Patrick Garry column

Patrick Garry is a professor of law at the University of South Dakota, and Director of the Hagemann Center for Legal & Public Policy Research.

He has published ten books, including Wrestling With God: The Court's Tortuous Treatment of Religion and An Entrenched Legacy: How the New Deal Constitutional Revolution Continues to Shape the Role of the Supreme Court (Penn State University Press).

He is a frequent speaker on conservative legal and political issues, and has delivered invited lectures at more than 60 universities. His popular audience essays and articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Tribune, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Washington Times, Cincinnati Post, Indianapolis News, Commonweal, and the Omaha World-Herald.

He has also been interviewed on dozens of radio and television programs.

Patrick Garry

January 2, 2013

There has been no shortage of analysis, advice, and accusations among conservatives over the 2012 presidential election. Much of that analysis and advice . . .

Patrick Garry

October 25, 2012

In other elections, with an incumbent in the position now occupied by President Obama, the challenger would be polling much better than Governor Romney is.  . . .

Patrick Garry

September 15, 2012

Our electronic media culture supports an ever-shortening attention span. It focuses all attention on the immediate, the here and now. The past seems to . . .

Patrick Garry

July 30, 2012

The term "big government" gets volleyed continually over the net of political dialogue. It generally relates to debates over the public budget and deficit, but . . .

Patrick Garry

June 1, 2012

There are two promises that modern liberalism asserts — two images about itself that it propagates. First, that it strives to fulfill the communal bonds . . .

Patrick Garry

April 16, 2012

In his emerging re-election campaign, President Obama's message is becoming clear and simple: be afraid, be very afraid of those heartless conservatives. What . . .

Patrick Garry

April 7, 2012

The healthcare law, promoted and pushed by the Obama administration, was recently litigated before the Supreme Court. Because the constitutionality of this law . . .

Patrick Garry

March 5, 2012

The Obama administration has been preaching the language of social redistribution ever since it assumed leadership of the federal government. Indeed, President . . .

Patrick Garry

February 27, 2012

The framers' belief in limited government pervades the entire constitutional structure. It is the continuous theme of The Federalist Papers. Until the New . . .

Patrick Garry

January 17, 2012

Politics in contemporary America does not operate in a realm of wide consensus, and there are few restraints on the conflict that so often erupts in the . . .

Patrick Garry

December 16, 2011

Regarding the current political debate over government tax and spending issues, there are several points on which all conservatives agree. First, the federal . . .

Patrick Garry

December 4, 2011

Despite the abysmal record of President Obama and the struggling economy, polls show that middle and working-class Americans still view the Democratic Party . . .

Patrick Garry

October 22, 2011

The issue currently dominating the political spotlight is the tax-on-the-wealthy issue. It has become the pillar of President Obama's re-election campaign. It . . .

Patrick Garry

July 9, 2011

With federal budget talks at a tense and near urgent stage, perhaps it is important to remember that spending levels and budget deficits are not the only . . .

Patrick Garry

July 3, 2011

In two decisions announced this week, the Supreme Court's liberal wing shows a curious and seemingly inconsistent stance toward First Amendment freedoms. In . . .

Patrick Garry

June 16, 2011

We live in a time of dire predictions and warnings. The newspapers and television talk shows teem with prognostications of doom. There is no shortage of . . .

Patrick Garry

June 14, 2011

Ever since the 2010 elections, with the prominent role of the Tea Party, there has been much discussion about big, centralized government. Conservatives, . . .

Patrick Garry

May 31, 2011

Republicans seem to be on the defensive in the debate over Medicare and the federal budget deficit. They are being branded extremists willing and eager to shut . . .

Patrick Garry

May 13, 2011

The advice of my grandmother, whom no one would call a spontaneous optimist, was: Be careful of success, because there's always a failure somewhere in it.  . . .

Patrick Garry

April 16, 2011

There are three incontrovertible facts concerning the federal budget and the government health care entitlement programs. First, each is in a crisis state. . . .

Patrick Garry

April 5, 2011

Short memories come from short attention spans, which in our hyper-active media age can be quite short. And it is short memories that perpetuate hypocrisy.  . . .

Patrick Garry

March 19, 2011

Even in this often bitterly divisive partisan atmosphere, there is one value that transcends all partisan division. Notwithstanding all the ideological . . .

Patrick Garry

February 23, 2011

A great struggle is taking place in Wisconsin. And it is not just over the projected $3.6 billion state budget deficit; it is over the integrity and . . .

Patrick Garry

January 11, 2011

There is only one thing that at this time should be said about the shootings in Arizona. It is a horrible act of evil, in which the lives of 6 innocent people . . .

Patrick Garry

December 18, 2010

Most Republican members of Congress are celebrating the tax bill signed last Friday by President Obama. This bill provides a two-year extension for the Bush . . .

Patrick Garry

November 9, 2010

One thing is clear from last week's elections: the vote in 2008 was about changing the party and people running the government; it was not about changing . . .

Patrick Garry

October 20, 2010

This may end up being a very special election. Not just a momentous or dramatic one. But an election about how special America is. A momentous election . . .