Public Education

CIVIC DUTY: UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky hopes the initiative helps mitigate polarization in America and reinforce the importance of the nation’s core principles. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small

UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is a founder and leader of “We Hold These Truths,” a nationwide effort to promote freedom, equality, and democracy through public education about the protections provided by the U.S. Constitution — and the importance of preserving them.

Chemerinsky created the project with former U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig and Drexel Law Professor Lisa Tucker. They recruited politicians, veterans, lawyers, judges, law professors, and other leaders to help draft what they see as the Constitution’s five main pillars: personal freedoms, equality, democracy and elections, the rule of law, and separation of powers. Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman also joined as a co-chair of the organization.

“We Hold These Truths” launched on July 4 with full-page advertisements in several national and regional newspapers — including The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle — a Los Angeles Times op-ed by Chemerinsky and Luttig, and a website where Americans can sign on to support the group’s stance.

A renowned constitutional scholar, Chemerinsky says the group felt compelled to stand up for the very bedrock of America’s guiding ideas. They deliberately chose the Declaration of Independence’s 249th anniversary as the launch date.

Chemerinsky laments that the country “is more politically divided than it has been at any time since Reconstruction. As Judge Luttig and I write in our op-ed, ‘We are not naïve about what can be achieved through this effort. But we strongly believe that there is value in reminding ourselves, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, of the truths that we hold to be self-evident.’”

“The goal is public education, but also reminding us of the values that unite us. It’s an important message about our shared basic principles of democracy.”

— Dean Erwin Chemerinsky

“We Hold These Truths” seeks to unite Americans across partisan lines, professional sectors, and communities to stand behind a set of common civic principles, emphasizing that the Constitution belongs to all of us.

The effort to draw in people across the political spectrum started with nearly two dozen drafters who joined Chemerinsky, Luttig, and Tucker in choosing what to include and how to describe each idea. That group includes former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill, former federal judge and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, best-selling author Brad Meltzer, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.

After selecting the five areas, the group divided into subgroups to draft each one’s specific language, with opportunities for discussion and revision. Their goal: make the statements general enough to lay out basic values, but specific enough to avoid platitudes.

With support from Democracy Forward and donors to the nonprofit initiative, “We Hold These Truths” leaders hope to build a powerful campaign that deepens Americans’ understanding of these principles, what they mean in practice, and why maintaining them is critical.

“The goal is public education, but also reminding us of the values that unite us,” Chemerinsky says. “It’s an important message about our shared basic principles of democracy.” — Gwyneth K. Shaw