Michael W. McConnell

In his masterwork, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche’s mythic hero carries a message—“God is dead!”—throughout the earth, in a parody of the Gospels, calling it his “gift” to mankind. The book begins with an encounter between Zarathustra and a holy man who lives . . . . Continue Reading »

Vincent Phillip Muñoz (Phillip to his friends, among whom I count myself) is a rising star at Notre Dame, which is becoming a powerhouse of serious constitutional scholarship. This book is the culmination of a decade of Muñoz’s scholarship on the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Those . . . . Continue Reading »

The United States Supreme Court has two personalities. In the vast majority of cases on its docket, those involving criminal law, business regulation, statutory interpretation, freedom of speech, procedure, jurisdiction, and other technical but important legal questions, the Supreme Court acts like . . . . Continue Reading »

Neglect of the full scope of the First Amendment diminishes our . . . . Continue Reading »

The Supreme Court completed its 2010 term at the end of June with no blockbusters, few surprises, and an unbroken string of victories for free-speech plaintiffs. It was a year to take a deep breath before the onslaught of divisive cases next year: Same-sex marriage, the constitutional right of . . . . Continue Reading »

Law and Judicial Duty by Philip Hamburger Harvard, 686 pages, $49.95 Recent events have brought the ordinarily neglected subject of judicial duty to the front pages. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama told us that in choosing judges—and especially justices of the Supreme Court—he would . . . . Continue Reading »

After several sleepy and unimportant terms, the Supreme Court this year reminded us of its importance”excessive importance, some will say. It handed down a series of blockbuster decisions affecting American life in profound ways. With a few important (and expected) exceptions”notably . . . . Continue Reading »

When the Supreme Court packs up its bags at the end of June each year, court watchers invariably scan the year’s work for evidence of ideological trends. In keeping with the myth that the current Court is “conservative,” the public is generally regaled with a chorus of alarms or expressions . . . . Continue Reading »

Copyright (c) 1997 First Things 74 (June/July 1997): 13-15. Federal Judge John E. Sprizzo will never again be promoted or advanced, for he has committed an unpardonable act of courage in defense of conscience. On January 13, 1997, in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Judge Sprizzo acquitted an . . . . Continue Reading »

Religious freedom is worth protecting despite the . . . . Continue Reading »