The APPEAL FOR THE GREAT 14TH AMENDMENT MORATORIUM
Ted Hayes
Founder, Justiceville
Mr. Citizen Patriot
Venice, California
June ___, 2026
Leadership of the American Civil Liberties Union
and
Leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Re: A Respectful Appeal Concerning the Great 14th Amendment Moratorium, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Unfinished Questions of Reconstruction
Dear Leaders of the ACLU and NAACP:
I write to you with respect for the historic roles your organizations have played in defending civil rights, constitutional liberties, equal protection, voting rights, due process, and access to justice.
For generations, both organizations have stood as champions of those whose rights were overlooked, denied, delayed, or diminished. You have frequently argued that important questions affecting the rights and status of Americans deserve careful examination rather than assumptions, slogans, inherited customs, or political expediency.
It is in that spirit that I submit this appeal.
A question presently stands before the nation concerning the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the constitutional identity of the people for whom Reconstruction’s remedial measures were principally enacted.
Whether one agrees with my conclusions is not the issue.
The larger question is whether the American people have ever been given a meaningful opportunity to examine the issue itself.
Have the schools taught it? Have the universities explored it? Have the media explained it? Have the legal institutions fully debated it?
Have the descendants of those Americans most directly affected by it been invited to meaningfully participate in the discussion?
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I respectfully suggest that these questions deserve serious consideration.
The present controversy surrounding Trump v. Barbara has generated extensive discussion concerning the Fourteenth Amendment.
Yet comparatively little attention has been paid to the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the legislation that immediately preceded it and remains central to any discussion of Reconstruction, citizenship, and equal protection under the law.
Regardless of one’s ultimate conclusions, surely a nation benefits when its citizens better understand the history from which its laws emerged.
For that reason, I respectfully urge your organizations to consider supporting a temporary educational moratorium and a broader national examination of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, its intended beneficiaries, its remedial powers, and its relationship to the Fourteenth Amendment.
Such a request is not an attack upon international human rights laws, immigration, equality, or any community.
Rather, it is an appeal for education before adjudication.
If a legal theory is sound, education will strengthen it.
If a historical interpretation is correct, examination will confirm it.
If a constitutional position is justified, public inquiry should not threaten it.
Truth has little to fear from investigation.
As organizations long associated with defending the vulnerable, the marginalized, and those whose rights have been overlooked, denied, delayed, or diminished, I respectfully ask you to consider one further question.
For more than four centuries, the descendants of America’s enslaved people have carried a unique historical burden.
Through 245 years of chattel slavery, generations of legal discrimination, segregation, disenfranchisement, exclusion, and social struggle thereafter, they have repeatedly been told that justice was coming, that recognition was coming, and that fulfillment of the nation’s promises was coming.
Yet many continue to believe that important questions concerning the very laws enacted for their protection have never been fully examined.
The present appeal does not ask your organizations to accept my conclusions.
It asks something more modest.
It asks whether the people most directly connected to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction settlement have ever received a full national examination of those laws, their intended beneficiaries, their remedial purposes, and their continuing significance.
If there remains uncertainty concerning the meaning, scope, purpose, or intended beneficiaries of those measures, should organizations devoted to justice not wish to see those questions explored rather than ignored?
If there remains a possibility that portions of Reconstruction’s history have been neglected, should organizations committed to civil rights not welcome further examination?
And if descendants of those for whom these remedial measures were principally enacted continue to raise concerns regarding their constitutional identity, citizenship status, and historical treatment, is that not at least worthy of serious consideration?
I respectfully leave those questions with you.
For if justice requires anything, it requires a willingness to examine whether unfinished questions remain before declaring them settled.
In this matter, this is perhaps the most timely and fitting opportunity for your organizations and for all who claim the mantle of justice to advocate for a temporary moratorium, a national examination, and public education before adjudication.
Few causes could be more consistent with the stated missions of civil-rights organizations than helping the American people understand the laws enacted after slavery for the protection, citizenship, and advancement of those emerging from it.
If the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment are truly foundational to American liberty, then they deserve to be examined openly, carefully, honestly, and nationally before their meaning is further defined for generations to come.
I wish to make one additional point concerning my own motives.
Throughout my public life, my concern has never been limited to the descendants of America’s former slaves alone. Wherever I have encountered suffering, social crisis, despair, homelessness, violence, addiction, abandonment, or hopelessness, I have attempted, however imperfectly, to respond.
My work among homeless Americans is well documented. My efforts involving youth, including the Compton Cricket Club, Homies, POPz, and other community initiatives, frequently involved Hispanic-Latino young people as well as others facing difficult circumstances and limited opportunities.
Indeed, I have long been concerned about social crises affecting communities far beyond my own. Whether the issue is homelessness, violence, family instability, addiction, or the troubling mental-health challenges facing many young people, I believe every human life possesses dignity and worth.
I mention this not to draw attention to myself, but to make clear the spirit in which this appeal is offered.
My concern regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Reconstruction does not arise from hostility toward any people.
It arises from the same impulse that has guided much of my life’s work: a belief that suffering should be confronted, injustice should be examined, and neglected questions should not remain neglected simply because they are difficult or unpopular.
I also respectfully invite your organization to examine my public record.
Over the years, others have made accusations against me, including organizations such as the SPLC. I believe those accusations have been false, harmful, and deeply misleading.
Rather than ask you to accept my denial, I simply invite you to fact-check my life’s work, including my documented service among homeless persons, American Africans, Hispanic-Latino youth, immigrants, veterans, and other suffering communities, and my documents, as you will not find any disparaging or pejorative language from me.
I believe such an examination will show that my present appeal does not arise from hostility toward any people, but from a consistent concern for justice, human dignity, and the unfinished promises of American law.
I have submitted similar appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States, the President of the United States, Members of Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Department of Justice.
My purpose is not to create division, nor secure victory for one side over another.
My purpose is to encourage understanding.
My purpose is to encourage a fuller examination of Reconstruction before its meaning is further defined for future generations.
As organizations that have long championed justice, fairness, and public understanding, you possess a unique opportunity to help foster that conversation.
For further historical documentation, legal analysis, constitutional discussion, and supporting materials, I respectfully refer you to the accompanying work:
The Great 14th Amendment Moratorium Papers
America can survive disagreement. It cannot long thrive upon misunderstanding.
Education Before Adjudication. Understanding Before Division.
Truth Before Consequence.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Hayes
Founder, Justiceville
Mr. Citizen Patriot
Enclosure:
The Great 14th Amendment Moratorium Papers
Education Before Adjudication