Natural law theory is the talk of the town right now among conservative constitutional scholars. But how should we understand this tradition’s relationship to American constitutionalism? And is it compatible with originalism?

Originalism’s detractors, like Harvard Law School’s Adrian Vermeule, argue that the theory is morally empty and insufficient to create a just society. Originalist natural law theorists counter that originalism is based on moral claims about legitimate authority, the nature of the common good, and the particularities of the American constitutional system.

Join AEI and the Catholic University of America’s Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition for a discussion on the relationship between originalism and the natural law tradition.

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