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The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture
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Judicial Activism Run Amok
By M. Edward Whelan III
Posted: Friday, May 16, 2008
On May 15, the California supreme court, by a vote of 4 to 3, invented a right to same-sex marriage under the state constitution.  That same day, EPPC President Ed Whelan offered his critical comments on the court’s ruling in a series of posts on National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog.  [Read More]
The Mystery of the Missing Lawsuits
One year after the Supreme Court's partial-birth-abortion ruling.
By M. Edward Whelan III
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008
One year after the Supreme Court's ruling on the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003, the pro-abortion industry has not filed a single lawsuit challenging the Act's application to circumstances that supposedly threaten a mother's health.  Why not?  The question is worth pondering.  [Read More]
How Judge Posner Thinks Judges Should Think
An unpersuasive case for pragmatism.
By M. Edward Whelan III
Posted: Thursday, April 17, 2008
In his new book, How Judges Think, Seventh Circuit judge Richard A. Posner states that he aims to offer a "cogent, unified, realistic, and appropriately eclectic account of how judges actually arrive at their decisions in nonroutine cases." But his book, in the end, offers much less insight about how judges actually think than about how Judge Posner thinks judges should think, and its case for Posnerian pragmatism is unpersuasive.  [Read More]
Obama's Constitution
The rhetoric and the reality.
By M. Edward Whelan III
Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2008
An examination of Barack Obama's record and rhetoric on judicial nominations discloses that beneath the congeniality and charisma lies a leftist partisan who will readily resort to sly deceptions to advance his agenda of liberal judicial activism. Given the likelihood of so many changes in the membership of the Supreme Court over the next eight years, it is particularly important that voters this November recognize the real Obama.   [Read More]
On McCain and Supreme Court Appointments
By M. Edward Whelan III
Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008
In his contribution to NRO's post-Florida symposium on what John McCain needs to do to rally conservatives if he is the Republican nominee, EPPC President Ed Whelan addresses the matter of Supreme Court appointments.  [Read More]
[Browse Publications]
Green Bag Honors EPPC Amicus Brief

The Green Bag has bestowed its award for Exemplary Legal Writing for 2005 on EPPC's amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending the presence of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas capitol. Congratulations and thanks to Mark A. Perry, Daniel J. Davis, Ryan P. Meyers, and Dustin K. Palmer, all of the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, for their outstanding work. This EPPC brief was one of only two briefs to receive this award. 

Recent Events

The Next Supreme Court Vacancy
Lessons from the Roberts and Alito Confirmation Processes

Mar 14, 2006

Two leading commentators on the Roberts and Alito nominations, EPPC President Ed Whelan and New Republic legal affairs editor Jeffrey Rosen, explored what lessons can be drawn from the successful confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. If President Bush has the opportunity to nominate another Supreme Court justice, how can the Administration best apply those lessons in order to achieve another victory? How can opponents wage a more effective campaign against a future Bush nominee? Washington Post reporter Charles Lane, one of the nation's best Supreme Court reporters, moderated the discussion. Audio of this event is now available.

Justice Antonin Scalia Launches EPPC Lecture Series
Supreme Court Justice speaks on "The Courts and Democracy"

Sep 20, 2004

What is the appropriate role of the federal judiciary in our republic? What would the Framers of the Constitution think of today's activist judges? Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia helped launch EPPC's Fall 2004 lecture series with remarks on "The Courts and Democracy."

M. Edward Whelan III
Blogging on the Courts

EPPC President Edward Whelan, the director of the program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture, is a leading contributor to Bench Memos, National Review Online's award-winning blog on judicial nominations and constitutional law. You can read a list of all of his postings here.

Here is some of the praise Mr. Whelan has received for his blogging:

From Steve Schmidt, who, as special adviser to President Bush, led the White House's efforts to confirm the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito: "Ed Whelan was the most influential and valuable commentator on the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. His remarkably rapid, thorough, and reliable responses to the distorted attacks on the nominees prevented those attacks from gaining traction. The White House was deeply grateful that he was on our side."

From Paul Mirengoff of the influential Power Line blog:  "Blogs like NRO’s Bench Memos … enable legal super-stars like Ed Whelan to shoot down bad arguments against nominees within hours." 


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