Sarasota Herald Tribune - September 17, 2025
On September 17th, our Nation will celebrate Constitution Day, commemorating the 238th anniversary of its signing by the Framers in Philadelphia. Americans overwhelmingly profess reverence for our Constitution and many public officials and members of the military must swear an oath that they will support and defend it. On Constitution Day, it is important to reflect on some of the document’s provisions as it is only through understanding and vigilance that we can ensure the foundation of our government will continue to endure.
Since ratification in 1789, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most notably by the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments, ratified in 1791). The Constitution both establishes the structure of our government and guarantees important individual rights. The Framers began by creating the three branches of government – legislative, executive, and judicial. In our system, each branch of government plays a critical role and each branch is a check on the others so that too much power cannot be aggregated in any one person or office. As James Madison wrote in Federalist 51, each of the “constituent parts” of our government must “be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.” In that way, Madison saw that the different branches “will control each other” to prevent oppression and abuses of power and to preserve individual liberty.
Over the past several decades, we have seen executives of both parties take steps to transfer power from the legislative branch to the executive, often through executive orders. This phenomenon has accelerated in 2025 as the current administration has attempted to consolidate vast power in the Presidency, often to the detriment of the authority granted by the Constitution to Congress and the Judiciary.
These actions include attempting to impound funds lawfully appropriated by Congress and ignoring judicial decisions with which it disagrees, particularly in relation to due process rights of immigrants. Perhaps most disturbing has been the failure of Congress to defend its rights and duties under the Constitution and the Judiciary’s seeming appeasement of Executive power overreach.
These are among the reasons that the League of Women Voters of the United States has declared the country in a Constitutional crisis.
Congressional inaction changes the delicate balance between the branches and imperils the very system our Founders created. The Supreme Court's repeated willingness to use its emergency docket to give the Administration relief without explanation is unprecedented and raises concerns about whether ideology or fidelity to the Constitution is motivating these decisions.
We must hold all our leaders accountable, and require them to maintain fidelity to the Constitution by exercising the power, and only that power, granted to them by the Constitution. As Madison recognized, it is only then that individual liberty will be guaranteed. Short term gains cannot be used as an excuse to fundamentally change the checks and balances of our government.
The Constitution not only created our government, it also guarantees many fundamental rights and liberties to individuals, protecting all of us from governmental overreach or outright oppression. These rights include freedom of speech, religion, and the press, the right to trial by jury, to due process, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and equal protection under the law, among others. These are the very freedoms the current Administration is challenging through Executive Orders and the freedoms from which we all benefit.
We Americans are rightly proud of our Constitution and must work together to ensure that our government honors it. As we celebrate its anniversary, it is important for all of us to take action to celebrate and preserve it.
In the words of Celina Stewart, LWV CEO, “Democracy is not saved by governments. It is reclaimed by the people.” Be active in our government and make your voice heard, both at the time of elections and in between.
Rhonda Peters and Vilia Johnson
LWVSRQ Co-Presidents