Hadley Arkes

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Hadley P. Arkes is a conservative political scientist and the Edward N. Ney Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at Amherst College.

A frequent writer and speaker, Arkes has also helped craft legislation such as the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, signed into law by President Bush on August 5, 2002. Though he is Jewish, his arguments against abortion rely heavily on Catholic philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas. He is considered one of the leading pro-life intellectuals in the United States and contributes to several American conservative journals, including National Review, the Claremont Review of Books, and First Things.

His books include First Things (1986), which he wrote to recount his arguments and experiences in an Amherst College course, Beyond the Constitution (1990), The Return of George Sutherland (1994), and Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (2002). Mr. Arkes also sponsors "The Colloquium for the American Founding," a lecture series that brings notable conservatives to Amherst and Washington, D.C. It has featured such speakers as Clarence Thomas, Lynne Cheney, William Kristol, and John Bolton.

Mr. Arkes received his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois, and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where he was a student of Leo Strauss. He has taught at Amherst College since 1966, with students including David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Tom Davis, a Republican congressman from Virginia.