or a minimum of a portion of us. “I Am an American Day,” which preceded Constitution Day, used to attract large audiences who joyfully celebrated with speeches and music. These days, not much is made of the festival. Some use it as a pretext to criticize our constitution, which is the world’s oldest surviving charter of government.
Hatred of the Constitution has become so widespread that The News has argued it is “dangerous,” “broken,” and “should not be reclaimed,” whether it is because it “limits democracy” or because it blocks popular aspirations to incorporate racial politics into the law. Who thought that ageless and universal values like due process and equality before the law?
Despite what some detractors claim, the most severe injustices in the history of our country have occurred when the government has deviated from the original intent of the Constitution. Think about the cases of Buck v. Bell, Korematsu v. United States, and Plessy v. Ferguson. Each case is a stain on the legal history of our country and came about as a result of the Supreme Court’s departure from the wording of the Constitution.
