Book Launch & Lecture
"Originalism's Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution"
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, the college celebrated the book release of "Originalism's Promise: A Natural Law Account of the American Constitution" (Cambridge University Press 2019) by Lee J. Strang, John W. Stoepler Professor of Law & Values. The session was followed by a book sale and signing.
The foundation of the American legal system is its longstanding written Constitution. In his lecture, Strang provided the first natural law justification for an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
"'Originalism's Promise' is the product of over twenty years of thinking through two common American commitments," said Strang. "First, Americans strive to be faithful to our Constitution. Second and following the Declaration of Independence, many Americans are committed to some version of natural law. I'll argue that, together, these commitments suggest that Americans of all stripes should utilize originalism to interpret our common Constitution. In this presidential election year, my goal is to inform Americans as they debate the Supreme Court's future."
A prolific scholar, Strang has published dozens of articles in the fields of constitutional law and interpretation, property law, and religion and the First Amendment. In 2015, Strang was a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. He was the recipient of The University of Toledo Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2017. During the 2018-19 academic year, he was a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. Strang was awarded Toledo Law's Faculty Scholarship Award in 2019 for "Originalism's Promise."
Photos
For photos from the book launch, review the Flickr album.