[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 15, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H98]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      READING OF THE CONSTITUTION

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, the House just finished the reading of the 
Constitution. And that's fine. It's a majestic document, greatest of 
its kind, and it's never bad to read it.
  It's one thing to read it and it's another thing to really understand 
it. And to understand it you've got to understand the court decisions 
and how the courts have interpreted the Constitution.
  The courts have recognized the Constitution as a living evolving 
document and that it's not perfect. Congress had to pass an amendment 
to formally abolish slavery. It took the Supreme Court in the Topeka 
Board of Education v. Brown case to abolish Jim Crow, the stepchild of 
slavery and a great stain on this country's history.
  Thanks to Roe v. Wade women have a fundamental right to make medical 
decisions about their own bodies, a right that continues to be 
threatened by this Congress. And while the Constitution grants great 
freedoms, the courts recognize that they come with reasonable 
limitations.
  The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech but doesn't allow us 
to yell fire in a theater or to libel somebody.
  And the Second Amendment, while it gives you the right to bear arms, 
has limitations as well. You can't carry a gun on an airplane or in a 
courtroom, and we need to remember that.
  So just reading the Constitution is one thing, but understanding is 
another. I hope we will understand it and live it and see that we have 
a more perfect union.

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