Edward Whelan is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and holds EPPC’s Antonin Scalia Chair in Constitutional Studies. He is the longest-serving President in EPPC’s history, having held that position from March 2004 through January 2021.
Mr. Whelan directs EPPC’s program on The Constitution, the Courts, and the Culture. His areas of expertise include constitutional law and the judicial confirmation process. As a contributor to National Review Online’s Bench Memos blog, he has been a leading commentator on nominations to the Supreme Court and the lower courts and on issues of constitutional law. He has written essays and op-eds for leading newspapers—including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post—opinion journals, and academic symposia and law reviews. The National Law Journal has named Mr. Whelan among its “Champions and Visionaries” in the practice of law in D.C.
Mr. Whelan is co-editor of three volumes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s work: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived (Crown Forum, 2017), a New York Times bestselling collection of speeches by Justice Scalia; On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer (Crown Forum, 2019), a collection of Justice Scalia’s writings on faith and religion; and The Essential Scalia: On the Constitution, the Courts, and the Rule of Law (Crown Forum, 2020), a collection of Justice Scalia’s views on legal issues.
Mr. Whelan, a lawyer and a former law clerk to Justice Scalia, has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government. From just before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, until joining EPPC in 2004, Mr. Whelan was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he advised the White House Counsel’s Office, the Attorney General and other senior DOJ officials, and departments and agencies throughout the executive branch on difficult and sensitive legal questions. Mr. Whelan previously served on Capitol Hill as General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. In addition to clerking for Justice Scalia, he was a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In 1981 Mr. Whelan graduated with honors from Harvard College and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1985 from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review.
For more on Mr. Whelan’s background, see this interview.
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Panel 1: Attacks Against the Judiciary
2024 Midwestern Chapters Conference
Union League Club65 W Jackson Blvd
Chicago, IL 60604
Donald Trump in the Supreme Court
Sacramento Lawyers Chapter
Meeting Room555 Capitol Mall, Suite 1500
Sacramento, CA 95814
Donald Trump in the Supreme Court
Salt Lake City Lawyers Chapter
Pia Hoyt Law Firm LLC170 S. Main Street, 2nd Floor
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Ed Whelan on the Trump Disqualification Cases
Orange County Lawyers Chapter
First Floor Conference Room2040 Main Street, 1st Floor
Irvine, CA 92614
March 2022 Virtual DC Lunch with Ed Whelan
Join us virtually on Tuesday, March 1 to hear our speakers discuss the Supreme Court nomination....
March 2022 Virtual DC Lunch with Ed Whelan
Join us virtually on Tuesday, March 1 to hear our speakers discuss the Supreme Court nomination....
Litigation Update: SCOTUS and the Texas Heartbeat Bill
Civil Rights Practice Group and Religious Liberties Practice Group Teleforum
On September 1, 2021, the Texas Heartbeat bill went into effect, banning abortions as soon...
Litigation Update: SCOTUS and the Texas Heartbeat Bill
Civil Rights Practice Group and Religious Liberties Practice Group Teleforum
On September 1, 2021, the Texas Heartbeat bill went into effect, banning abortions as soon...
Departmentalism: What is the Executive Role in Interpreting laws?
2021 Ohio Lawyers Chapters Conference
On May 7, 2021, the Federalist Society's Ohio lawyers chapters hosted the 2021 Ohio Chapters...