Berkley Center

Hadley Arkes is the founding director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding. He is also the Edward Ney Professor in American Institutions emeritus at Amherst College. Arkes' work as an advocate and defender of “natural rights” as envisioned by the Founding Fathers and Lincoln led to the formation of the Committee for the American Founding at Amherst. He has held visiting professorships at Princeton University and been a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His publications include Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law (2010) and Natural Rights & The Right to Choose (2002). He is a frequent contributor to national news magazines and journals. Arkes also spearheaded the creation and advocacy of the Born Alive Infants’ Protection Act signed into law in 2002. He holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.