Constitutional Conversations

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 48 No. 5 Pg. 42
• Pages: 42

Constitutional Conversations No. Vol. 48 5 Pg. 42 Wyoming Bar Journal October, 2025

Constitutional Conversations

David Gray Adler

The Equal Protection Clause: Handmaiden of Constitutional Inclusivity

Americas evolving commitment to the principle of equality, fueled historically by natural rights philosophy, the soaring aims of a resolute and idealistic citizenry, noble political leaders bending the arc of history toward justice, and the inescapable horror of recognizing that its denial meant alignment with the racist values of fascist nations that the United States fought in World War II, found its footing and, indeed, its constitu-tional foundation, in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment. This Clause represents the great premise and promise of American Constitutionalism—equality before the law, what Aristotle characterized as equal treatment of equals. Since 1868, when Americans ratified the majestic principles of the 14^th Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause has been the most effective means of promoting constitutional inclusivity.

When the drafters of the 14th Amendment elevated the concept of equal protection to a constitutional plane, they provided an organized, historic voice to various ancient sentiments, premises and principles that were somewhat vague and inarticulate but squinted toward an ideal which, when effectuated, would instill in American Constitutionalism the backbone that it had lacked since the founding period.

David Gray Adler is President of The Alturas Institute, a non-profit organization created to advance American Democracy by promoting the Constitution, civic education, gender equality and equal protection of the law.

When Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address...