William Wagner on Originalism at Duke University

Hon. William Wagner Speaks at Duke Law on Constitutional Virtue and Judicial Restraint

Durham, N.C. — The Federalist Society at Duke University Law School recently hosted Hon. William Wagner (Ret.), the WFFC Distinguished Chair for Faith & Freedom at Spring Arbor University, for a keynote lecture titled “The Virtue of True Meaning and the Tyranny of the Few.”

One of the nation’s top law schools, Duke provided a distinguished forum for Professor Wagner’s address on the relationship between truth, virtue, and constitutional governance. Drawing from his experience as a former federal judge and constitutional scholar, Wagner urged a return to faithful interpretation of the Constitution as essential to preserving liberty and the rule of law.

“Our topic today is not merely theoretical,” Wagner told the audience. “It is not an exercise in abstract jurisprudence. It is about truth — and about the moral, intellectual, and civic virtues necessary to sustain liberty under law in a self-governing republic.”

Throughout his lecture, Professor Wagner emphasized that the American Constitution’s design protects unalienable liberty through representative governance under the rule of law. He warned against the dangers of politically unaccountable judicial policymaking, which he described as a threat to constitutional order and democratic self-government.

“When an unelected judiciary honestly interprets the Constitution to discern its truthful meaning, it furthers both democratic values and the Rule of Law,” Wagner said. “But when those same unelected judges depart from faithful interpretation — when they engage in politically unaccountable creation of new meaning — they threaten that very constitutional order. And in doing so, they risk leading the nation down the perilous road toward judicial tyranny.”

The address, rich in constitutional insight and moral conviction, invited students and faculty alike to reflect on the enduring importance of virtue and truth in law and governance.