I’m finally back from my extended overseas journey—more articles from this to come—and tomorrow I’ll be back on campus hosting the great Hadley Arkes at the law school for a mid-day lecture (12:50 pm – 2 pm, Room 105) based on his new book, Mere Natural Law: Originalism and the Anchoring Truths of the Constitution. (Highly recommended by the way. Podcast hopefully to come.) Needless to say, the idea of natural law is fairly exotic at Berkeley, and most other elite law schools in America.
Here’s the full event description which includes a sign-up link if you want us to pick up your lunch at the event (the campus bureaucracy requires this, even for pizza):
Is our Constitution “morally agnostic”? In a time when “originalism” is high on our mind, it ought to be asked whether the various flavors of originalism offered today are vitally connected to the “self-evident truths” of the original “originalists.” Making the case anew for Natural Law, Hadley P. Arkes, Professor in American Institutions (Political Science), Emeritus, Amherst College, finds it not in theories hovering in the clouds or in benign platitudes (“be generous,” “be selfless”). He draws us back, rather, to the ground of Natural Law as the American Founders understood it, the anchoring truths of common sense—truths grasped at once by the ordinary man, unburdened by theories imbibed in college and law school. The Public Law & Policy Program and the Federalist Society, Berkeley Chapter sponsor this event. Lunch will be provided with your registration at: bit.ly/HadleyArkes2023 (opens in a new tab) or by scanning the QR code on the associated event flyer.
If you live in the Bay Area and have nothing better on mid-day, please come. And for everyone else, while the event will not be live-streamed, it will be posted later on YouTube, and I’ll likely make a podcast out of the audio.
And here’s the flyer:
P.S. John Yoo and I are working on putting together an event at the law school to challenge the pro-Hamas factions on campus. Stay tuned. . . It could be even more rowdy than the Heather Mac Donald event last month.
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