Religion & Law

There has been, in relatively recent months, a fair bit of discussion around the Catholic and legal sections of the blogosphere about the Natural Law and its role / place / content / foundations.  This lecture, delivered by Judge O'Scannlain at Fordham in November of 2010, is well worth a read.  Judge O'Scannlain engages, inter alia, natural-law-thinker Hadley Arkes (Amherst) and Justice Scalia.

For some other MOJ posts -- including, specifically, thoughts by Patrick Brennan -- on the question of the natural law and American constitutional doctrine, go (e.g.) here, here, here, and / or here. 

Among other things, Judge O'Scannlain explains why he "as a judge, [does not] have the authority to strike down a statute, simply because I think it violates the natural law."  At the same time, the natural law is "relevant to judging" [that is, relevant to exercising the power given to federal courts by our Constitution] "in two major ways: one rather technical, and the other more abstract."