[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 134 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S6799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
228TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CONSTITUTION
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, we celebrate the 228th anniversary
of the signing of the Constitution of the United States. Some elected
officials talk about their love of ``the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights''. That specific phrasing is interesting in that it somehow
implies that the Constitution does not itself include the Bill of
Rights, which of course it does. But it contains much more than those
original 10 amendments. Each year, I remind Americans that we must
celebrate not just the original Constitution of Washington, Hamilton,
Madison, and the Founding generation but the whole Constitution,
including its 27 amendments. This includes the 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments, which many scholars have rightly described as our Nation's
Second Founding.
The Senate commemorated the Sesquicentennial or the 150th anniversary
of the Second Founding earlier this year when the Senate passed a
resolution raising awareness about this series of amendments, which
provided the country with a new birth of freedom. Ratified by President
Lincoln and his generation after the Civil War, these Second Founding
amendments transformed our original charter--most fundamentally--by
elevating the principle of equality to a central place in our
constitutional order.
This year, the Supreme Court once again upheld the Constitution's
promise of equality when it ruled that the 14th Amendment of the
Constitution protects the right of each American to marry the person
they love, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Because of that ruling, LGBT children all across America will grow up
knowing that they can love without fear, and that they are equal
citizens of this great Nation.
Although the Constitution provides us with the promise of equality,
we must never forget that it is up to all of us to advance and protect
that intrinsic American value of equality. Each generation must do its
part. This is true whether it is racial equality, gender equality, or
equality based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. We
have come a long way in each of those areas, but we continue to have
work to do.
On racial equality, too many of our citizens continue to face racial
discrimination in voting. As a result of the Supreme Court's dreadful
ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, Americans across the country are now
vulnerable to racially discriminatory voting laws that restrict the
franchise without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. On
this 50th anniversary year of the March in Selma and of the Voting
Rights Act, we must do all we can to restore and enhance the
protections of that landmark legislation.
On gender equality, we continue to see women being paid less than men
for doing the same job. We also continue to see partisan attacks on
women's health care choices. From legislation blocking these choices to
efforts defunding critical health services for women, we clearly have a
long way to go to ensure gender equality.
And while LGBT Americans are now able to marry the person they love,
they continue to experience discrimination in other aspects of their
lives. Achieving full equality means that LGBT individuals should be
able to provide for their families without fear that they will be fired
from their jobs or denied housing. It means that a restaurant should
not be able to refuse to serve an LGBT couple because the owner
disapproves of that couple's relationship. New civil rights laws are
needed to protect LGBT Americans so they can live their lives free from
discrimination.
We must uphold this promise of equality for the vulnerable and the
voiceless as well. We are a nation of immigrants with a long, proud
history of opening our doors and welcoming people from around the
world. After all, the Statue of Liberty has long proclaimed America's
welcome: ``Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free. . . . Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I
lift my lamp beside the golden door.'' That is what America has long
stood for and what we should continue to represent. Instead, I have
seen ugly partisan rhetoric about changing the 14th Amendment of our
Constitution to remove birthright citizenship specifically to target
immigrants. We should be a nation that embraces and lifts our most
vulnerable, not a nation that acts out of spite or malice.
We must also fight for the voices of all Americans and not just
corporations or the wealthy few. Our country has flourished because we
have worked hard to ensure that more, not fewer, Americans can take
part in the democratic process. Instead, our campaign finance laws have
been eviscerated by a Supreme Court that views money as speech and
refuses to place any limits on the ability of the wealthy and special
interests to drown out hard-working Americans. The Court has also
irrationally limited the definition of ``corruption'' in our campaign
finance laws to just bribery. But unlike a narrow majority of the
Court, the public understands that corruption is not just bribery;
rather, corruption is the idea that money buys access and influences
our democracy for a wealthy few. This cannot be allowed in our
democracy. The size of your bank account cannot and should not
determine whether and how the government responds to your needs. We
must act to restore the First Amendment and to preserve those
protections to ensure that all voices can be heard in the democratic
process.
Constitution Day is an occasion to celebrate our founding charter and
the historic democracy it has caused and fostered. It is also a time to
reflect on what we are doing as citizens to uphold the promises that
the Constitution has provided. I encourage all Americans to mark this
day by reading the whole Constitution and celebrating how it reflects
the great progress we have made to become a more inclusive and stronger
democracy.
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