Update on Blog

I started this blog several months ago, but unfortunately, I ended up not using it much once the semester began.

Now that I am on parental leave for the Spring semester, however, I should have more time to provide updates.

My most important update is that our daughter, Josephine Yana, was born on December 4. So far, she has been an excellent baby, eating much more than her older brother. While Winston is a picky eater, struggling to stay above the 10th percentile in weight, Josephine is an eager eater, approaching the 90th percentile. Perhaps the weights and boxing bag I bought Winston will end up being used more by Josephine.

As for my work updates, I have been busy, as usual. Over the past few months, I have completed the following writing projects:

1. I wrote a short essay on Clarence Thomas and identity politics for The American Conservative. This essay was inspired by some reading I had been doing on Justice Thomas's role in mentoring and inspiring Clint Bolick (one of the leading figures within the legal conservative movement and now a Justice on the Arizona Supreme Court).

2. I wrote a long book chapter on the neoconservative roots of Justice Scalia's legal philosophy. That chapter was an absolute delight to write and research. It will be published later this year in a book on Scalia's role in shaping legal conservatism.

3. I wrote a relatively long essay critiquing the scholarship on the legal conservative movement. That essay will be published in the Winter issue of Modern Age. I am very excited about the essay and will post it when it is available.

4. For The University Bookman, I wrote a book review of Daniel Bennett's Defending Faith: The Politics of the Christian Conservative Legal Movement (2017).

Over the next few weeks, I plan to write a couple of essays on the Masterpiece oral argument and the recent district court DACA ruling.

I will then turn to some archival research, which I plan to post periodically on the blog. So stay tuned!