Law-related essays in last month's First Things

Last month's issue of First Things is now available online and there are a couple of law-related items therein to which I would particularly draw the attention of our readers:

1. Paul Carrese's thoughtful and somewhat sympathetic critique of Randy Barnett's book Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty. Longtime readers of my personal blog^* will not be surprised to learn that I share Carrese's view that Barnett's "bold new constitutional theory ... reinforces what our bold courts have been doing for decades." Yet, one must also concur with Carrese that Restoring the Lost Constitution deserves praise "because it emphasizes the right questions and issues, and because it fundamentally respects the rule of law."
2. Jay Budziszewski's piece on capital punishment, which is in large measure a reply to an earlier First Things article by Avery Cardinal Dulles. Taken together, these two essays shed considerable and invaluable light on the state of the debate over capital punishment within the Catholic Church.

^*Speaking of personal blogs, I hope I may be forgiven for using this opportunity to plug my new wine and food blog Professor Bainbridge on Wine.