Institute of American Civics

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From Schoolhouse to Courthouse book cover

Joshua M. Dunn and Martin R. West, From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary’s Role in American Education, Brookings Institution Press, 2009

From race to speech, from religion to school funding, from discipline to special education, few aspects of education policy have escaped the courtroom over the past fifty years. Predictably, much controversy has ensued. Supporters of education litigation contend that the courts are essential to secure student (and civil) rights, while critics insist that the courts […]

Divided We Stand Book Cover

Andrew Busch and John Pitney, Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics, Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2021

Through pandemic, protests, and polarization, Americans went to the polls in 2020, one of the most contentious elections in American history. Continuing an R&L tradition now entering its fourth decade, Divided We Stand book provides the most comprehensive and authoritative account of the national election, as well as congressional and state elections. From the nominating […]

Ronald Reagan and the Firing of the Air Traffic Controllers

Andrew E. Busch, Ronald Reagan and the Firing of the Air Traffic Controllers, University Press of Kansas, 2024

On August 3, 1981, over 12,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO) walked off their jobs, striking for higher pay, shorter hours, and increased benefits. Unexpectedly, President Ronald Reagan decided to fire the strikers, prosecute their leaders, and decertify their union. This swift and unwavering decision was a shocking reversal of the […]

The Judiciary by Joshua Dunn

Joshua Dunn, The Judiciary: Core Documents, Ashbrook Press, 2022

This collection of documents on the judiciary presents an array of views on the role that the courts should play in American life and how they should interpret the Constitution and our laws. Is the Supreme Court, for example, the final arbiter of what is constitutional, or do the legislative and executive branches have an […]

Passing on the Right Book Cover

Jon A. Shields and Joshua Dunn, Passing on the Right, Oxford University Press, 2016

Conservative Professors in the Progressive University Few seem to think conservatives should become professors. While the left fears an invasion of their citadel by conservatives marching to orders from the Koch brothers, the right steers young conservatives away from a professorial vocation by lampooning its leftism. Shields and Dunn quiet these fears by shedding light […]

Thomas Hobbes and Natural Law Book Cover

Kody W. Cooper, Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law, Notre Dame Press, 2018

Has Hobbesian moral and political theory been fundamentally misinterpreted by most of his readers? Since the criticism of John Bramhall, Hobbes has generally been regarded as advancing a moral and political theory that is antithetical to classical natural law theory. Kody W. Cooper challenges this traditional interpretation of Hobbes in Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law. […]

The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics

Kody Cooper and Justin Buckley Dyer, The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics: Political Theology, Natural Law, and the American Founding, Cambridge University Press, 2022

There has been a considerable amount of literature in the last 70 years claiming that the American founders were steeped in modern thought. This study runs counter to that tradition, arguing that the founders of America were deeply indebted to the classical Christian natural-law tradition for their fundamental theological, moral, and political outlook. Evidence for […]

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