Edward Whelan

Distinguished Senior Fellow and Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies

Edward Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having held that position from March 2004 through January 2021.

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Edward Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having held that position from March 2004 through January 2021.

Mr. Whelan directs EPPC’s program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture. His areas of expertise include constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process.

As a contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog, Mr. Whelan has been a leading commentator on nominations to the Supreme Court and the lower courts and on issues of constitutional law. In his Confirmation Tales newsletter, he draws lessons from his three decades of experience in judicial-confirmation battles.

Mr. Whelan has written essays and op-eds for leading newspapers—including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post—opinion journals, and academic symposia and law reviews. The National Law Journal has named him among its “Champions and Visionaries” in the practice of law in D.C.

Mr. Whelan is co-editor of three volumes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s work: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived  (Crown Forum, 2017), a New York Times bestselling collection of speeches by Justice Scalia; On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer  (Crown Forum, 2019), a collection of Justice Scalia’s writings on faith and religion; and The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law  (Crown Forum, 2020), a collection of Justice Scalia’s views on legal issues.

Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and a former law clerk to Justice Scalia, has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government. From just before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, until joining EPPC in 2004, Mr. Whelan was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he advised the White House Counsel’s Office, the Attorney General and other senior DOJ officials, and departments and agencies throughout the executive branch on difficult and sensitive legal questions. Mr. Whelan previously served on Capitol Hill as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In addition to clerking for Justice Scalia, he was a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In 1981 Mr. Whelan graduated with honors from Harvard College and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1985 from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review.

For more on Mr. Whelan’s background, see this interview.

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NYT’s ‘Inside Story’ on Dobbs

Edward Whelan

The New York Times has published a long article today that undertakes to provide the “inside story of how the…

National Review Online / December 15, 2023

Fifth Circuit Ruling on FDA’s Approval of Abortion Pill

Edward Whelan

What the Court’s April order means, as the Fifth Circuit panel emphasizes, is that the Fifth Circuit’s ruling today does not alter the status quo.

National Review / August 16, 2023

Foolish Arguments Against Standing in 303 Creative—Part 3

Edward Whelan

On top of all the other reasons (spelled out in point 2.a of my Part 1 post) why it makes no sense to think that Lorie Smith or her attorneys concocted the apparently sham or prank request, it turns out—surprise, surprise—that the IP (Internet Protocol) address on the device that sent the request to Smith is located in San Francisco:

Articles

National Review / July 5, 2023

Foolish Arguments Against Standing in 303 Creative—Part 2

Edward Whelan

Another thing that has amazed me is how many folks on the Left—including accomplished lawyers and law professors—are repeating these foolish arguments against standing in 303 Creative.

Articles

National Review / July 3, 2023

Foolish Arguments Against Standing in 303 Creative—Part 1

Edward Whelan

It’s been amazing to witness the flurry of foolish arguments that opponents of the simple and straightforward ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis have spewed over the past several days.

Articles

National Review / July 3, 2023

EPPC Amicus Brief in Supreme Court FDA Abortion Pill Case

Edward Whelan

The Comstock Act provisions prohibit sending abortion drugs by U.S. mail or by common carrier.

PDF / April 20, 2023

Fifth Circuit Grants FDA Partial Stay of Abortion-Pill Ruling

Edward Whelan

In a 42-page opinion issued late last night (in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA), a Fifth Circuit motions panel granted in part the FDA’s…

Articles

National Review Online / April 13, 2023

EPPC Amicus Brief on FDA’s Emergency Motion in Fifth Circuit

Edward Whelan

On April 12, 2023, Distinguished Senior Fellow Ed Whelan filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Ethics and Public…

PDF / April 12, 2023

How Little Nino Became Justice Scalia

Edward Whelan

In many ways, Scalia’s influence since his death has been greater than he enjoyed during his lifetime, when so many of his most memorable opinions were dissents.

Articles

Law & Liberty / March 15, 2023

Stanford President and Law-School Dean Apologize to Judge Duncan

Edward Whelan

Tessier-Lavigne and Martinez have issued a joint letter of apology to Judge Duncan for the violations of university policies on speech that disrupted his talk.

Articles

National Review Online / March 11, 2023

Crybullies at Stanford Law School Threaten Free Speech

Edward Whelan

Judge Duncan’s right to free speech at Stanford Law School was threatened by hecklers who had the audacity to comment that he “literally denies the humanity of people” while denying him his First Amendment Rights.

Articles

National Review Online / March 10, 2023

Senator Wyden’s Vile Attack on Federal Judiciary

Edward Whelan

Ed Whelan’s Bench Memos dive into the serious nature of accusations on the Federal Judiciary by Senator Wyden.

Articles

National Review Online / February 17, 2023

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