After graduating from law school, Hammer worked for sixteen months at the
Houston office of
Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He then clerked for Judge
James C. Ho on the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. While establishing himself as an editor at
The Daily Wire and contributor at
TheBlaze, he also worked as of counsel at the
First Liberty Institute. Starting in 2020, Hammer joined
Newsweek as opinion editor. He has since assumed the title of senior editor-at-large. He is also the host of
The Josh Hammer Show, a
Newsweek podcast and syndicated weekly radio show. Also in 2020, he joined
Creators Syndicate as a syndicated columnist. In 2023, he was named a fellow at the Florida-based Palm Beach Freedom Institute. His recent scholarship includes the article "Common Good Originalism", published in the
Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, in which he attempts to theorize a "middle-ground position" and fusion of
originalism and
common good constitutionalism. With the natural law scholar
Hadley Arkes, Matthew Peterson, and Garrett Snedeker, Hammer co-authored, in 2021, the influential manifesto "A Better Originalism", arguing for "a bolder, more robust jurisprudence rooted in the principles and practices of American constitutionalism". Hammer has also contributed to the
University of St. Thomas Law Journal. He previously hosted
America on Trial with Josh Hammer, a legal podcast primarily focused on the
2024 United States presidential election. Hammer remains a member of the bar in Texas, and serves as senior counsel for both the Article III Project and the Internet Accountability Project. The
Southern Poverty Law Center opined that the
Newsweek opinion section under Hammer's tenure had "emerged as a hub for opinion pieces authored by
radical right activists", noting its elevation of
conspiracy theorists such as
Jack Posobiec and
Dinesh D'Souza, and its publication of conspiracy theories about
COVID-19. In December 2022, Hammer attended the annual gala for the
New York Young Republican Club, along with noted
far-right figures such as Posobiec,
Steve Bannon,
Marjorie Taylor Greene, and
Peter Brimelow. == Conservative activism ==