About Civitas Outlook

Civitas Outlook is the online journal of the Civitas Institute. The journal represents a community of scholars and thinkers who write about the core ideas of freedom and virtue, constitutionalism, economic growth, and dynamism crucial to citizenship and flourishing as human persons in a free society.

The opinions expressed in Civitas Outlook are solely those of the writers and do not reflect those of the Civitas Institute or the University of Texas at Austin.

Richard M. Reinsch II

Editor-in-chief of Civitas Outlook

Richard M. Reinsch II is editor in chief of the Civitas Institute’s Civitas Outlook. He was the founding editor of the online magazine Law & Liberty.

Immediately before joining Civitas, he was the editor in chief and director of publications of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) where he introduced the Institute’s white paper program, helped launch two new podcasts, Qualified Opinions and Econception, and led AIER’s online journal, The Daily Economy.

Contributing Editors

Jonathan H. Adler
Jonathan H. Adler
Inaugural Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the founding Director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Josh Blackman
Josh Blackman
Professor of Law and Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law at South Texas College of Law Houston.
Samuel Gregg
Samuel Gregg
Friedrich Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research.
Yuval Levin
Yuval Levin
Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. He is the founder and editor of National Affairs.
Joseph Postell
Joseph Postell
Associate Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College.
Veronique de Rugy
Veronique de Rugy
George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a nationally syndicated columnist.
Scott Winship
Scott Winship
Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Steven F. Hayward
Steven F. Hayward
Steven F. Hayward is the Edward Gaylord distinguished visiting professor at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy.
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Civitas Outlook

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Inflation Killed The Penny

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Jonathan Hartley
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Dec 9, 2025

Upending American Immigration

Trump’s sweeping deportation talk amid a recent tragedy is reckless hyperbole and risks doing lasting damage to America’s global standing.

Richard Epstein
Politics
Dec 9, 2025

Chadha’s Mistakes and the Diminished Congress

The Chadha decision fueled the executive ascendancy that Chevron soon cemented, leaving Congress weakened in its wake.

Joseph Postell
Constitutionalism
Dec 8, 2025

Ken Burns' Egregious Omission

Ken Burns doesn’t smear the Founders, but he egregiously omits the courage and tireless work it took not only to declare independence, but to fight for it.

Pursuit of Happiness
Dec 5, 2025

Remembering Ed Banfield's “The Unheavenly City"

Banfield’s most valuable work describes phenomena we have all recently noticed: the easy transition from student to activist to revolutionary to criminal.

Politics
Dec 4, 2025
Who we are

We are a community of scholars exploring the ideas and institutions that create flourishing societies.

The Civitas Institute is part of the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.

Independent thought, civil discourse, reasoned deliberation and intellectual curiosity are central to our ethos.

Learn more