For Constitution's birthday, let's drop partisanship

By: Richard H. Deane Jr.
Your Turn
Guest columnist

..... Having just marked constitution Day in America, we implore all Americans to understand that the U.S. constitution must remain the foundational bedrock of our democracy. On September 17, 1787, the Founders established a set of rules and principles designed to ensure that our debates are resolved through law and discourse either than by force or fear.
..... The Constitution has survived many crisis - including the Civil War, the Great Depression and Wat4ergate. That our nation has thrived despite these crises is a reminder that our greatest strength is not the absence of disagreement or challenges but the framework we have for resolving those disputes and challenges.
..... As a career trial lawyer and former United States attorney - serving under both political parties - I have routinely dealt with differences of thought, opinion and political affiliation. Such maters are part of the give-and-take in a healthy democracy. But I have never seen what we are witnessing today, when partisan politics and competing ideologies are becoming mistaken for the constitutional rules and principles on which our country was founded.

Civility as a constitutional duty

..... Currently, as president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, I travel the country representing this preeminent group of more that 5,000 trial lawyers in the United States and Canada. We are among the most experienced trial attorneys in our courtrooms, and we routinely find ourselves advocating for competing outcomes. In the courtroom - regardless of the issues we advocate for or the parties we represent - we engage one another with respect. Even when our clients see things vastly differently, our commitment to civility and professionalism remains constant. We need to see more of this mutual respect among our fellow Americans. The Constitution, with its recognition of the need for healthy debate within a framework of checks and balances for decision-making and dispute resolution, can lead us there.
..... In fact, more Americans than ever are looking to the Constitution as a source of guidance and common ground.
..... Recent reporting shows there is a strong thirst for access to the Constitution and our nation;s founding principles, despite our political differences. Earlier this year, [2025] the Associated press reported that market researcher Circana - which tracks around 85% of the print retail market - found that editions including the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were selling at their fastest pace since the analyst began compiling publication date two decades ago. As a result, Random House pushed to release a hardcover book combining the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. constitution. The combined book is now out. It's clear: We the People want to know our rights.
..... As Americans, we must ensure that our common purpose and respect for one another extends beyond our differences. We encourage healthy discourse even as we debate and differ. Our fundamental right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment allows for it - while not protecting "true threats," which are defined as speech intended to incite violence or cause fear of violence.
..... In addition, the Fifth and 14th Amendments were designed to protect us from governmental overreach, with the Due Proves and Equal Protection clauses ensuring that neither the states nor the federal government can infringe on our fundamental rights to life, liberty or property without fair legal procedures.

The rule of law, not politics

..... Today's Americans continue to voice there support for these rights. Last Constitution Day, a national Cato Institute survey conducted with YouGov showed that 85% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Constitution.
...... When asked to rank the importance of constitutionally protected rights, 77% cited equal protection under the law as the most important. Severity percent each cited a fair trial and trial by jury as the most importation rights, and 68% pointed to due process. Our nation's leaders, and those with the power of the microphone, should do everything they can to reinforce and protect those rights and make sure hat the rule of law, not political interests, governs good-faith disputes over the precise meaning of our constitutional guarantees.
..... Having passed another Constitution Day, let us return to and reflect on the document itself - a document that has guided this nation for almost 240 years. Let us not case aside the wisdom of our Founders but instead embrace it, and reject all calls to political action based on hatred, violence and fear.

..... Richard H. "Rick" Denane Jr. is the 75th president of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

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