Hadley Arkes

Hadley Arkes has been a member of the Amherst College faculty since 1966, and since 1987 he has been the Edward Ney Professor of Jurisprudence. He is the author of multiple books with Princeton University Press and Cambridge University Press, including “First Things” (1986), “Beyond the Constitution” (1990), “The Return of George Sutherland” (1994), “Natural Rights and the Right to Choose” (2002), and “Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law” (2010).

His articles have appeared in professional journals, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, National Review, and First Things, and he is one of the founders of the web journal The Catholic Thing. Arkes was the main advocate and architect of the bill that became the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act. The account of his experience of moving the bill through Congress is contained in his book “Natural Rights & the Right to Choose.” Professor Arkes led the testimony on the bill before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2000, then again in July 2001. On August 5, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the bill into law with Professor Arkes in attendance. Professor Arkes is the founder of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding. His book “Mere Natural Law” is available from Regnery Press.