{"id":2397,"date":"2016-09-16T12:12:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T12:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/?p=2397"},"modified":"2016-09-16T12:12:10","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T12:12:10","slug":"a-tribute-to-our-living-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2016\/09\/16\/a-tribute-to-our-living-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tribute To Our Living Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Isaac Saidel-Goley*<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In honor of Constitution Day, I reflect on what I have learned from countless pages of constitutional law cascading from a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/civics\/constitution_item\/constitution.htm\">brief document<\/a> that I have had the privilege to spend the past few years of my life studying.<\/p>\n<p>I have learned that the Constitution is not, and has never been, perfect. Not even close. It was crafted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-Founding-Fathers-and-Slavery-1269536\">flawed framers<\/a> and has been interpreted by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/supremecourt\/capitalism\/robes_mcreynolds.html\">imperfect jurists<\/a>. It has enshrined <a href=\"http:\/\/press-pubs.uchicago.edu\/founders\/tocs\/a1_9_1.html\">slavery<\/a>; condoned <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.law.columbia.edu\/faculty_franke\/Gay_Marriage\/Plessy.pdf\">segregation<\/a>; authorized the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/323\/214\">involuntary internment<\/a> of over 100,000 Japanese Americans; sanctioned the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princeton.edu\/~ereading\/Buck%20v.%20Bell_%20Supreme%20Court%20Opinion.pdf\">forced sterilization<\/a> of the intellectually disabled; repeatedly denied liberty, equality, and dignity to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornellcollege.edu\/politics\/courses\/allin\/365-366\/documents\/dredscott_v_sandford.pdf\">racial<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/478\/186\">sexual<\/a> minorities; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/12pdf\/12-96_6k47.pdf\">invalidated progressive legislation<\/a> enacted to protect vulnerable populations; and promoted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornellcollege.edu\/politics\/courses\/allin\/365-366\/documents\/dredscott_v_sandford.pdf\">white<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/83\/130\/case.html\">male<\/a> supremacy in countless ways throughout its history.<\/p>\n<p>These immeasurable failures have tested my faith in the Constitution, just as they have tested my faith in humanity. But they have also taught me an important lesson; namely, that the true beauty of the Constitution, and the reason it has endured throughout the last two centuries, is that it <em>lives<\/em>. It adapts. It molds to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/356\/86\">the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society<\/a>,\u201d and it allows for (and often spearheads) the gradual perfection of our Union. Despite its deeply imperfect history, the Constitution, like our nation, has consistently (if slowly) approached perfection. Over the past two centuries, it has abolished <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/program\/bib\/ourdocs\/13thamendment.html\">slavery<\/a>; condemned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.princeton.edu\/~ereading\/Brown1.pdf\">segregation<\/a>; enfranchised <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/program\/bib\/ourdocs\/15thamendment.html\">African Americans<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/historical-docs\/document.html?doc=13\">women<\/a>; protected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/jame\/learn\/historyculture\/upload\/Loving-v-Virginia.pdf\">interracial<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/14pdf\/14-556_3204.pdf\">same-sex<\/a> marriage; promoted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/410\/113\">reproductive justice<\/a>; secured our freedom of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/403\/15\">speech<\/a>; preserved our freedom <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/508\/520\/case.pdf\">of<\/a> (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supremecourt\/text\/393\/97\">from<\/a>) religion; and advanced the <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/517\/620\/case.html\">equality<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/supct\/pdf\/02-102P.ZO\">liberty<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/14pdf\/14-556_3204.pdf\">dignity<\/a> of historically vulnerable populations on countless occasions. It gives me great pride, and great hope, to know that these are just a few of the many triumphs of our living Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so,\u201d as Justice Thurgood Marshall so eloquently <a href=\"http:\/\/thurgoodmarshall.com\/the-bicentennial-speech\/\">observed<\/a>, \u201cwe must be careful, when focusing on the events which took place in Philadelphia two centuries ago, that we not overlook the momentous events which followed, and thereby lose our proper sense of perspective. . . . If we seek, instead, a sensitive understanding of the Constitution\u2019s inherent defects, and its promising evolution through 200 years of history . . . [w]e will see that the true miracle was not the birth of the Constitution, but its life, a life nurtured through two turbulent centuries of our own making, and a life embodying much good fortune that was not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>*Isaac Saidel-Goley is a 3L at Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Isaac Saidel-Goley* In honor of Constitution Day, I reflect on what I have learned from countless pages of constitutional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[323,324,42],"class_list":["post-2397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-constitution","tag-constitution-day","tag-constitutional-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/89\/2016\/09\/file0001722308752-1160x1547.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZQka-CF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}