On Oct. 26, Yale Professor Akhil Reed Amar gave the Bellwood Memorial Lecture in the International Ballroom. This event, hosted by the College of Law, is meant for international leaders to present current issues in the United States. This year, Prof. Amar focused on the topic of birthright citizenship, a topic that he said is close to his heart.
The Bellwood Memorial Lecture is named after Sherman J. Bellwood, a University of Idaho graduate who dedicated his life to law, serving as an Idaho District Court Judge. According to the University of Idaho, he also helped to get the land that is now the Idaho Youth Ranch. Judge Bellwood died in 1995, having endowed UI with the Sherman J. Bellwood lecture series.
Prof. Amar was born in the United States under birthright citizenship to non-citizen parents. . In his interview, Prof. Amar stated that this was the reason he went down his current career path, saying that it was “the greatest gift.” From then on, he wanted to “repay the Constitution” for this gift.
He is currently the only person alive to have Yale’s unofficial triple crown. According to Yale, this triple crown is “the Sterling Chair for scholarship, the DeVane Medal for teaching, and the Lamar Award for alumni service.” Prof. Amar has published hundreds of law reviews and is currently writing a trilogy of books about the Constitution, including the namesake of this lecture, “Born Equal.”
In his lecture, Prof. Amar talked about the Founding Fathers and what he believes they meant for citizenship in the country. The main point of his talk was “born equal,”talking about how the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution addressed the topic of men being born equal. Prof. Amar discussed when the Declaration of Independence was written; the most important part written in the document was the phrase “all men have certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Prof. Amar then discussed how Pennsylvania was the first state to ratify an end to slavery in its constitution, making it the first place in the world to officially abolish slavery; therefore, the first place where all men were equal. He also referenced the Missouri Compromise, which made it so that all states above a certain latitude were created as free states.
He also spoke about Abraham Lincoln and how he related to the topic of “born equal.” Prof. Amar referred to how Lincoln was born in a free state and how this influenced his political views. During this part of his talk, Prof. Amar called himself and Lincoln “originalists,” those who interpret the Constitution from the time that it was written.
To finish off his lecture, Prof. Amar talked about when Lincoln officially abolished slavery; the U.S. became the first sovereign country in the world to do so. From this, he talked about how the 14th Amendment officially gave former slaves U.S. citizenship and other inalienable rights. After his lecture, Prof. Amar took questions from the people in attendance, including topics of abortion, immigration and current politics.
During an interview conducted after his lecture, Prof. Amar was asked what he hoped for people to learn from his teachings. Prof. Amar stated that he wanted people to “gain a better understanding of the US Constitution, America, our institutions, and our central creeds.” Specifically, Prof. Amar wants people to know what the Constitution actually says; he stated that people interpret the Constitution in many different ways, but many have never read the Constitution before.
Then, when asked about what he hopes for the future of the US, Prof. Amar simply stated: “that it survives.” During his lecture, Prof. Amar talked at length about problems in the U.S.today, but he loves the country, especially the foundations that it was built on.
Prof. Amar’s final remarks were that people in the U.S. should “read the Constitution and know it as well as they know the rules of their favorite sport.”
Kevan Mitchell can be reached at [email protected]