U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy paid his first visit to the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall on Monday.
Kennedy wrote the majority opinion ruling the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in the U.S. v. Windsor case last year. He is the deciding swing vote in many cases, and therefore is particularly influential among the justices.
During his visit, Kennedy talked about the history of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the judiciary. Apart from discussing the basic framework and elements of the Constitution, Kennedy also opened the floor to a thought-provoking discourse on the principles of egalitarianism in the United States.
Kennedy was most poignant when exploring the principles of civic discourse the ancient Greeks of Athens swore an oath to uphold.
“They thought of freedom as a civic collective exercise in planning the destiny of your own people,” Kennedy said. “And the Greeks took an oath to participate in community affairs. The Greek citizen swore that ‘I will engage in civic affairs to the end that Athens will be more beautiful, more safe and more free for the next generation than it is now.’”
Kennedy used this example to illustrate what he felt was the meaning of the Constitution.
“They failed in that oath but they teach us that the meaning of the Constitution is that it creates a conversation over time,” Kennedy said.
He then impressed the need upon the audience, and citizens in general, to uphold a similar duty.
“Is it not too much to ask that our public dialogue be probing, rational, respectful, thoughtful, decent and not driven by partisanship?” Kennedy posed.
He concluded with a powerful statement on the freedom the Constitution has grown to encompass, and his frustrations with the broken civic dialogue within the legislature.
“The verdict on freedom is still out. Half the world is the jury and they are out, and they are looking to you to see if freedom works, and this country owes a duty to the Constitution, to itself and to the idea of freedom to conduct a decent, rational, respectful, probing civic discourse — and we don’t have it. The Constitution’s vitality and permanence is not guaranteed. It’s up to you.”
At a Q&A session after the talk, PGN submitted written questions to the moderator regarding the judiciary’s responsibility to ensure equality for LGBT citizens in all 50 states in light of the court’s decision last year (but leaving it to each state to determine its validity within their borders), and what in the Constitution could provide for the affirmative (despite that it lacks explicit language extending protection to LGBT individuals), but the moderator chose not to ask them.