David French

I’m an Opinion columnist for The New York Times, where I write about law, culture, religion, and armed conflict. You can sign up for my weekly newsletter.

What I Cover

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.

My Background

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.

Journalistic Ethics

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.

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