At @theammind last year, I outlined a jurisprudence I call “common good originalism”: Hamiltonian, prudential, Preamble-inspired, and inherently oriented to the common good.
Common good originalism recognizes that no extant strand of originalism is substantively, earnestly, and truly conservative. Common good originalism, unlike positivism, fills the void and should be our conservative jurisprudential standard-bearer. thepublicdiscourse.com/2021/02/74146/
I will have much more to say on this topic, including a lengthy academic paper in this May’s issue of @HarvardJLPP.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
@JRozansky@NationalAffairs "The mistake made by Chief Justice Roberts, and echoed throughout the legal academy, is to see Burkean jurisprudence as a kind of humble and dutiful application of a strict...stare decisis. Yet Burke understood judicial precedents not as lawmaking...but as evidence of the law."
"In contrast to the modern approach...Burke believed a precedent should be followed only if it can prove itself to be good evidence of the law. Burke is therefore even less friendly to precedent as such than is Justice Thomas."
Apropos of today's Senate hearing, a quick thread on Big Tech, conservatism, and the GOP, with links to some of my recent writings on the intersection thereof.
Conservatism, properly understood, values *prudence*. "Humility comes...from a willingness to reassess a moment in history and rethink the proper means to meet the timeless ends of politics—justice, human flourishing, individual liberty and the good life." amgreatness.com/2020/08/27/how…
In the Anglo-American conservative tradition, then, "legal and economic norms must be construed as instrumentalities serving the superlative substantive goals of politics qua politics: justice, human flourishing, and the common good." americancompass.org/the-commons/co…
As @docMJP put it, these are the Democratic Party’s riots.
They own this. They cannot disown this. They have fanned the flames and have consistently refused to unequivocally and forcefully condemn the anarchist/insurrectionist wellspring, Antifa-BLM. creators.com/read/josh-hamm…
@docMJP Worse, with their laughable "this is happening in Trump's America” talking point, the Democrats are taking the nation hostage. They are offering an implied quid pro quo: Vote for us and we will stop the violence. But it will continue if Trump is reelected. creators.com/read/josh-hamm…
I had a busy writing week, so figured I’d do a little end-of-week ICYMI thread.
1. In Tuesday’s @nypost, I had an initial column on Monday’s unfortunate Title VII case at SCOTUS—and what it portends for the future of the “legal conservative movement.” nypost.com/2020/06/15/nei…
2. On Thursday, I joined with @JamesWilsonInst’s Garrett Snedeker to argue, at @Newsweek, how the disappointing week at SCOTUS proves that defying the anti-constitutional fiction of judicial supremacy is more important now than ever before. newsweek.com/we-need-reject…
(Related/shameless plug: If you enjoyed that one, I have a lengthier recent academic article on the exact same subject. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…)
@nypost In February, I tweeted what was already a rapidly circulating rumor that Neil Gorsuch would side with the liberals in reading sexual orientation and transgenderism into Title VII.
@nypost The capitulation of Gorsuch, a “conservative legal movement” golden boy, reveals a deeper rot.
Conservatives must rededicate themselves to moral truths, and to underlying substantive principles. Relativistic proceduralism has finally hit a dead end. nypost.com/2020/06/15/nei…