The Constitution and the Family
This lecture series was held in Autumn, 2023
Is the Family Adequately Protected by the Constitution?
The Constitution and the Family is a fellowship seminar for a limited number of Congressional staffers who have been accepted to the program through an application process.. It will be a box lunch affair for one hour at a location on Capitol Hill in the Fall of 2023. In 10 lectures, through the lens of natural law, we will consider the relation of the Family to our Nation’s founding documents and today’s legal and political environment.
The seminar will assist you to articulate a convincing defense of the Family as a society independent of the State, subject to influence by the state, at the same time, essential for the well-being of the state. Discover the words, the concepts and the confidence to demonstrate how each aspect of the Federal Government—economics, foreign policy, education, health, etc.—can be re-directed for the benefit of the Family.
Every applicant is expected to do his or her utmost to attend all the sessions.
Program:
| 29-Aug | Tues | James Wilson’s natural law considerations at the founding | Hadley Arkes, James Wilson Institute |
| 31-Aug | Thurs | The Family: the basic cell of society. Its relation to the government | Elizabeth Kirk, Director of the Center for Law & the Human Person at CUA |
| 5-Sep | Tues | Parental Rights and Healthcare Decision-Making | Melissa Moschella, Associate Professor of Philosophy, CUA |
| 7-Sep | Thurs | The pursuit of happiness: What did the Founders have in mind? | Michael Pakaluk, Busch School of Business, CUA |
| 3-Oct | Tues | The administrative state: what it is and how its structures disfavor subsidiary groups including the family. | Paul Ray, Heritage Foundation |
| 5-Oct | Thurs | The unwritten foundations of the American Republic | Richard Reinsch II, Heritage Foundation |
| 10-Oct | Tues | If Education Is Speech, What are the Constitutional Implications? | Philip Hamburger, Columbia Law School |
| 12-Oct | Thurs | What we may learn from Orestes Brownson’s opposition to the 14th Amendment. | Elliot Bartky, Purdue University |
| 31-Oct | Tues | We the People… Where does authority come from? | Garret Snedeker, James Wilson Institute |
| 2-Nov | Thurs | Virtue and intelligence are required by the Citizen to maintain our form of government. | Tom McDonough, American Family Project |