AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
To the Honorable Chief Justice and Associate Justices
of the Supreme Court of the United States
* Special Attention to Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson
Greetings, Your Honors. Shalom.
We the People of Federalized US Citizens by the 1866 Civil Rights Act, LOCKED into the Constitution by the 14th Amendment, respectfully petition this Honorable Court to consider the extraordinary national value of suspending, postponing, or otherwise declining to proceed toward a final determination in Trump v. Barbara until the American people have first been afforded a meaningful opportunity to examine the historical, constitutional, and legislative foundations of federal citizenship.
This appeal is made neither in hostility toward the Court, nor against the Constitution, nor against the nation, nor against legal or illegal immigrants.
Rather, it is offered in defense of all three, and them.
The issue before the nation is not merely one of immigration policy. It reaches into the heart and soul of the Republic’s constitutional identity.
At the center of the present controversy stands the relationship between the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment—measures born directly from the ashes of slavery, the Civil War, emancipation, and national reconstruction.
The citizenship question now before the nation touches some of the deepest constitutional wounds, sacrifices, and unfinished questions in American history.
Many Americans have never studied the debates of the Reconstruction Congress, the veto message of President Andrew Johnson, the Enforcement Acts, or the remedial purposes underlying the citizenship provisions enacted after the Civil War. Yet these matters form part of the historical foundation upon which modern citizenship debates rest.
We therefore respectfully submit that a temporary national period or pause for nationwide, constitutional education, historical examination, civic reflection, and reconciliation of this greatest matter of American Black Lives would strengthen—not weaken—the legitimacy of any future determination by this Court.
Such a pause would cost the taxpayers virtually nothing, while potentially yielding immeasurable benefits.
It would allow Americans of every background to better understand the origins of their constitutional system, the meaning of citizenship, and the sacrifices that preserved the Union.
At this remarkable and providential moment in American history, the presence of Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson upon this Court carries unique historical significance.
Whatever jurisprudential differences may exist among members of the Court, the presence of these distinguished jurists during a national examination of citizenship serves as a reminder of the long arc stretching from slavery to Reconstruction to civil rights, and now to renewed constitutional inquiry into the meaning and inheritance of citizenship itself.
As the Nation approaches the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and knowing the Court’s intention to announce its decision by late June, prudence suggests that constitutional enlightenment should precede constitutional determination.
If the Civil War nearly destroyed the Union over these matters once before, wisdom counsels caution before revisiting constitutional ground born from that conflict.
Accordingly, we respectfully request consideration of a temporary moratorium and refer the Court to the accompanying memorandum for a fuller explanation of the historical, constitutional, civic, and national-preservation considerations supporting this appeal.
With deepest respect for the Court, the Constitution, and the Republic,
Ted Hayes
“Mr. Patriot”
Guardian of the Union
Keeper of the Republic
Justiceville • EXODUS II
Los Angeles Federal Citizens
Shalom and Peace.