Wagner Center Challenges Wayne State Law Students to Defend the Rule of Law and Constitutional Liberty

DETROIT, MI — October 28, 2026 — What does it mean to be faithful to the Constitution when personal convictions, political pressures, or desired outcomes point in another direction?

That question stood at the center of a keynote address delivered by former federal judge William Wagner at a Federalist Society event hosted by Wayne State University Law School.

Wagner, Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University's Wagner Faith & Freedom Center, challenged aspiring attorneys to recognize that their professional responsibilities extend beyond winning arguments or advancing preferred policies.

Drawing on more than four decades of experience in constitutional litigation, federal prosecution, judicial service, and as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law, Wagner emphasized that the Rule of Law requires public officials, including judges, to exercise only the authority lawfully entrusted to them.

“A judge's oath is not a commission to improve the Constitution. It is a duty faithfully to interpret it,” Wagner told the audience.

In his presentation, “America at 250: The Declaration and the Constitution,” Wagner explained why constitutional interpretation must remain grounded in the Constitution's text, original public meaning, structure, and relevant historical evidence.

He distinguished between objective moral truth and objective constitutional meaning, cautioning that even sincerely held moral convictions cannot authorize judges to impose policies beyond their constitutional authority.

Wagner also addressed the dangers of political polarization, warning that constitutional principles lose their protective force when citizens defend them only when politically convenient.

He challenged future lawyers to recognize that genuine commitment to liberty requires protecting the constitutional rights of those with whom they disagree.

“Principle means very little when principle costs nothing. The test comes when fidelity requires sacrifice,” Wagner declared.

Throughout the address, Wagner connected constitutional restraint with the Founders' understanding of human dignity and human fallibility, explaining why governmental power must remain limited regardless of who exercises it.

Wagner concluded by challenging the next generation of legal professionals to shoulder the responsibility of preserving America's constitutional Republic through faithful adherence to constitutional boundaries, the defense of freedom of conscience, and an unwavering commitment to the Rule of Law, even when doing so requires personal or political sacrifice.