Law Commons^™

A Sign Of Contradiction, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Hadley Arkes offers a brilliant manifesto for natural law. In it, he suggests that judges do not pay enough attention to reason, that their realm of reason is too circumscribed—and he levels the criticism at both modern liberal and conservative judges. He urges them to reach out specifically to the principles of the natural law. Yet the judges resist the invitation. They seem always to have resisted the invitation. Why is that so? Why are natural law reasons resisted?, Arkes asks. Why do judges not seek a proper grounding of their judgment in natural law?