“We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words, 'We, the people.’” U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1993-2020
Introduction
Is our democracy in peril?
According to a Quinnipiac poll, almost 6 in 10 Americans think that the nation's Democracy is in danger of collapse. The social justice concerns of the past few years have caused many to reexamine how structural institutions impact equity in the 21st Century. Unfortunately, Vanessa Guillén, George Floyd, Breona Taylor, Michelle Go (Links to an external site.), and Congregation Beth Israel, and so many others have become household names because of violence. The U.S. Constitution is the core of the U.S. democracy, yet it was written when the majority of people living in the U.S. were excluded from its founding principles. The Washington Post (Links to an external site.) recently reported that 1700 former congressmen enslaved Black people. Does guaranteeing “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for those who feel oppressed under the current U.S. Constitution depend on how the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) interprets the law.