Right to petition in the United States

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The right to petition is protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
The right to petition is protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

The right to petition in the United States is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and specifically prohibits Congress from abridging "the right of the people...to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Although often overlooked in favor of other more famous freedoms and sometimes taken for granted[1], many other civil liberties are enforceable against the government only by exercising this basic right,[2] making it a fundamental right in both representative democracies (to protect public participation)[1] and liberal democracies, like the United States.

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[edit] Historic roots

Its roots within the colonies can be traced back to the Declaration of Independence,[3] which includes the statement:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.[4]

addressing not only the (implied) right to petition itself, but also the related requirement that the government duly respond to such petitions. Historically, the right can be traced further back[2] to English documents such as the Magna Carta, which, by its acceptance by the monarchy, implicitly affirmed the right, and the later Bill of Rights 1689, which explicitly declared the "right of the subjects to petition the king"[5].

[edit] First use

The first[6] significant exercise and defense of the right to petition within the US was to advocate the end of slavery by petitioning Congress in the mid 1830s, including 130,000 such requests in 1837 and 1838.[7] In 1836, the House of Representatives adopted a gag rule that would table all such anti-slavery petitions[7]. John Quincy Adams and other Representatives eventually achieved the repeal of this rule in 1844 on the basis that it was contrary to the right to petition the government.[7]

[edit] Scope

While the prohibition of abridgement of the right to petition originally referred only to the federal legislature (the Congress) and courts, the incorporation doctrine later expanded the protection of the right to its current scope, over all state and federal courts and legislatures and the executive branches of the state[3] and federal governments. The right to petition includes under its umbrella the right to sue the government[8], and the right of individuals, groups, and corporations (via corporate personhood), to lobby[3] the government.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Porter, Lori. Petition - SLAPPs. First Amendment Center.
  2. ^ a b Newton, Adam; Ronald K.L. Collins. Petition - Overview. First Amendment Center.
  3. ^ a b c The Right to Petition. Illinois First Amendment Center.
  4. ^ Quote from the Declaration of Independence. Full text available at The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  5. ^ Quote from Bill of Rights 1689. Full text available at English Bill of Rights 1689. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.
  6. ^ Kilman, J. & Costello, G. (Eds). Analysis and Interpretation of the Constitution, 2002 ed. - First Amendment – Religion and Expression. Congressional Research Service.
  7. ^ a b c Struggles over Slavery: The "Gag" Rule. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
  8. ^ Newton, Adam. Petition - Right to sue. First Amendment Center.
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