Constitutional Law

It's Time to Rediscover the Constitution

By Lisa Brown, Executive Director, the American Constitution Society. Today marks the third anniversary of Constitution Day.

Most Americans can name the Three Stooges, but not the three branches of the U.S. Government.
-               2006 Zogby Poll

Most Americans can name more members of Homer Simpson’s cartoon family than can identify the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
-               2006 study by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum

More Americans can identify the winner of American Idol than can name the Chief Justice of the United States.
-               2007 Newsweek Poll

What does our nation’s splendid and durable founding document, the United States Constitution, have to do to garner the respect it deserves? Sure, American politicians, journalists, jurists, lawyers and teachers repeatedly stress its enduring importance, but continuing national ignorance of even the most basic constitutional facts is all too obvious.

Ours is the world’s oldest written constitution still in effect, but how many U.S. citizens realize that or could name the date on which it was signed? Or, more importantly, why that’s significant? Every school child knows the date we declared our independence from the British. But while the Declaration of Independence gets a long July 4th weekend and fireworks, the Constitution has been absent from our national holiday calendar — consigned to mundane study in history or law classes rather than joyous celebrations.

Happily, there is an opportunity to change this, the result of a new federal holiday declared only four years ago. We now recognize September 17th — the date that the 39 delegates to the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution back in 1787 — as Constitution Day. Unlike its better known older sibling, Constitution Day does not evoke backyard barbeques, fireworks and parades. While such celebrations may be unnecessary, our Founders’ vision will not be realized unless we all engage in the life of our Constitution and the life of our nation.

The Constitution’s preamble begins with three majestic words: “We the People.” These words can only have effect if we, the people, understand the basic precepts of our constitutional system of government and our rights and responsibilities. Yet far too few today understand these concepts. Constitution Day offers an opportunity to celebrate and revitalize our Constitution by using it as a springboard to discuss our amazing constitutional democracy and the role we as Americans play in our nation. This is particularly true in an election year leading up to yet another peaceful transfer of power.

It is time to bring the Bill of Rights and other constitutional guarantees to life for new generations of students, young and old. As former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once noted, constitutional guarantees are “tissue-paper bastions if they fail to transcend the printed page.” The Constitution is not simply some aging historical document displayed in the National Archives, but rather defines the powers of our government and the rights of the people on a host of issues that will shape our future.

My organization, the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), a growing network of progressive lawyers, law students, law professors and judges, whose mission is to promote the vitality of our Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses, is working to promote increased constitutional literacy with our “Constitution in the Classroom” project. With the goal of energizing and empowering students to become lifelong participants in the democratic process, we place ACS volunteers in classrooms across the country to teach students about the Bill of Rights with grade-specific lesson plans. But this is just a beginning.

We all need to make our Constitution part of our ongoing dialogue about the future. Begin with small steps — volunteer at a school, read and discuss a portion of the Constitution with a young person or student, talk at the family dinner table about a particular constitutional provision and how it could have an impact on you. Examples could include being fired from a job for your religious beliefs, having your school locker searched or having your medical or telephone records reviewed by the government. The Constitution is a participatory document.

Perhaps Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), sponsor of the statute authorizing Constitution Day, put it best: "Without constant study and renewal of our knowledge of the Constitution and its history, we are in peril of allowing our freedoms to erode. If we fail to understand the importance of the checks and balances between Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Executive Branch, we will not be in a position to know when these checks are threatened."

While a Constitution Day celebration might not need fireworks and marching bands, it most certainly requires a better informed and more engaged citizenry. Cake and balloons wouldn’t hurt either.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on September 17, 2008 (boomark / email).