The State Department’s $3.8 billion commitment to U.N.-administered relief tests whether American compassion abroad remains accountable to American law, policy, and national interests. The State Department’s decision to commit $3.8 billion in American humanitarian assistance to United Nations–administered funds raises a serious question of constitutional stewardship. Who ultimately controls how the U.N. system allocates and conditions those taxpayer dollars? In a recent Herit

Why Moving Power out of Washington Must Mean More Than Rearranging the Bureaucracy DETROIT NEWS| Opinion (Hon. Wm Wagner) - Updated July 31, 2026, 9:57 p.m. ET The House Education and Workforce Committee’s Less Bureaucracy, Better Education package challenges Washington to acknowledge that federal bureaucracy is not necessary for educational excellence. Recognizing that truth does not diminish the real needs these programs address. A principled case for reform must protect st

The Department of Justice’s newly issued guidance on religious liberty, and the legal basis for it, deserves our attention. Although it lacks the drama of a Supreme Court opinion, its practical effect may prove equally significant. The Guidance directs every federal agency to interpret and administer federal law in light of nearly a decade of Supreme Court decisions reaffirming America’s first freedom. That development reflects an abiding constitutional truth. Religious liber

A government need not build prison walls to deprive a person of liberty. It may simply prohibit that person from leaving its territory. Governments around the world increasingly employ coercive exit bans against citizens and foreign nationals who are already lawfully present within their territory. Rather than placing an individual under formal arrest, authorities simply forbid departure. The individual remains free to travel within the country, yet cannot return home, reuni

A Commentary on the Citizenship Clause Few constitutional questions are more fundamental than this: Who does the Constitution recognize as a member of the American political community? That question lies at the heart of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Barbara. Although much of the public discussion focused on immigration policy and border security, the Court confronted a far more lasting constitutional question. Beyond whether current immigration laws are wise

Commentary on the Executive Vesting Clause The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter may prove to be one of the most consequential separation-of-powers decisions in a generation. While many will understandably view the case through the lens of current politics, the constitutional question before the Court was far more enduring: May Congress insulate principal executive officers from presidential removal, or does Article II require that those who exercise executive po

Commentary on the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty Draft Report The Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty has released for public comment one of the most significant governmental studies of religious liberty in a generation. At a time when public debate often reduces religious freedom to a political slogan or a cultural grievance, the Commission’s draft report returns the discussion to something far more enduring, first principles. That alone deserves comme

The release of the White House report Saving America’s Story has renewed an important national conversation. Predictably, the report has generated sharply differing reactions. Some have welcomed it as a necessary corrective; others have dismissed it as an attack on the Smithsonian Institution. Both responses, however, miss the larger issue. The central question is not whether one agrees with every criticism contained in the report. Rather, it raises a far more fundamental que

By Professor Augusto Zimmermann PhD* Reason is a natural faculty of the human mind. It confers the ability to understand and to form moral judgments, thus enabling us to distinguish right from wrong, justice from injustice. As for natural law theory, it connects legal issues with timeless principles that are inherent in human nature, ‘not with the laws of any particular nation but with a universal law applicable in all nations’.[1] While it is true that a pagan or humanistic

The release of Pastor Ezra Jin from imprisonment in China is a welcome answer to prayer. After months of detention for faithfully shepherding an independent Christian congregation, he is once again free. We rightly rejoice with his family and with believers around the world who never ceased praying for his release. His story, though, reminds us of a deeper truth. Freedom is precious, but faithfulness is priceless. Throughout history, those who have proclaimed the Gospel of J

The United States and the Republic of Korea have stood shoulder to shoulder for more than seventy years. Forged in the crucible of the Korean War, the alliance rests upon far more than mutual defense. It is grounded in a shared commitment to constitutional government, individual liberty, and the rule of law. That is why the recent treatment of former United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Morse Tan deserves careful attention, not only because Ambassador

Keynote Address by the Hon. William Wagner, Distinguished Professor Emeritus on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the American nation. As Americans gather to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth, we should do more than remember our history. We should recover the moral clarity that gave birth to the American experiment in ordered liberty. Two hundred fifty years ago, the signers of the Declaration of Independence made a remarkable claim. They did not a

The Supreme Court just answered one of the most consequential constitutional questions of our time. In upholding the laws of West Virginia and Idaho reserving girls’ and women’s athletic teams for biological females, the Court did far more than decide who may compete in school sports. It reaffirmed a foundational principle of constitutional government. The law must remain anchored to objective reality. Congress enacted Title IX in 1972 to ensure that women and girls would enj

The measure of a free society is not how it treats popular opinions. It is how it treats the conscience of those who peacefully disagree. For more than 125 years, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have quietly cared for the dying poor. They ask nothing in return. They accept no government funding, charge no fees, and seek only the freedom to carry out Christ’s command to care for “the least of these.” Yet, New York now threatens these women with fines, loss of licensure, an

The Supreme Court’s latest Second Amendment decision holding a Hawaiian gun law unconstitutional is about far more than firearms. It is about the proper role of the judiciary in our constitutional republic. Once again, the Court demonstrated an encouraging jurisprudential trend. Judges increasingly return to their constitutional duty of saying what the Constitution actually says, not what contemporary politics, shifting public opinion, or preferred policy outcomes wish it ha

A free and democratic society has both the right and the responsibility to protect its citizens from violence, intimidation, and genuine threats. Canada’s recently enacted Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9) seeks to address legitimate concerns about rising hate crimes and antisemitic violence. Yet in pursuing that worthy objective, Canada risks undermining one of the very liberties that distinguishes free nations from authoritarian regimes (i.e., the fundamental right to speak, b

The recent criminal sentencing of Brazilian parents Audato and Ieda Denardi for homeschooling their children should concern every nation committed to human dignity, parental rights, and the rule of law. While reasonable people may debate educational policy, no government should criminalize devoted parents who are faithfully educating their children and acting in accordance with their deeply held convictions. At stake is a principle far greater than homeschooling. The case rai

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety presents a difficult but important question at the intersection of religious liberty, statutory interpretation, and constitutional governance. The case reminds us that protecting freedom requires both a commitment to individual rights and fidelity to the constitutional structure that secures them. The facts are straightforward and compelling. Damon Landor is a practicing Ras

The Supreme Court’s decision today in Cisco Systems v. Doe may not generate the public attention given to other high profile cases, but it represents an important reaffirmation of constitutional government. At its core, the case is not primarily about China, persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, or even international human rights litigation. Rather, it concerns a more fundamental question. Who possesses authority to create legal causes of action in our constitutional repu

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in United States v. Hemani represents far more than a victory for one citizen’s Second Amendment rights. It serves as an important reminder of the judiciary’s proper constitutional role: to say what the law is—not what judges might prefer it to say. At issue was whether the federal government’s prosecution Ali Hemani under 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(3), a statute prohibiting possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.