Supreme Court justices civic education America 250th anniversary founding freedoms, Digi Mart USA News: As America celebrates 250 years of independence this year, three conservative Supreme Court justices are warning that preserving the nation’s founding freedoms 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 urged Americans to familiarize themselves with their system of government and its history to ensure the nation’s legacy is preserved. The justices were united in their call for civic education but 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, appointed to the court by President Donald Trump in 2017 following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, struck a distinctly religious tone.
“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 went on to describe the importance of historical study to preserving the American way of life. “Our country is a blessing from God, and that we owe great thanks for it, and we have great responsibility for it,” he said.
“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.”
Kavanaugh, who was appointed to the bench following a tumultuous confirmation process in 2018, 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,” he said.
He cited teaching American history, the country’s values and how it has been improved over time, including through the constitutional amendment process.
“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,” Kavanaugh continued.
While not interviewed by the Federalist Society, Justice Sonia Sotomayor shared her thoughts on the nation’s 250th anniversary during an event at Mount Vernon’s Washington Library, taking a slightly darker tone. Focusing primarily on civic engagement, she argued that the United States is in a rough place at the moment and that it would take “some hard work” to get back on an “even keel.”
“There are some norms we may have lost forever,” she said. “But I don’t think that we will fail as a democracy.
But I think we’re going to have a hard patch figuring out what that means.”
Barrett focused on the Declaration of Independence and how it should inspire civic participation today. “We’re not passive observers in the American project.
We’re participants in it. It is our project,” she said.
Barrett pointed to the Declaration’s final line, in which the signatories pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor. “Some lost their fortune, lost their property to loyalists …
and they pledged with their honor not to deviate from the commitments that they had made in signing the Declaration of Independence,” she said. “Surely that’s the kind of commitment that it takes to have it keep going forward.”
