Subject: [big campaign] TPs on Progressive Constitution
From: Aniello Alioto <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 09:52:07 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Friends -

Embedded & attached are talking points discussing how the U.S. Constitution,
by its very nature, is a progressive document.

Also, I'd encourage folks who incorporate these TPs into blogposts to link
to CAC's website.  The site expands considerably on each of these points,
and (of course) they'd appreciate any help we can get in raising their
profile. (They are at theusconstitution.org ).

Best,
Aniello

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*CAC Talking Points on the Constitution as a Progressive Document*

   - Conservatives have spent recent decades rallying around the rhetoric of
   “originalism,” largely as a reaction to the landmark Supreme Court decisions
   of the Civil Rights Era. They have attempted to convince the public that
   liberal judges don’t care about the Constitution, and that only a
   conservative legal agenda is in keeping with the Constitution’s text and
   history.

   - Conservatives have it wrong.  Not only do progressives firmly respect
   the text and history of the Constitution, but the best recent scholarship
   has demonstrated that the Constitution is, in its most vital respects, a
   progressive document.

   - The Constitution was written by revolutionaries and amended by those
   who prevailed in the most tumultuous social upheavals in our nation’s
   history -- the Reconstruction Republicans after the Civil War, the
   Progressives and the Suffragists in the early 20th Century, and members
   of the Civil Rights and student movements in the 1950s and 1960s.

   - Even as an 18th Century document, the Constitution started off both
   democratic and highly inclusive for its time, and has become even more
   progressive and protective of rights, liberty and equality by virtue of the
   Amendments added over the past 200 years. Conservative “originalists” often
   ignore these Amendments, preferring to view the Constitution as unchanged in
   two centuries.

   - Conservatives like to think of the Constitution as a document primarily
   aimed at protecting private property and wealth.  This constitutes both an
   incomplete and inaccurate reading of the Constitution.  The post-Civil War
   Amendments (most notably the 13th, 14th, and 15th) fundamentally altered
   our Constitution, transforming  what may have started as a document focused
   on protecting liberty to one equally concerned with protecting equality.

   - Today, many of the advancements progressives have made in fulfilling
   the Constitution’s progressive promise are under attack, while many more
   ways in which the Constitution’s text and history lead to progressive
   outcomes have yet to be recognized by the Supreme Court.  This makes the
   future of the Supreme Court – and the need for strong progressive justices
   who will faithfully adhere to the Constitution’s text and history – crucial
   under an Obama Presidency.

   ***

   - President Obama’s nominees for the federal judiciary, and especially
   for the Supreme Court, should be faithful adherents to the text and history
   of the Constitution.  They should recognize that the Constitution’s text and
   history lead to progressive outcomes in a broad range of areas.

   - *Environmental Law:*  Corporations and special interests have spent
   millions attacking environmental safeguards using interpretations of the
   Constitution that are not in keeping with the document’s text and history.
   President Obama’s nominees should therefore defend the constitutionality of
   environmental laws against these attacks.

   - *Federalism and States’ Rights:*  “We the People” ratified the
   Constitution with the explicit aim of forming a strong national government,
   and we have since amended it to further strengthen the federal government so
   it can ensure the Constitution’s guarantees of liberty and equality.  Yet
   the current Supreme Court has sharply cut back on
   constitutionally-authorized federal protections for women, workers, people
   with disabilities, and the environment.  President Obama’s nominees should
   have a vision of federalism that keeps states as strong “laboratories of
   democracy” while preserving the federal government’s constitutional power to
   address inequalities.

   - *On Human & Civil Rights:*  The post-Civil War Amendments were
   carefully crafted to provide a solid foundation for courts and the federal
   government to protect Americans’ human and civil rights.  President Obama’s
   nominees should understand and uphold the mandate these Amendments create
   for the advancement and protection of a range of civil and human rights.

   - *On Immigration & Citizenship:*  The Fourteenth Amendment grants full
   U.S. citizenship to everyone born on American soil (the sole exception being
   the children of foreign diplomats) or naturalized by the federal
   government.  Accordingly, President Obama’s nominees must defend the
   constitutional rights of new Americans and immigrants.

   - *On Corporate Interests:*  Our Constitution never mentions the term
   “corporation,” referring instead to the rights and liberties of “persons”
   and “citizens.” Yet in recent years the Supreme Court has often given
   corporations more protection that it affords individuals.  President Obama’s
   judicial nominees should adhere to the Constitution’s text and history by
   ensuring greater protection for people than for corporations.

   - *Access to Justice & the Ballot Box:*  Both voting rights and jury
   trials are at the core of our Constitution’s ideal of a government of “We
   the People,” with three separate Amendments dedicated to guaranteeing
   Americans access to juries, and six Amendments addressing Americans’ right
   to vote.  Yet these ideals are often overlooked in practice: many Americans
   have difficulty casting their vote, the modern Supreme Court appears
   disdainful and dismissive of juries, and the Court has increasingly denied
   hearings in federal court to individuals with valid legal claims.
   President Obama’s judicial nominees should uphold the Constitution’s text
   and history in ensuring Americans’ voting rights, the right to trial by
   jury, and access to federal courts.

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