The Associated Press just picked up the story of a report by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum that found Americans surveyed knew more about The Simpsons than about the First Amendment.
Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.
Homer vs. The 1st Amendment
Shocking. Only 22% of Americans can name all five Simpsons family members? I blame the public schools.
Simpson v: Bill of Rights
Well, the Bill of Rights, after all, isn’t part of pop culture. It doesn’t have its own television show. It’s not a fumbling, pseudo-competent buffoon. The Bill of Rights actually stands for something important. Who cares to know about anything like that?
Re:Simpson v: Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights actually stands for something important.
And the 14th Amendment stands for so much more.
And the sixth freedom…
Is the right to be ignorant. “Ignorance of the Law” notwithsanding, it seems to be the right most defended.
Re:Simpson v: Bill of Rights
Not really. The Ninth Amendment states that all rights are coeval. None has greater import or weight than any other, and no person’s rights has greater weight or import than any other person’s rights.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Re:Simpson v: Bill of Rights
For the most part, the Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments ratified in 1791) were a limitation on the Federal Government. That is why first part of the 1st Amendments states that “Congress shall make no law…” rather than “Congress and state governments shall make no law…”.
There was this US Supreme Court case, Barron v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 32 U.S. 243 (1833), that held as a matter of text and history, the state governments were NOT limited by the Bill of Rights. But with the passage of the 14th Amendment (post American Civil War – 1868), there was significant limitaton on state governmental powers and the 14th Amendment became the vehicle through which much of the contents of the Bill of Rights were made binding on the states. Specifically, the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause was the thing that incorporated the Bills of Rights to the states.
This is pretty basic US constitutional law and it shows how important the 14th Amendment is because it applied the Bill of Rights to the state governments(albeit selectively). There is lots of case law on the 14th Amendment because of this.
I’m unsure as to why you mentioned the 9th Amendment; however, my point is that the 14th Amendment is probably the most significant amendment to the constitution because of the incorporation doctrine.
Man, this really strayed from the Simpsons.