This memorandum is respectfully submitted for professional legal review.
It is offered not as the final word on the constitutional questions discussed herein, but as an invitation to determine whether important historical and constitutional issues concerning the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Reconstruction Amendments, and the continuing responsibilities of the National Government warrant further examination under the law.
The author recognizes that attorneys, judges, scholars, and public officials bear professional responsibilities that differ from those of private citizens. Accordingly, this memorandum does not ask its readers to accept its conclusions because they are asserted. Rather, it asks that they be examined according to the original historical record, the text of the Constitution, applicable statutes, governing judicial precedent, and the disciplined methods of legal analysis.
Where this memorandum correctly identifies historical facts, the author respectfully asks that those facts receive their proper constitutional consideration.
Where its legal analysis requires refinement, qualification, or correction, the author welcomes that professional guidance.
Where its conclusions are unsupported by law or reliable historical evidence, the author welcomes their correction as part of the very constitutional process this memorandum seeks to honor.
The objective of this submission is neither personal vindication nor political controversy.
Its objective is constitutional fidelity.
Its method is historical inquiry.
Its request is careful legal examination.
Its hope is that the unfinished questions of Reconstruction may receive the thoughtful consideration that both history and the Constitution deserve.
This memorandum is therefore respectfully submitted to the President of the United States, to members of the Executive Branch, to the Congress, to the Judiciary, to the legal profession, to historians, and to all citizens committed to the faithful preservation of the Constitution of the United States.