Our founding fathers considered the first amendment to the Constitution the most important declaration of human rights ever conceived.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Apparently Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas cannot understand the written word. What part of “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech” is he unable to understand?

Thomas is another mistake made by a failed Republican president. He would like to redefine ‘free speech’ in direct opposition to the words of our founding fathers. This is not the first time Thomas attempted to restrict free speech. He would prefer to recreate the amendment according to his personal beliefs. Here’s one example.

In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), Thomas suggested that children and teenagers have no First Amendment rights whatsoever. “The practices and beliefs of the founding generation establish that ‘the freedom of speech,’” he wrote in his Brown dissent, “does not include a right to speak to minors (or a right of minors to access speech) without going through the minors’ parents or guardians.” No other justice joined Thomas’s opinion in Brown.

Thomas, along with other Republican justices, continue to insist that the second amendment be taken literally; why not the first? Unfortunately, the Court has become politicized although its only responsibility is to decide whether or not a rule or law is upholding or violating the Constitution.

I, and many other political junkies believe that term limits for congress and Supreme Court Justices would save democracy for the American people.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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