis|11 Comments

Brownstones in New York City (cate_89/shutterstock.com)
Progressives tend to view arguments about subsidiarity as one more means to push an agenda for egalitarian uniformity.

March 22, 2018|Administrative State, Bureaucracy, Elections, Protective Democracy, Social Democracy, U.S. Constitution

Democratic Persuasion and the Weakness of Social Democracy

by John O. McGinnis|5 Comments

Tung Cheung / Shutterstock.com
Democracy is subject to many forms of persuasion, within and without: this should be cause to give central governments less power, not more.
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Book Reviews

The Ford Restoration

by Kirk Emmert

Occupying the White House in unfavorable circumstances can make a President fall back on his best friend: the U.S. Constitution.

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John C. Calhoun, Madisonian Manqué

by Thomas W. Merrill

His institutional innovations were geared toward preserving slavery.

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Podcasts

The Solid Ground of Mere Civility: A Conversation with Teresa Bejan

A discussion with Teresa M. Bejan

Teresa Bejan discusses with us how early modern debates over religious toleration are an example of how we can disagree well.

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Leading a Worthy Life in a Scattered Time: A Conversation with Leon Kass

A discussion with Leon Kass

Leon Kass discusses Leading a Worthy Life.

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Eric Voegelin Studies: A Conversation with Charles Embry

A discussion with Charles Embry

What did "Don't immanentize the eschaton!" really mean? An intro podcast on the formidable mind of Eric Voegelin.

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Republican Virtue, Interrupted: A Conversation with Frank Buckley

A discussion with F.H. Buckley

The real conflict in our politics centers on reforming massive levels of public corruption.

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Recent Posts

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  • Trump’s Travel Ban and the Constitution

    If the Supreme Court were to accept the plaintiffs' logic in Trump v. Hawaii, the judicial branch will gain new powers over defense policy.
    by Thomas Ascik

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About

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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