Читать книгу Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court, and the Bill of Rights - Steven T. Seitz - Страница 5

This book focuses on the 2nd Constitution: The Bill of Rights and Civil War Amendments. It is the 2nd Constitution that implies the worth and dignity of every individual, the capacity of the individual for self-direction and self-development, and the social capacity to live among each other. Freedom of speech inheres in individuals but not states. Soon, the same rights applied against the states by incorporation through the 14th Amendment. Except for the 13th Amendment, these rights do not operate on the individual but central, state, and local governments. The 2nd Constitution is a negative or passive document rather than a positive or active one. Thus, I have freedom of speech, not because a government bestows it upon me, but because the document forbids governments taking it away from me (by and large). Now three centers of power claim some form of sovereignty: the central government, the state governments, and the individual.

Early administrations, federal or anti-federal, championed central government sovereignty or state sovereignty, respectively. The Civil War should have ended the pull and tug between the two power poles. The 14th Amendment eventually incorporated checks and balances against state action as well as central government action. Limiting state action eventually enhanced the individual’s protected sphere into which the 2nd Constitution precluded governments from entering. SCOTUS would take decades routinely to enforce the protected sphere of individuals. The interests of the individual had separated from state interests. The three sovereignties were apparent.