[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 147 (Thursday, September 17, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4774-S4775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Constitution Day

  Mrs. MOODY. Mr. President, today is Constitution Day. Two hundred 
thirty nine years ago, our Founders signed the Constitution of this 
United States. Every Senator in this room has taken an oath to support 
and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, 
foreign and domestic. And every one of us swore that oath. I did it at 
the same time as Senator Husted, who is on the floor today.
  Our Founders understood the danger of concentrated power; they had 
just fought a revolution against it. And they understood something 
about human nature: Power will always want more power.
  So they put limits on it. They divided power among three branches. 
They built in checks and balances. They preserved the authority of the 
States. And with the Bill of Rights, they made one thing unmistakably 
clear: There are some places government simply cannot go. Government 
cannot silence you because it doesn't like what you say. Government 
cannot take away your right to keep and bear arms. It cannot search 
your home whenever it pleases. It cannot take away your liberty without 
due process. These aren't suggestions. They are hard limits on 
government power.
  Yet today there is a growing movement on the left that treats 
safeguards within our Constitution as obstacles to overcome. You don't 
like a decision from the Supreme Court? Pack the Court, add Justices 
until you get the decisions you want. You don't like the laws of the 
people that are enacted through their representatives? Just have an 
Executive, a rogue prosecutor, refuse to enforce the people's laws. 
Don't like what Americans are saying? Pressure private companies to 
silence them and call it fighting misinformation.
  Again and again, we will see the same pattern when constitutional 
guardrails stand between you and what you want: Simply move the 
guardrails. And that is dangerous. It is the greatest threat to a 
constitutional republic.
  The greatest threat to a constitutional republic is not disagreement. 
It is the belief that your cause is so important that the Constitution 
should get out of your way.
  And today we are seeing something even more fundamental: this 
movement that I referenced to dismantle the institution the 
Constitution created. Right now, democratic socialists are calling for 
a far-reaching change to the very foundation of American Government, 
our Constitution. They want to abolish the Supreme Court, replace the 
Presidency, abolish the electoral college.
  And at some point, we have to admit this stops being an argument 
about policy. It becomes an argument about the very foundation of this 
country, the United States of America. It becomes an attack on the 
Constitution that we all swore an oath to protect and defend because 
when you start dismantling institutions designed to keep power in 
check, the next question has to be: Who keeps power in check then?
  I have had the rare opportunity to see the balance of power, the 
separation of power, from all three branches now. I have served as a 
Federal prosecutor; I have served as an attorney general in the great 
``Free State of Florida''; I have served as a judge for over a decade; 
and now I serve on behalf of the people, making their laws in the 
legislative branch.
  I have seen firsthand why the Founders drew those lines and why we 
must protect them. And that brings me back to our oath to support and 
defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, 
foreign and domestic.
  We know what a foreign enemy looks like. But a threat to our 
constitutional system doesn't have to come from beyond our shores. It 
can come from within the very institutions the Constitution created. 
And what happens when those that have sworn the oath to protect and 
defend the Constitution, what happens when they themselves start 
advocating to dismantle it?
  Right now, we have Members of Congress that have sworn to protect the 
Constitution, but they are coming out and supporting organizations and 
policies and advocacies that would attack and dismantle the things that 
protect people's rights.
  An oath means the most when keeping it becomes inconvenient. Just ask 
the officers, the deputies in my home county of Hillsborough County, 
who took the oath to protect and serve and went into live fire in order 
to do their jobs and uphold their oath.

[[Page S4775]]

  Justice Clarence Thomas recently described the challenge this way:

       It is that devotion that we are missing today and that we 
     must find in our hearts if this Nation is to endure.

  This year, America celebrates 250 years since declaring our 
independence. The Declaration of Independence announced the promise of 
America. The Constitution gave us the system to protect it.
  Our job is not to move its guardrails when they become inconvenient. 
Our job is to defend them because our enemies do not have to defeat 
America on a battlefield if we are willing to tear down from within the 
institution and principles that have sustained this Nation for 250 
years.
  So, today, on Constitution Day, let us remember the oath that each 
one of us took to support the Constitution, to defend the Constitution 
against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Let's remember our duty and 
carry it out faithfully.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. HUSTED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
10 minutes, prior to the scheduled rollcall vote, for myself and 
Senator Heinrich.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.