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.
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.
The Souter Mistake
Edward Whelan
Justice Souter's reported decision to retire from the Supreme Court is a testament to his admirable lack of interest in…
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New York Times / May 1, 2009
Harold Koh’s Transnationalism
Edward Whelan
[In a series of posts on National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog that earned prominent attention, EPPC President Ed Whelan…
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National Review Online / April 16, 2009
Look Who's Politicizing Justice Now
Edward Whelan
Intense controversy has flared in recent years over a previously obscure but high-powered office in the Department of Justice —…
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Washington Post / April 5, 2009
Original Meaning and Judicial Restraint
Edward Whelan
The University Bookman is pleased to present this exclusive online interview with M. Edward Whelan III, President of the Ethics…
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University Bookman / February 20, 2009
Supreme Success
Edward Whelan
Dwight Eisenhower called his appointments of Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice William Brennan his two biggest mistakes as president….
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National Review Vol. LX, No. 24 / December 29, 2008
Obama and the Supreme Court
Edward Whelan
If America's citizens care to wake up and pay attention before they elect as president a sweet-talking, moderate-posing left-wing ideologue…
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National Review Online / October 29, 2008
The Mystery of the Missing Lawsuits
Edward Whelan
Something remarkable has happened over the past year: nothing. Exactly one year ago today, the Supreme Court in Gonzales v….
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National Review Online / April 18, 2008
How Judge Posner Thinks Judges Should Think
Edward Whelan
In his new book, How Judges Think, Seventh Circuit judge Richard A. Posner states that he aims to offer a…
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National Review Online / April 17, 2008
Obama's Constitution
Edward Whelan
Justice John Paul Stevens turns 88 in April, and by January 2009 five other justices will be from 69 to…
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Weekly Standard, Volume 013, Issue 26 / March 17, 2008
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