The topic of
discussion for this Constitution Monday is the connection between Elder Dallin
H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and the Constitution of the United States of America. Elder Oaks has been a member of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles since May 1984 and often speaks about the U.S. Constitution.
Elder Oaks graduated from
Brigham Young University (1954) and the University of Chicago Law School
(1957). He practiced law and taught law
in Chicago. He accepted the assignment
from the Church to serve as the president of Brigham Young University. When his service there was completed, he
served as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1980 until he resigned in
1984 to accept his calling as an apostle.
With his 50-year career in law and his position as an apostle, Elder
Oaks is particularly capable of speaking about the Constitution.
Elder Oaks sometimes speaks about the four principles that define the Constitution. According to Elder Oaks, the first
principle defined in the Constitution is popular sovereignty, meaning the power
of the government comes from the people being governed. “Instead of blaming their troubles on a king,
on a cabal of military leaders, or on some distant group of wise men, citizens
who are sovereign must share a measure of the burdens and responsibilities of
governing.”
The second principle that Elder
Oaks speaks about is the division of powers in a federal system. This principle has served our nation well but
is currently being neglected. Whatever the merits of current controversies
over the laws of marriage and child adoption and the like, let us not forget
that if the decisions of federal courts can override the actions of state
lawmakers on this subject (which is one reserved to the states), we have
suffered a significant constitutional reallocation of lawmaking power from the
lawmaking branch to the judicial branch and from the states to the federal
government.”
The third fundamental principle
is the Bill of Rights, beginning with the guarantee of religious freedom. According to Elder Oaks, the freedom of
religion is one of the most important of the founding principles in the
Constitution. “We are fortunate to have
such a guarantee in the United States, but many nations do not. … The importance of that guarantee should make
us ever diligent to defend it. And it is
in need of being defended. During my
lifetime I have seen a significant deterioration in the respect accorded to
religion in our public life, and I believe that the vitality of religious
freedom is in danger of being weakened accordingly.”
The fourth fundamental principle
is the system of checks and balances between the three branches of
government. Elder Oaks said that for
that system to work properly, “Each branch of government must preserve its
independence from the others. Moreover,
the powers of each of these three branches must be exercised in a good faith
effort to serve the interests of the public, rather than to dominate the others
or to enhance the personal position of a particular official. Politics, revenge or personal gain must never
be the primary driving force in the application of checks and balances.”
Elder Oaks even suggests how We
the People can help sustain and protect the Constitution: (1) understand the Constitution, (2) support
the law, (3) practice civic virtue, (4) maintain civility in political
discourse, and
(5)
promote patriotism.
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