Law & Liberty

Patrick Deneen is perhaps best known as a critic of contemporary American politics and culture. His 2018 book Why Liberalism Failed offers withering criticisms of both the ideology’s classical (or right-wing) and progressive (or left-wing) varieties, and proved popular with a surprising array of intellectual trend-setters, from the New York Times’ opinion co...

Pierre de Beaumarchais was never happier than when playing a role and writing a script for his own life. Although he fashioned himself by turns into a masked Spanish investor, a wandering spy, a philosophe, a diplomat, a composer, and a playwright, his most consistent alter ego was Figaro: the humble valet who rises by his wits, using irony to defang injustice. “I ha...

A Constitution that divides power among three branches and between the federal government and the states needs an umpire. Politicians, responding either to their own interest in expanding their authority or to public passions, will frequently overstep constitutional boundaries.

Through judicial review, the Supreme Court therefore serves as a neutral...

The core idea behind the American public works endeavor that came to be known as “The National Road” was to facilitate transportation from the eastern seaboard to the American West—initially to the Ohio River region, later to the Mississippi and beyond. Yet as Brady Crytzer shows in

It is an honor to respond to Wilfred McClay’s profound reflection on the anniversary of our founding. Having done more than perhaps any living historian to contribute to the civic education of the rising generation of Americans, McClay is ideally positioned to help us learn about ...