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Dear John,
Happy Constitution Day! We honor and celebrate our Constitution, America's greatest achievement in self-governance and the basis for our national democratic republic. I want to share two ways that Americans United for Life is marking this special day.
First, Steven H. Aden, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel at Americans United for Life, marks Constitution Day with his latest at National Review:
“We must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding,” cautioned John Marshall, one of the first Chief Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall, speaking almost exactly two hundred years ago for the Court in McCulloch v. Maryland, had foresight. Forgetting what a constitution is, and what that implies for expounding it, is the central political problem of our day. Constitution Day, September 17th, the date on which the Framers of the Constitution signed the nation’s charter into law, is an opportunity to remember – and take warning. ...
Clearly, Roe needs to go. But there is apparently at least a three-Justice bloc – Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh – that believes that “special justification,” more than mere constitutional error, is required to overturn precedent. Likewise, many have suggested that the Court would or should wait for more than a bare one-member majority to overturn Roe. ...
The only safe channel between the Scylla of public opposition to a Supreme Court decision and the Charybdis of public support for it is to hew only to the principle of federal judicial review on which the Constitution and the federal judiciary is founded. The only way for the Court to avoid looking political is not to be political; the text and history of the Constitution should be the only basis for the Court’s interpretation of the nation’s charter. Or as Chief Justice John Marshall put it in another case, Marbury v. Madison, it is the Court’s duty finally – and merely – to “say what the law is.”
And second, Americans United for Life hosts a lively discussion on Constitution Day on "Life, Liberty, and Law," our new podcast:
Tom Shakely hosts, alongside AUL experts Steven H. Aden, Rachel Morrison, and Clarke Forsythe. In this lively, accessible conversation, Americans United for Life reflects on the Constitution, the Supreme Court's role in preserving the Constitution, and the political nature of Roe v. Wade as it intersects with both the text of the Constitution and the Supreme Court's role in American life.
Listen now, share with your friends, and please rate and review "Life, Liberty, and Law" on Apple Podcasts. Your ratings and reviews help us reach Americans whose hearts aren't yet decided on the human right to life.
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