US Constitution’s First Amendment: Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances | David J. Shestokas

See - US Constitution’s First Amendment: Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances | David J. Shestokas





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The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights addresses five rights.  The limits on government interference with religion, speech and the press were the result of the uniquely American experience. The right to peaceable assembly was a needed protection to exercise the first three. The First Amendment’s fifth right will come as a surprise to many.  Only 1% of Americans even know that it exists.[1]

The Right to Petition was central to constitutional law and politics in the early United States. It is the First Amendment’s capstone:

“Congress shall make no law  … abridging  … the right of the people  …

to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The Right to Petition is unknown to most Americans, or if known, considered to be an extension of the first four rights, and not a right that stands on its own. This ignores Chief Justice John Marshall’s declaration:

 “[N]o provision of the Constitution was meant to be without effect…” Marbury v. Madison, (1803)

The Petition Clause has its own distinct history and English roots[2]  different than other First Amendment provisions.  The Right to Petition has been, in many ways, the First Amendment’s poor relation.  It may have been an early casualty as power accumulated in Washington.

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- See more at: http://www.shestokas.com/constitution-educational-series/us-constitutions-first-amendment-right-to-petition-for-redress-of-grievances/#sthash.tPar2S05.hIrBo5dR.dpuf