![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/01/multimedia/30french-bzcg/30french-bzcg-thumbWide.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
The Supreme Court Puts the Pro-Life Movement to the Test
Rarely has a case had less legal meaning and greater moral weight.
By David French
I’m a new kid on the block in Opinion. I joined in January 2023, and while I write on a wide range of topics, a common theme is that I like to explore the story behind the story. What are the reasons for American polarization and dysfunction? Why do so many Americans feel lonely and anxious? Why is religious affiliation in such sharp decline? I’m just as likely to write about faith, friendship, marriage and parenting as I am to write about the war in Ukraine or the latest developments in American constitutional law. I also write quite a bit about religion in America, with a particular focus on the health of the evangelical church.
I took a long and winding road to journalism. I was born in Alabama, grew up in a small town in Kentucky, attended Lipscomb University in Nashville, and graduated from Harvard Law School. I was a commercial litigator for a number of years, and then ultimately switched to constitutional law. In 1999, I took a brief detour from my litigation career and served as a lecturer at Cornell Law School.
In 2006, I obtained an age waiver from the Army and joined the JAG Corps as an Army lawyer. After dragging my old body through basic training, I volunteered to deploy to Iraq and served with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Diyala Province during the height of the Surge in 2007. I was awarded a Bronze Star.
During my litigation career, I worked for both commercial and public interest law firms and was a former president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. I spent most of my career defending free speech, religious freedom and due process in courtrooms across the country.
After 21 years of legal practice, I changed careers. In 2015, I joined National Review as a senior writer, but left in 2019 to help start The Dispatch, a conservative media company. I also became a contributing writer for The Atlantic. In 2023, I joined The Times.
If there were a Nerd Olympics, I might take the gold medal. If you want recommendations on sci-fi or fantasy books or movies — or the definitive rankings of Star Wars movies — please ask. I’d be happy to answer, at length.
My most recent book, “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation,” outlined the dangers of polarization and the need to engage with people who have opposing viewpoints. I’m an evangelical conservative who believes strongly in a classical liberal, pluralistic vision of American democracy, in which people with deep religious, cultural, and moral differences can live and work together and enjoy equal legal protection and shared cultural tolerance. In both my personal and professional life I strive to live up to the high ideals of Micah 6:8 — to act justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before God.
I live in Tennessee.
I’m an opinion writer, but I’m not a polemicist. My goals are to treat opposing arguments fairly, to make sure that my facts are correct, that my analysis is sound, and to be transparent about gaps in my knowledge or limitations in my understanding. I believe in admitting mistakes and telling readers when I change my mind, and why. I think personal and professional transparency is important. If we ask readers to trust us, then they deserve to know us.
I follow the Times’s Ethical Journalism Handbook. I disclose potential conflicts of interest, and when I’m in doubt about any potential ethical question, I seek guidance from my editors in much the same way that a lawyer with ethical concerns seeks guidance from the bar association.
Email: david.french@nytimes.com
Threads: @davidfrenchjag
Anonymous tips: nytimes.com/tips
Rarely has a case had less legal meaning and greater moral weight.
By David French
The Trumpist right is presenting aggressive legal theories that fail again and again.
By David French
We take a look at J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Elise Stefanik and more possible Republican running mates.
By Ross Douthat, David French, Michelle Goldberg and Bret Stephens
Modern American lawmakers are not limited by the colonial imagination.
By David French
The case against Marcellus Williams is far from settled.
By David French
Documents do not radiate powers of personal virtue.
By David French
There is a difference between peace and capitulation.
By David French
Not everything is in crisis.
By David French
There’s no basis for the MAGA complaint that Biden has broken the justice system.
By David French
Sonia Sotomayor helped protect the country from Donald Trump, and she did it in an unexpected way.
By David French
Donald Trump’s a felon now. That could make a difference.
By David French, Michelle Goldberg and Patrick Healy
We’re at a crucial moment in the war.
By David French
In war, death interrupts nothing. Time doesn’t stop; it seems to accelerate.
By David French
A terrible man is in the cross hairs of American justice, but immorality alone doesn’t make him a criminal.
By David French
Your emotions will often lead you astray.
By David French
Who is more pleased with the course of the trial so far — the prosecution or the defense?
By David French, Rebecca Roiphe and Ken White
Our daughter was becoming a mother in the most difficult of circumstances.
By David French
There is a simple way to fix the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
By David French
The uproars that don’t seem to touch Trump at all can still bring down other Republicans.
By David French
There is no originalist case for presidential immunity.
By David French