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John O. McGinnis is the George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law at Northwestern University. His book Accelerating Democracy was published by Princeton University Press in 2012. McGinnis is also the coauthor with Mike Rappaport of Originalism and the Good Constitution published by Harvard University Press in 2013 . He is a graduate of Harvard College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. He has published in leading law reviews, including the Harvard, Chicago, and Stanford Law Reviews and the Yale Law Journal, and in journals of opinion, including National Affairs and National Review.

March 22, 2019|Bitcoin, cryptocurrence, Federal Reserve, Fiat Money, Georg Frederich Knapp

Fiat Money and the Promise of Cryptocurrency

by John O. McGinnis|4 Comments

Cryptocurrency exchange rates, imagined (Image: lucadp/shutterstock.com)

Since the creation of Federal Reserve, the value of the dollar has fallen by more than 90 percent, and that is not a surprise.

March 20, 2019|Diversity, George Mason, Madison Program, Robert George

The Right’s Need for Alternative Institutions

by John O. McGinnis|9 Comments

Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia (Image: George Mason University).

Institutions matter because, without them, no cultural change is possible.

March 15, 2019|Cass Sunstein, Clinton Impeachment, House, Impeachment, Preamble

The House Has No Obligation to Impeach the President

by John O. McGinnis|1 Comment

Rep. Henry Hyde swears in Kenneth Starr to testify during Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings, November 19, 1998 (Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly / Alamy Stock Photo).

It is well-established that the House acts as a prosecutor in the proceeding to remove an executive officer, and that leaves them wide discretion.

March 13, 2019|Administrative State, Bureaucracy, Gladden Pappin, Michael McConnell, Public Schools, Ross Doutat, school choice

Empowering the State Will Not Advance Social Conservatism

by John O. McGinnis|7 Comments

Department of Education Building in Washington, DC (Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com).

Working to restore liberty is not certain to win the culture war but acquiescing to the big administrative state will surely lose it.

March 8, 2019|Alexis De Tocequeville, Emmanuel Macron, EU, Minimum Wage, Nationalism, unemployment

Macron’s Attack on Nationalism Underscores Its Virtues

by John O. McGinnis|2 Comments

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at an EU leadership summit in Brussels, Belgium, November 25, 2018 (Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com).

This is the lesson of Brexit Macron has not learned: the drive for more European centralization will arouse nationalist passions that could end the EU.

March 5, 2019|Allison Stanger, First Amendment, Heather Mac Donald, Michael Paulsen, Northwestern University

Why The Proposed Trump Order on Free Speech Is Misguided

by John O. McGinnis|7 Comments

Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles (Ken Wolter/Shutterstock.com).

Issuing this order about free speech will not make it less likely that progressives will continue to misuse executive authority for their own purposes.

March 1, 2019|Clarence Thomas, Garza v. Idaho, Neil Gorsuch, Originalism, Precedent

How Thomas and Gorsuch Preserve the Generative Power of Originalism

by John O. McGinnis|7 Comments

U.S. Supreme Court at dawn (Image: trekandshoot/shutterstock.com).

A precedent-only jurisprudence will be not driven by the inner logic of the Constitution, but varying coalitions of the justices and politics of the day.

February 26, 2019|Andrew Cuomo, Federalism, J.B. Pritzker, Markets, state tax deductions, taxes