The Sixth Circuit completed a hat-trick when the NYU’s Classical Liberal Institute invited Judge Murphy to give its 19th annual Friedrich A. von Hayek Lecture, in honor of the famous economist and philosopher. As we discussed a few years ago, Judge Kethledge delivered the 15th Hayek Lecture, discussing administrative law, and Chief Judge Sutton delivered the 13th Hayek Lecture, which covered technology and federalism.
Judge Murphy’s lecture is a thoughtful defense and careful explanation of originalism, especially as contrasted what he called the “policy approach” of the Legal Realist movement. He argued that Hayek would likely have been drawn to modern originalism far more than Posnerian pragmatism. Interestingly, Judge Pryor of the Eleventh Circuit also discussed Hayek and originalism in an earlier lecture in the same series. Others have written on the subject, as Hayek’s legal and economic approach has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity.