Is it possible, at this time deeply ideologically divided, to articulate a set of American constitutional democracy in which people around the political spectrum can agree? This was our goal in creation, together with the Law professor at Drexel University, Lisa Tucker, a project that we titled: “We support these truths.” Our goal was to make a diverse group of individuals write these principles, release them on July 4 and use them for public education.
The first step was to recruit about 20 prominent people of the entire ideological spectrum to offer their time as a volunteer to be part of the writing effort. When we contacted people, we were delighted with the enthusiastic response.
The editors included former Republican governors. Christine Todd Whitman and Brian Sandoval. He included prominent democrats such as Stacey Abrams, Pete Buttigieg and Maryland representative Jamie Raskin. The retired general of the four -star army Wesley Clark and civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill were among the first to accept participating. We recruit a former conservative judge of the United States Court of Appeals, Thomas B. Griffith, and one liberal, David Tatel. The best -selling author, Brad Meltzer, joined the writing group. We add prominent law professors, the former dean of Yale Harold Koh Law Faculty and the professor at New York Melissa Murray University.
And we were successful. In just over a month, we were able to reach a unanimous agreement on a set of basic principles of American constitutional democracy. We hope that these principles remind us that what unites us as a country, our deeply sustained underlying values, is greater than what divides us.
We decided from the beginning to focus on five areas: the rule of law, democracy and elections, the separation of powers, personal freedom and equality. We divide into five subgroups to work on these issues and to propose principles to the entire writing group. Then there was the opportunity for answers and reviews.
The key, of course, was to make the statements specific enough to be not topical, but also general enough to be the articulation of basic values.
For the rule of law, we emphasize that to preserve the freedom, equity and stability of our democratic society, the power of the government and other actors must be limited by law and must be responsible.
All people, regardless of their station, must have equality before the law, subject to the same rules, protections, privileges and sanctions. The rule of law requires due process, which before the government can deprive any person of life, freedom or property, the individual must have a significant opportunity to challenge deprivation before an independent and neutral judge. The application of the law, investigations, prosecutions, awards and pardons, must be carried out in accordance with the law, with respect to human dignity and without taking into account the personal or political interests of the Executive.
And the rule of law cannot be preserved without an independent judiciary that is not subject to intimidation by the executive or legislative branches of the government, nor in its account the demands of political parties.
For the separation of powers, we emphasize that a fundamental structural characteristic of the Constitution, and its main safeguarding of our freedom, is separating and putting limits to the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the government in such a way that they verify and balance the power of others.
For democracy and elections, the crucial point is that one depends on the other. We choose representatives to make the laws that we must comply with. To succeed, the elections must be transparent and fair.
A democratic society renounces voters as much as possible, makes the elections accessible and refrain from erect unnecessary barriers to vote. The suppression of voters is antithetical to democracy, and exists when eligible voters cannot register to vote, cast a ballot or have that vote told. In addition, our constitutional republic depends on our shared commitment to the peaceful transfer of power, to accept, honor and respect the electoral results, regardless of whether our favorite candidate wins.
Personal freedoms granted throughout the Constitution and its many amendments are an essential protection against government tyranny and reflect the inherent rights of each person in the United States.
Democracy depends on freedom of expression and press. The government has no right to intimidate or punish anyone simply on the basis of their views and ideas. The Declaration of Rights protects the suspects and accused of crimes with provisions that limit police searches and arrests, guarantee privilege against self -inculpation and provide fair judgments. Our society respects fundamental aspects of autonomy, including the freedom to make important decisions about the life of one.
Finally, equality is a previous condition of freedom. We are all free only when each of us, not only some of us, we are free of discrimination, exclusion and threat. Our differences are our strength, not our weakness. When autocracy and authoritarianism demand loyalty to uniformity, democracy demands otherwise: differences of people and opinion. The voice of each person has the same value in the workplace, the public square and the voting cabin. Equal opportunities, in education, employment and participation in our democracy, is a right, not a privilege, regardless of color, ethnic origin, religion, poverty or wealth. Government decisions about our lives must be free of discrimination, racism, prejudice and favoritism.
Readers can find the principles, as of July 4, in www.weholdtruths.com, 249 years after the signing of the declaration of independence. Our hope is that the Americans of each political persuasion will reaffirm these values, recognizing that the government of, for and by the people, not the monarchy, autocracy or the religious government, is the best way to ensure life, freedom and the search for happiness.
We are not naive about what can be achieved through this effort. But we firmly believe that there is courage to remind ourselves, in the words of the declaration of independence, of the truths that we consider obvious.
Erwin Chermendosky is the dean of the UC Berkeley Law Faculty and a writer who contributes to the voices of opinion. J. Michael Luttig served in the United States Court of Appeals for the Room Circuit from 1991 to 2006; He was appointed by President George Hw Bush.
