Robert T. Miller

Ronald Dworkin has died. In Taking Rights Seriously, his first major work, published in 1977, he mounted a powerful assault on the legal positivism of his mentor, H. L. A. Hart. Dworkin would go on to become one of the greatest legal philosophers of the age. The only people in his class were Hart himself and Joseph Raz, and many people think that the greatest of the three was Dworkin… . Continue Reading »

In an article in First Things last year, I argued that the legal institutions of capitalism exist not to advance any particular purpose but to facilitate the advancement by individuals of their various, often conflicting purposes. I made this argument in the course of disagreeing with Alasdair . . . . Continue Reading »

I thank Greg Forster for responding to my post on Public Discourse about hotels offering in-room, pay-per-view pornographic videos, and I am happy to continue the conversation. I have three main points. First, Forster misstates my position in one important respect. With regard to the open . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at Public Discourse today, Christopher Tollesfsen has a very fine essay on various issues related to the HHS contraception mandate. Although I agree with most of it, I disagree on two very minor points. Here’s the first: A Catholic hospital forced to provide contraceptive coverage could . . . . . Continue Reading »

I have often written in this space criticizing the American Catholic bishops, but today, after reading their response to the Obama administration’s risibly cosmetic revision to its contraception mandate, I can say with delight that the bishops make me proud to be a Catholic. The key point is . . . . Continue Reading »

So now we see how the Obama administration proposes to preserve the religious freedom of religiously-affiliated employers like hospitals, schools and charities while requiring all health insurance plans to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraception. According to the “ . . . . Continue Reading »

By now everyone knows about the Obama administration’s decision to require all employers, including religious ones like Catholic hospitals, schools, and charities (though not houses of worship), to include in their employee health insurance plans abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, New York, which is under the direction of First Things contributor Professor Mark L. Movsesian, is sponsoring a colloquium this spring with an extremely impressive set of speakers, including United States Supreme . . . . Continue Reading »

In his column today On the Square , Professor Reno considers a recent editorial from the Wall Street Journal and concludes that he can detect “a fundamental agreement between free market libertarians and postmodern relativists” because free-market libertarianism “denies . . . . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at Future of Capitalism , Ira Stoll suggests that, with Hurricane Irene making landfall, we can expect to hear the usual complaints about, and defenses of, price gouging: If the usual pattern holds, opportunistic politicians will soon be out denouncing price-gouging connected with Hurricane . . . . Continue Reading »