FIRST ON FOX: Supreme Court justices confront what it will take to keep America's founding freedoms alive
FIRST ON FOX: Supreme Court justices confront what it will take to keep America's founding freedoms alive
FIRST ON FOX: As America celebrates 250 years of independence this year, three conservative Supreme Court justices are warning that preserving the nation's founding freedoms for future generations depends on Americans understanding their history, embracing civic education and actively participating in their system of government.
Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett each implored Americans to familiarize themselves with their system of government and the history behind it to ensure that the nations legacy is preserved.
Though the three conservative justices were united in their call for civic education, they each approached the topic differently in a series of interviews filmed by the Federalist Society and obtained by Fox News Digital. The videos come ahead of the Federalist Society's 2026 National Lawyers Convention this week, which spotlights "250 Years of American Exceptionalism."
Gorsuch, for instance, struck a distinctly religious tone.
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"I think it's very easy to take the rights granted in our Constitution and the ideals expressed in the Declaration for granted," he said. "They are, for us, a little bit like the air we breathe and the water a fish might swim in. They seem natural to us, but they weren't in 1776. The ideas in the Declaration of Independence that all of us are created equal, that every one of us has God-given rights — they don't come from government, they come from God."
Gorsuch, who was appointed to the court by President Donald Trump in 2017 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, went on to describe the importance of historical study to the preservation of the American way of life.
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"Our country is a blessing from God, and that we owe great thanks for it, and we have great responsibility for it," he went on. "The reason why our Constitution and Declaration have survived is because people choose it anew in every generation. You need to know its history. You need to know what you're preserving. Daniel Webster said it took 6,000 years for us to generate a system of government like this. Don't expect that to happen easily or again."
Kavanaugh, similarly, emphasized the importance of education.
"I think our education system is absolutely fundamental to ensuring that in the next 250 years, we preserve this republic and improve upon this republic. So, teaching American history, teaching the values of this country, the history of this country, why this country exists, how this country has been preserved, how this country has been improved over time, for example, by our constitutional amendment process and otherwise," the justice, appointed to the bench following a tumultuous confirmation process in 2018, said.
"And I think all of us should be constantly striving to ensure civics education, not only for our youth, but for all of us, and that we constantly are learning and participating in our system of government," he continued.
