[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 15, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H4535-H4537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE 158TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Mejia 
of New Jersey was recognized for 30 minutes.)


                             General Leave

  Ms. MEJIA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. MEJIA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page H4536]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud co-chair of the House 
Democratic Caucus' Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force.
  This month, we mark the 158th anniversary of one of the most 
important amendments ever added to our Constitution.
  Forged in the aftermath of the Civil War and paid for by the blood, 
sweat, and tears of Black freedom fighters and their allies, the 14th 
Amendment declared that every person born in these United States is 
anointed with inalienable rights and responsibilities, never to be 
infringed upon by the actions of any State or entity.
  Together, with the 13th and 15th amendments, it marked what 
historians call: The second founding of our Nation, an effort to build 
a democracy that truly includes everyone.
  History reminds us that writing rights into our Constitution is only 
the beginning.
  For decades after Reconstruction, millions of Black Americans were 
denied those very rights through segregation, voter suppression, and 
racial violence.
  The Constitution had not changed. What changed was whether or not our 
country chose to enforce it. It took generations of organizing and 
sacrifice before Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and 
began making good on the promise that existed for nearly a century.
  That history matters because it teaches us an important lesson: 
Constitutional rights do not appear or disappear overnight. They are 
built or weakened piece by piece, action by action. Court decisions, 
legislation, political rhetoric, actions that slowly erode the 
institutions designed to protect our democracy.
  Viewed in isolation, the current challenges to birthright 
citizenship, due process, equal protection, and the freedom to vote may 
seem like isolated political actions, but viewed together it becomes 
crystal clear that our Constitution and the promise of our second 
founding is under attack.

  What is more? It is clear that it is our duty as true patriots to 
combat it. That is why House Democrats created the Defend the 14th 
Amendment Task Force.
  Our mission is simple: Defend the constitutional rights that 
generations of Americans fought to secure. Our rights are not 
guaranteed simply because they are written down. They endure because 
people defend them.
  The generations before us marched, organized, and sacrificed to make 
the promises of the 14th Amendment real. They understood that democracy 
requires participation, accountability, and constant vigilance.
  Now, that responsibility belongs to us. Every generation faces a 
defining test. For generations that ratified the 14th Amendment, it was 
whether America would finally recognize citizenship and the humanity of 
those who had been enslaved.
  For the generations that marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, it 
was whether every American would have an equal voice at the ballot box.
  Our generation faces a different question: Will we preserve those 
constitutional guarantees for the generations that follow? As long as I 
have the privilege of serving in this House, I will continue fighting 
to protect that promise for every family, community, and generation to 
come.
  Mr. Speaker, the Constitution is only as strong as our willingness to 
defend it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver).
  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud co-chair of the 
Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force because I believe in one simple 
truth: The 14th Amendment is now under siege.
  For more than 150 years this amendment has stood as one of the 
greatest promises our Nation has ever made: That every person born in 
this country is entitled to equal protection under the law and that no 
government may deny anyone due process simply because of who they are 
or where they were an immigrant from.
  It was born from one of the darkest chapters in American history. 
After slavery ended, our Nation faced a choice: We could preserve 
injustice under a different name, or we could expand the promise of 
freedom.
  The 14th Amendment was our answer. It declared boldly that 
citizenship could not be rationed, equality could not be optional, and 
liberty belonged to all of us.
  Today, that promise is being tested. This administration has made no 
secret of its willingness to chip away at the constitutional 
protections generations of Americans have fought, marched, bled, and 
even died to secure.
  They are using every tool at their disposal to weaken the very rights 
that safeguard us all. For me, this fight is deeply personal.

