Justice is a complicated term in my opinion. The definition it holds is based on one’s personal beliefs as to what makes something ‘just’. My beliefs on justice are different from what I believe American society today defines it as, which is an ever changing American ‘ideal’. I think the most basic way to understand justice, especially as an American, is to look to this country’s founding documents and how they defined and fought for justice. The basis of my thoughts on justice stem from the country I was born in and the education system I went through. The founding of America was based on an idea of justice, something King George was not providing to the subjects in the American colonies. The late eighteenth century was spent by the colonies preparing their independence and how they wanted to govern themselves, more fairly than the British Crown. I believe the American Constitution is a strong basis of understanding of the American concept of justice. I understand the room for interpretation within the document, the most controversial amendment I believe being the right to bear arms, however, the general rights provided are essential for American democracy.
The preamble of the United States constitution states that “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice”. It is shortly into this founding document that it is stated all black people are considered three-fifths of a person in regard to state representation. The constitution, written in 1878, was ratified that year to exclude this part. Through the last two or so centuries the document has grown from its original ten amendments of the Bill of Rights to twenty-seven different amendments, all additions to better uphold this idea of justice. One of my personal favorite additions is the nineteenth amendment, America waiting as long as 1920 to give women the right to vote.
Last November, Donald J Trump won the votes to be elected as the next President of the United States. His inauguration was January 20th, officially starting his four-year term as President. In the short time Trump has been in office, he has faced controversy after controversy, constant backlash for his proposed policies and social media rants. Among these observed and considered weaknesses and/or problems of the president, most are up for interpretation and receive an amount of support from his followers to combat the critics. One thing Trump is having a hard time shaking is his portrayed persona of an unjust leader. Trump has violated the constitution or has tried to, multiple times in the last three months. To be unconstitutional is by American definition to be unjust, as this country’s slogan is ‘the land of the free’ and built on ‘justice for all’.
The 14th amendment states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens and are subject to equal protection under the law. Trump has blatantly gone against the fourteenth amendment, his first day in office writing an official order to end birthright citizenship. He seeks the denial of citizenship to babies born in America that do not have at least one parent with U.S. citizenship. This completely undermines the key idea of this amendment; citizenship is guaranteed upon birth. Several states, including Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon, have filed lawsuits against the president for this violation, specifically against the Equal Protection Clause of this Amendment. This matter will be judged before the highest court in the land, the epitome of the US justice system, the supreme court having a hearing next month on Birthright Citizenship and Trump’s plans with it. Trump has constant initiatives to block, restrict, and deport immigrants from the country, and this plan to end birthright citizenship is just another one of those.
Since Donald Trump has started his second term at the end of January, he has spent a large part of his time and resources regarding deportation of migrants in the country. This is a more indirect violation of the fourteenth amendment, going against the right to due process. This right is promised through the fifth and fourteenth amendment, ensuring fair treatment and protection of rights to all citizens. This is one of the key combats to discrimination in the country, supposedly refusing any grounds of sexism, racism, religious intolerance, etc. in the eyes of the law. The right ensures access to an attorney, fair trial and impartial jury. The newly elected President has already been responsible for the deportation of several thousand immigrants of this country. There has been lots of controversy facing this process, from the unethical deportation methods to the fact that the groups of people claimed to be the target of these mass deportations are not actually being the ones deported. Trump has publicly expressed his motivation for these mass deportations, claiming to be targeting illegal gang members and criminals to protect the legal citizens of the country. However, numerous reports reveal that this is in fact not the people Trump’s mass deportations are targeting. A few weeks ago, a legal citizen was a victim of the president’s unjust deportation implications. An El Salvadorian man and legal resident of Maryland was detained in an Ikea parking lot and within three days was deported to a high security prison in El Salvador. After claiming this was an “administrative error”, the Trump administration is now struggling to bring the man back. This man was wrongfully persecuted by the law and deported from his home, where he holds citizenship. He was refused trial, fair representation, and overall was treated as a foreign threat to the country despite his legal status. This is one well documented story of wrongful treatment and deportation that is similar and shared by hundreds of legal residents of the United States who have been victimized by Trump’s Deportation initiatives since starting his term three months ago.
The 22nd amendment states that no person elected to presidential office shall run for more than two terms. At the turn of this month, Trump declared in an interview with NBC News that he plans to run for a third term, his words claiming, “[he’s] not joking”, rattling Americans across the country for the blatant disregard for the bill of rights. The bill was originally passed after World War II to prevent elected supreme authority. This idea wasn’t new to American politicians, as George Washington stepped down from the presidency to limit the power of that position. (I think scenes from the musical Hamilton perfectly explain the situation for those who don’t understand why total power is a threat to democracy. America fought for their independence from Great Britain to escape authoritarian rule and escape a total monarchy system in which power was not passed. It is with attempts by Donald Trump to hold onto his power in which he is violating the constitution and the ideas of which the country he has been elected to lead was built on.
Donald Trump is an unjust president, repeatedly trying to violate and mend the constitution to his best interest. In an early nineteenth century poem, America was described as the ‘land of the brave, home of the free.’ This pays homage to the countless fighting and rebelling against King George’s regime and ruling of the American colonies. America is based on freedom, and since the establishment of our Independence in 1776, Americans have tried to better define and protect the rights we believe our forefathers fought for. Donald Trump does not respect freedom and does not believe in justice for all Americans.