Ordered Liberty Fellows take retreat to Kirk Center

The Ordered Liberty Program was founded at the University of Louisville School of Law in fall 2019. The program seeks to find the right balance — in our time and place — of justice, order and freedom, with emphasis on the concepts of federalism, separation of powers, originalism, natural law and the common good. In addition to a speaker series and academic symposia, the program boasts 12 Ordered Liberty Fellows, drawn from across the three law school classes at Louisville. The program is directed by Professor Luke Milligan and U.S. District Court Judge Justin Walker.

The Ordered Liberty Fellows at the Kirk Residence (Front row: from left, Alexandra Dunn, Mary Dyche, Chief Justice Stephen Markman, Mrs. Kirk, Ellen Stephens, Lindsay Porter; Row 2: from left, Jo Rupp, Andrew Ritchie, Professor Luke Milligan; Back rows: from left, Mason Leichhardt, Judge Justin Walker, Peyton Griffee, Michael Mann, James Golden, Will Razor]

Following several autumn dinners at the homes of Professor Milligan and Judge Walker, discussing Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk and Roger Scruton, Louisville Law's new class of Ordered Liberty Fellows took a fall retreat in Mecosta, Michigan, at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.

Dr. Russell Kirk

Russell Kirk (1918-1994) was one of the foremost public intellectuals of the 20th Century. Heralding the idea of an “ordered liberty” anchored in law, custom, religion and the “moral imagination,” Dr. Kirk authored thousands of essays and dozens of books, including The Conservative Mind and The Roots of American Order. Recognized posthumously as “Michigan’s greatest man of letters,” Kirk helped found National Review in 1955 and Modern Age in 1957 and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by Ronald Reagan. Dr. Kirk’s wife of 30 years, Annette, directs the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.

The Ordered Liberty Fellows departed for the Kirk Center early on Saturday, October 5, 2019, breaking along the way for a tour of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The fellows’ two-day stay at the Kirk Center featured a series of lectures on the idea of ordered liberty. The final talk, on “Kirk’s Principles of Adjudication,” was delivered by Chief Justice Stephen Markman of the Michigan Supreme Court. On Sunday night, Mrs. Kirk hosted the fellows for drinks and dinner back at the Kirk family residence.

Sunday lecture by Chief Justice Stephen Markman, Michigan Supreme Court

The time spent with Mrs. Kirk was a high point for many of the fellows. Second-year student Michael Mann spoke of Mrs. Kirk’s “intelligence, wisdom and unforgettable anecdotes about one luminary after another.” 2L Will Razor observed that “traveling to Mecosta and talking with Mrs. Kirk reinforced the idea that we must leverage the knowledge of past generations to successfully manage the problems we see today.”

Speaking more generally, second-year student Ellen Stephens remarked that “the Ordered Liberty Fellowship — studying Edmund Burke and Russell Kirk alongside my law school curriculum — has strengthened my understanding of the purpose of the legal system in America and my dedication to history and tradition as informative of the law.”

Jo Rupp, a 2L, echoed Stephens, observing that “I used to think the function of the law was simply to prevent harmful behavior, but now I now see the law more broadly — as a mechanism of social preservation, between the generations of the past and those yet to come.”

First-year student Mason Leichhardt commented that “we look at present cultural and political issues through the lens of history, and by doing so reach a sounder, truer understanding of the issues at hand. I am constantly being pushed by the Ordered Liberty Program and I feel grateful to be a part of it while studying law at UofL."

Ordered Liberty Fellows at the Saturday night lecture (clockwise, Mary Dyche, Peyton Griffee, Jo Rupp, Lindsay Porter, Michael Mann, Ellen Stephens, Mason Leichhardt)

Michael Mann explained that “while I was drawn to certain values and policies before law school, I was struggling to explain to others exactly why they’re important, or exactly why others should embrace them. As a result of my time in this program, wrestling with the ideas of Kirk and Burke, I’ve found myself on solid ground in discussions with others. Each of us is duty-bound to take seriously what Burke, Kirk and T.S. Eliot called the ‘the permanent things’ — not only for our benefit, but for the sake of our kids and all the future generations to come.”

To learn more about the Ordered Liberty Program, please contact Dean Colin Crawford at colin.crawford@louisville.edu or Professor Luke Milligan at luke.milligan@louisville.edu.