                              {time}  1830

  I was born in the Jim Crow South, little place called Waxahachie, 
Texas. I came of age in a nation where equal protection existed only on 
paper long before it existed in practice.
  I marched with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference starting 
when I was 15 years old. The SCLC was led by a young preacher by the 
name of Martin Luther King, Jr. I marched because I believed America 
could become what it claimed to be. I believed that the Constitution 
should protect every citizen equally. I witnessed firsthand what 
happens when governments decide some people deserve fewer rights than 
others.
  The progress we celebrate today did not happen by accident. It 
happened because brave Americans demanded that the 14th Amendment 
finally be honored. It was the Equal Protection Clause that became the 
constitutional foundation for Brown v. Board of Education, ending 
legally sanctioned segregation in our public schools.
  It was the 14th Amendment that strengthened the fight against 
discriminatory voting laws, housing discrimination, and unequal 
treatment in employment.
  It was the 14th Amendment that has protected interracial marriage, 
expanded equality for women, safeguarded the rights of people with 
disabilities, and affirmed the dignity of LGBTQ Americans.
  Time and time again, when our Nation has taken a step toward justice, 
it has done so because someone stood up and insisted that the words of 
the 14th Amendment actually meant what they say. That is why attack of 
any kind on equal protection and due process are not isolated legal 
disputes. They are attacks on the very foundation of modern civil 
rights.
  They are attacks on the constitutional principle that tell every 
child they matter before the law. They are the attacks on the 
guarantees that protect workers from exploitation, families from 
discrimination, religious liberty, voting rights, and the simple 
expectation that government must treat people fairly.
  When government weakens these protections for one group, it weakens 
them for everyone.
  History teaches us that constitutional rights are rarely lost all at 
once. They are chipped away slowly, one exception, one excuse, one 
precedent at a time until Americans wake up and discover that what once 
seemed guaranteed has quietly disappeared.
  We cannot allow this to happen.
  Our constituents know what is at stake. They understand that the 
promise of America has been bigger than politics. They know that the 
Constitution belongs to every American, not just those in power.
  As the co-chair of the 14th Amendment Task Force, I stand with my 
colleagues in defense of one of the most important guarantees ever 
written into our Constitution. We will defend equal protection. We will 
defend due process. We will defend, yes, birthright citizenship. We 
will continue fighting until the promise of the 14th Amendment is not 
merely something we celebrate in history books, but something that 
every American can experience in their daily lives.
  The struggle to perfect our Union has never been easy, but every 
generation is called to protect the freedoms it inherited. Now, it is 
our turn.
  Ms. MEJIA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington 
(Ms. Randall), my fellow co-chair.
  Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Mejia for her 
leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, the 14th Amendment means what it says: ``All persons 
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the 
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. . . .'' Those 
are the words on paper.

[[Page H4537]]

  Donald Trump and Stephen Miller attempted to rewrite the Constitution 
through an executive order banning birthright citizenship for the 
children of undocumented immigrants. It is the same legal arguments 
that were first used when a white supremacist wanted to deny U.S. 
citizenship to Chinese Americans.
  Four Supreme Court Justices dissented in the ruling to protect the 
14th Amendment. That tells us that we are not safe from these 
continuous attacks from Donald Trump and his administration on our 
Constitution, on our freedom, and on our neighbors.
  We know that the White House is currently scheming to have Trump's 
activist Supreme Court rehear the case that upheld the 14th Amendment, 
that upheld birthright citizenship.
  This is all part of a larger agenda to dehumanize Black and Brown 
people in this country, to strip away their rights, and to normalize 
questioning who belongs here. Who is American enough?
  It is why Republicans have funded Donald Trump's immigration agenda 
by $200 billion and why on the 158th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, 
my colleagues and I launched the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force.
  Our goal is simple: to defend the Constitution, to coordinate 
oversight and public education efforts, and to respond strongly to the 
Trump administration's attacks on our rights, on our freedom, on our 
Constitution, our country, and our communities.
  We will stand up to these attacks on civil liberties. We must 
continue this fight to ensure that the citizens of the United States 
are protected and that nothing erodes these constitutional protections. 
It is our duty. It is our responsibility, and it is the oath we swore 
when we took this public office.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a co-chair of this task force and so 
proud to stand here in defense of our Constitution.
  Ms. MEJIA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chair Aguilar and my fellow co-
chairs, Representatives Cleaver, Randall, Simon, and Subramanyam, for 
their leadership in launching the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force.
  This work is about protecting the Constitution's promise that every 
person deserves equal protection, due process, and the full rights of 
citizenship.
  Those principles have shaped generations of progress in our country, 
and they are worth defending today just as they were 158 years ago. We 
owe it to those who came before us and those who will follow us to 
ensure that that promise endures.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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