Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Petitioning Congress, Restoring a Basic Constitutional Right

Opinion

Petitioning Congress, Restoring a Basic Constitutional Right

A person signing papers.

Pexels, Cytonn Photography

Now and then, like an old but long-forgotten friend, something we once valued greatly involuntarily comes to mind, reminding us how much we have changed. So, it is with our right to petition the members of Congress.

Lest we forget…American colonists went to war to preserve their ability to complain to their government. In 1775, members of the Second Continental Congress sent George III a petition, asking that they be allowed to negotiate with him in order to avoid conflict. As British subjects, they could expect this appeal would reach the king as petitioning had been granted by the English monarchy for nearly a century. But, George flatly refused to accept the colonists’ plea, dismissively branding them as traitors. Largely out of frustration with this response, the assembled legislators voted to declare the colonies’ independence and settle this issue on the battlefield. Thus, not surprisingly, when the Bill of Rights was drafted after the Revolution, petitioning the government was enshrined in the First Amendment as a fundamental right that could never be “abridged.”


Fast forward to the 1990s: email was becoming widely used and members of Congress were wary about how they would be able to deal with this new means of communication. Their staff was already swamped by the daily avalanche of letters and the legislators could not see how they could manage a much greater deluge, arriving through the Internet. So, quietly, without putting this policy into law, the lawmakers changed the rules for corresponding with them: henceforth, only mail from constituents would be accepted. Inquiries, comments, suggestions, and criticism from persons residing outside their Congressional districts and (for Senators) states would be refused. Ironically, members of the U.S. Congress took their stand on the side of George III.

Today, petitioning any and all members of Congress remains an inconvenient, neglected right. While it is unequivocally affirmed in our Constitution (as a “cognate” right, promoting democracy) and unambiguously protected by federal law, the scope of petitioning has been greatly reduced: out of 535 members of the legislative branch, you and I have access only to three—our two Senators and one member of the House. (Groups can still send petitions to all legislators: it’s only individuals who are so limited.) As far as I know, over the past 30 years, not a single member of Congress has argued that this residency requirement is unconstitutional, let alone proposing to get rid of it. (When you hear a lawmaker suggest “Write to your Congressman,” he is really telling you that your opinion doesn’t matter to him.) Meanwhile, lobbyists, special-interest groups, and—of course—donors face no such barriers. Money and powerful influence can flow uninterrupted across district and state lines, while ordinary citizen mail cannot.

What is to be done about this unlawful practice that is so inimical to engaging ordinary Americans with the legislative process? (Public opinion polls indicate that the perceived indifference of lawmakers to public interests is making Congress increasingly unpopular.) If members of the House and Senate violate the Constitution, we, logically, might seek a remedy in the courts, but there’s no sympathetic ear there either. Recently, a case that I had brought in Connecticut, challenging petition restrictions, was dismissed by a district court judge on the grounds that Congressional communications are a “legislative activity,” and, as such, enjoy “absolute immunity” from judicial review. And Congress, well…that’s the door that’s already tightly shut.

It seems that our best hope lies with technology. In the age of AI, arguments about Congressional offices being overwhelmed by mass mailings no longer hold any water. They can no longer justify limitations on restricting public access. To drive home this point and convince Congress to change its ways, citizens will need to make use of the petition itself—by organizing a massive grassroots campaign to advocate for the restoration of this once sacred, inviolable, and unrestricted right. Petitioning is as important nowadays as the Founders intended it to be, not as George III wanted it to be.

John V. H. Dippel, an independent historian, has written several books on various topics in modern American and European history. In the late 1960s, he successfully petitioned several Senators to take up the cause of increasing First Amendment rights for members of the U.S. military. He welcomes the chance to lay out the case for doing so now through The Fulcrum.

Read More

A portrait of John Adams.

John Adams warned that without virtue, republics collapse. Today, billionaire spending and unchecked wealth test whether America can place the common good above private gain.

John Adams Warned Us: A Republic Without Virtue Cannot Survive

John Adams understood a truth that feels even sharper today: a republic cannot endure without virtue. Writing to Mercy Otis Warren in April 1776, he warned that public Virtue cannot exist in a Nation without [private virtue], and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.” For Adams, liberty would not be preserved by clever constitutions alone. It depended on citizens who could restrain their selfish impulses for the sake of the common good.

That insight has lost none of its force. Some people do restrain themselves. They accumulate enough to live well and then turn to service, family, or community. Others never stop. Given the chance, they gather wealth and power without limit. Left unchecked, selfishness concentrates material and social resources in the hands of a few, leaving many behind and eroding the sense of shared citizenship on which democracy depends.

Keep ReadingShow less
Protest sign, We the people.
Protests have been sparked across the country over the last few weeks.
Gene Gallin on Unsplash

Why Constitution Day Should Spark a Movement for a New Convention in 2037

Sept. 17 marked Constitution Day, grounded in a federal law commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. As explained by the courts of Maryland, “By law, all educational institutions receiving federal funding must observe Constitution Day. It is an opportunity to celebrate and discuss our Constitution and system of government.”

This week also marked the release of an important new book by the historian Jill Lepore: “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” (as reviewed in the New York Times in a public link). Here’s an overview of her conclusions from the publisher:

Keep ReadingShow less
America’s Long History of Political Violence—and Why We Can’t Ignore It Now

Political violence has deep roots in American history. From 1968 to today, Jeanne Sheehan Zaino explore why violence remains a force for change in U.S. society.

Getty Images, B.S.P.I.

America’s Long History of Political Violence—and Why We Can’t Ignore It Now

In 1968, amid riots and assassinations, a magazine asked leading intellectuals why America was so violent. Among the responses was one that stood out—H. Rap Brown’s now-infamous line: “Violence is as American as cherry pie.”

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz dismissed the phrase as a cliché. But sociologist St. Clair Drake took it seriously. “However repulsive and shocking,” Drake wrote, Brown was “telling it like it is.” Americans, he said, must face the fact that their society is, by global standards, a very violent one.

Keep ReadingShow less
Meet the Faces of Democracy: Wendy Sartory Link

Wendy Sartory Link, Palm Beach County's Supervisor of Elections, shares her journey, innovations, and fight for election integrity, access, and transparency.

Photo courtsey of Issue One.

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Wendy Sartory Link

Editor’s note: More than 10,000 officials across the country run U.S. elections. This interview is part of a series highlighting the election heroes who are the faces of democracy.

Wendy Sartory Link, a Democrat and South Florida native, is the Supervisor of Elections for Palm Beach County, Florida. Home to nearly one million registered voters, Palm Beach County is one of three counties that make up the Miami metropolitan area, the third largest in the state by population, and the second largest by area.

Keep ReadingShow less