Principle #1 from the Enacting Clause (Preamble) of the United States Constitution
Full Episode Transcript
On September the 10th in 2022, John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said:
“Obviously people can say what they want. And they’re certainly free to criticize the Supreme Court. And if they want to say that its legitimacy is in question they’re free to do so but I don’t understand the connection between opinions that people disagree with and the legitimacy of the Court.”
The Declaration of Independence incorporated a doctrine first articulated as “the consent of the governed” by John Duns Scotus in his Lectura and Ordinatio of the 1290s. That phrasing, adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress on July the 4th in 1776, was an unambiguous acknowledgment of the new nation’s cardinal precepts. Their expanded phrasing further defined government’s legitimacy. The Declaration stated that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
On the United States Court’s website we find the following statement: “Establish Justice is the first of five objectives outlined in the 52-word paragraph that the Framers drafted in six weeks during the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787.” In fact, the words: “in Order to form a more perfect Union” precede “Establish Justice” and any literate person would reasonably infer that the forming of such a union is a clearly stated objective. In fact, there are seven objectives advanced through the Preamble.
The United State’s Constitution’s first three words “We the People” are also a clear indication that the consent of the governed was foremost in the minds of the framers, that any and all of government’s legitimate functions are clearly derived therefrom. The Preamble is the Enacting Clause. The expressed intent, that the nation was to be formed by We the People, is widely understood to be a clearly defined objective.
The citizenry is ultimately responsible for insuring the faithful interpretation of The Constitution’s Mission Statement, its Defining Objectives, and its Guiding Principles. Implicit to the statement “We the People of the United States” is that we are the stewards of a Constitution that is designed to facilitate the formation of a unified nation. It is much, much more than a treaty between separate sovereign states.
Understanding this constitutional imperative is first among the most basic qualifications for anyone holding a position of honor and trust on the United States Supreme Court or elsewhere in government. The Enacting Clause of the Constitution has been targeted by malign actors throughout the history of the United States. They have persuaded the Judiciary to rule that it is to have no operative effect. And, We the People never, ever consented to that!