D'oh! What are my rights?

July 25, 12:32 PMWashington Law ExaminerMichael Reitz

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The first section of the Washington Constitution says that governments are "established to protect and maintain individual rights."  But what good is a right you don't know about?

American adults are more familiar with characters in The Simpsons than with their First Amendment rights, and are more likely to recognize a judge on American Idol than to name a Supreme Court justice. This may not be surprising, but it indicates a problem with our civic involvement. When we are familiar with our rights, we’re better equipped to exercise and protect them.

For this reason, a colleague and I recently wrote a book explaining the rights safeguarded in Article I of the Washington Constitution. The book, To Protect and Maintain Individual Rights, is intended to help citizens understand the sources of their fundamental liberties. State Supreme Court Justice Charles W. Johnson wrote the foreword for the book, and he said: "The more we know about these constitutional principles, the better we understand and appreciate our constitutionally based form of government."

In the book we look at the constitutional debates, significant court cases, and other resources to help explain the constitution. Many people don't realize the state constitution frequently provides more protection for individual rights that the federal constitution does. 

The constitution also admonishes: "frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual right and the perpetuity of free government" (Art. I, Sec. 32). That applies to every one of us.