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News & Insight
The Constitution as political rally point
By Joseph Schuman
September 15, 2011

As a rallying cry, “support for the whole constitution” may resonate less than conservatives’ pledges against taxes and abortion. But a coalition of liberal legal groups is nonetheless asking people to back it.

The Constitutional Accountability Center is proposing a pledge of support for the “whole constitution” to counter Tea Party and congressional conservatives who say the federal government has exceeded powers granted under the Constitution, the National Law Journal reports. Accountability Center President Doug Kendall says politicians should stand up for the breadth of constitutional law, including all the amendments.

The conservatives, Kendall charges, are trying to create “a bridge back to the colonial era and the Articles of Confederation” to support, among other things, their anti-tax agenda. In contrast, the seven-sentence constitutional pledge seeks to generate zeal on the left by emphasizing how the Constitution “has been improved” by the likes of the 14th, 16th and 17th amendments. The coalition’s website, ConstitutionalProgressives.org, says that about 12,000 people have signed the pledge.