The Words That Made Us
Revisit key constitutional questions through the lens of history and law.
Mondays & Thursdays | July 7, 11, 14, 18, & 21
Online Summer Courses
When Justice Amy Coney Barrett took the bench in October 2020, she solidified a 6-to-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. But her confirmation also brought to the forefront divisions within the conservative legal movement that have existed for decades.
In this course, students will explore the arguments and disagreements among conservatives and libertarians over how to best understand the Constitution generally and the judicial power specifically. Fellows will consider debates over originalism, natural law, traditionalism, and judicial restraint, and explore how those debates influence jurisprudence on some of the most contentious issues in American politics, from religious liberty to abortion, gun rights, and executive power.
Image Credit: Trump White House Archives | The Supreme Court as Composed October 27, 2020, Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
Adam J. White interviews Hon. Don Willett
This course takes place on Zoom over five sessions, held on Mondays and Thursdays, from 6 to 8 PM ET. Fellows will receive a $500 stipend contingent upon participation in the course and completion of a brief response paper. All course materials will be provided.
Adam J. White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Adam J. White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism, the Supreme Court, and the administrative state. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Mr. White previously practiced constitutional and administrative law, particularly in the regulation of energy and the environment, finance, and telecommunications. He was a research fellow for Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and an adjunct fellow for the Manhattan Institute. He started his legal career as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
The author of a wide range of essays, book reviews, law review articles, and book chapters, Mr. White has appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, National Affairs, Commentary, The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and the Notre Dame Law Review. He is a regular contributor to the Yale Journal on Regulation’s “Notice and Comment” blog, and for many years he was one of The Weekly Standard’s primary writers on constitutional law and the Supreme Court.
Mr. White has testified before a variety of US House and US Senate committees, including the Senate Judiciary Committee; the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial, and Antitrust Law (currently known as the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law); the Senate Commerce Committee; and the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
In 2017 he was appointed to serve on the Administrative Conference of the United States. He also serves on the boards of two nonprofit organizations: Speech First and the Land Conservation Assistance Network.
He has a JD from Harvard Law School and a bachelor of business administration from the College of Business at the University of Iowa.
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
Readings:
Discussion Questions:
Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, where he teaches constitutional law in both Yale College and Yale Law School. He is Yale’s only currently active professor to have won the University’s unofficial triple crown — the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service. His latest and most ambitious book, The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840, came out in May 2021. He has recently launched a weekly podcast, Amarica’s Constitution.
Adam J. White
Adam J. White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American constitutionalism. Concurrently, he codirects the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
Daniel DiSalvo
Daniel DiSalvo is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York-CUNY. His scholarship focuses on American political parties, elections, labor unions, state government, and public policy.
Greg Weiner
Greg Weiner is President of Assumption University and founding director of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Center for Scholarship and Statesmanship. He is the author of American Burke: The Uncommon Liberalism of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Old Whigs: Burke, Lincoln and the Politics of Prudence.