In a separate shorter essay, Arkes comments on the opening of a new center for natural law--a joint project between Arkes and the Claremont Institute geared towards new law school graduates who want to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice. As Arkes maintains, "the natural law finds its ground in 'the laws of reason,' not in appeals to faith or 'belief' or woolly sentiment." This understanding was firmly grasped by the American Founders who rooted our country and our politics upon these truths, applicable to all men and all times:
At the time of the American Founding, Alexander Hamilton thought it critical to reject the argument of Thomas Hobbes that all morality is conventional; that until laws are made, there can be no clear sense of right and wrong. What Hobbes rejected, said Hamilton, was the existence of that “superintending principle,” that God who is the source of “an eternal and immutable law, which is. . .obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever.” Even when governments break down, there is no “right” to rape or murder or commit any other wrongs, as though there was no right and wrong without the law.
This understanding is what judges, lawyers, and Americans of every stripe need to again become familiar with.
No comments:
Post a Comment