All three of President Trump’s Supreme Court appointees urged Americans to learn history and civics as the nation marks its 250th anniversary in interviews filmed ahead of the Federalist Society’s annual convention.
Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh, Neil M. Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett were interviewed by the conservative and libertarian legal organization for its National Lawyers Convention under the theme “250 Years of American Exceptionalism.”
Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch spoke about the role of historical knowledge in preserving the republic.
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Justice Gorsuch said it’s easy to take advantage of the rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
“The reason why our Constitution and Declaration have survived is because people choose it anew in every generation. You need to know its history. You need to know what you’re preserving,” he said. “Daniel Webster said it took 6,000 years for us to generate a system of government like this. Don’t expect that to happen easily or again.”
Justice Kavanaugh said the education system is “absolutely fundamental” to preserving the republic for another 250 years.
“Teaching American history, teaching the values of this country, the history of this country, why this country exists, how this country has been preserved, how this country has been improved over time, for example, by our constitutional amendment process and otherwise,” he said.
Justice Barrett said Americans are participants in “the American project,” and pointed to the last line of the Declaration of Independence.
“It ends with a mutual pledge in which the signatories to the document mutually pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the success of the American project. And they made good on that promise,” she said.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, was not part of the Federalist Society videos. She spoke Nov. 7 at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia, at a conference on the past and future of American democracy.
Justice Sotomayor said the country is in a “rough patch” for the rule of law and civic discourse. She said some norms may be lost for good but that she does not think democracy will fail.
Bloomberg Government has reported that more than half of the justices have past membership or other ties to the Federalist Society, including Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
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