Supreme Court turns back clock
The Fourth of July is occasion for serious reflection, an opportunity to revisit the words of our Declaration of Independence. It invites us to assess the present state of our Union in view of the signing of that foundational document in 1776.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …”
My reflections this year invoked the speech that abolitionist, social reformer and formerly enslaved man, Frederick Douglass, delivered to the citizens of Rochester, N.Y., in July 1852, upon the 76th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” asked Douglass, his answer blistering. “I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license … your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery … a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages … You declare, before the world … that you ‘hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;’ and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage … a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.”
Reading the Douglass speech — which includes horrifying references to the lucrative slave trade, the experience of enslaved people, and the fact that slavery was enshrined in the Constitution and embedded in law — I wondered how, against this backdrop, our forefathers were able to proclaim universal equality and unalienable human rights. Clearly, their own accepted reality was rife with inequality, injustice, and enslavement. In their unquestioned social world, all men were far from equal, and women were excluded from any explicit consideration of equality or unalienable rights.
Enslavement, racism, sexism, inequity, and injustice were systemic in their society, all part of a taken-for-granted world. This 18th-century social reality belied their lofty vision. And yet, their ground-breaking declaration contained seeds for exceptional growth, the potential for a fledgling nation to become that proclaimed ideal.
At a time when almost no government derived authority from the consent of the governed, this was a revolutionary declaration, as was the assertion that such government be instituted to secure universal human rights. Guided by that vision during nearly 250 years, “we the people” have moved our nation closer toward making it a reality, but still have far to go.
Given this long and challenging journey toward a place that ensures liberty, justice, and equality for all, it’s troubling that the Supreme Court now turns the clock back on so many fronts, including whitewashing the systemic racism that’s our enslavement legacy.
The three justices who dissented from the “race neutral” majority opinion that ended affirmative action argued that America is not, and never has been, colorblind.
“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat,” wrote Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent. “But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.”
Such whitewashing obscures the vision our forefathers bequeathed us. It makes the journey more difficult, as do MAGA efforts to reverse direction and hearken back to a white, male-dominated, anti-LGBTQ+, non-diverse Christian nation.
These self-proclaimed “patriots,” are on a fascist path. In the name of liberty, they seek to control what we read, shape the historical narrative, and police the nation. In the name of freedom, they suppress diverse and inclusive expression. They perpetuate racism through an invented CRT bogeyman.
Here, the Supreme Court drew a line. In deciding Moore v Harper, the justices thwarted an effort that would have let state legislatures undermine free and fair elections, blocking the fascist path. Reaffirming the checks and balances that underpin democracy, they reinforce the foundations of our precious July Fourth heritage.