I attended the Hands Off! protest in downtown Truckee on April 5. Like some others, my protest sign was calling for “hands off the rule of law.” That means that if federal judges decide that the president is violating the Constitution, and if they decide he must stop, then he must follow their decision. He may appeal to
a higher court, but he cannot just refuse to accept
the decision.
Our Bill of Rights provides fundamental freedoms for our society. It is a conservative document. Even when the people give some of their power to those who govern them, they conserve some of their power through a bill of rights. You can see this from the very beginning of America.
In September 1787, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution voted unanimously against the inclusion of a bill of rights. There was no bill of rights in the U.S. Constitution when it was originally drafted that same year. James Madison, the father of the Bill of Rights, initially voted against it.
It was only months later that Thomas Jefferson, who was in France, realized that there was no bill of rights and took action by sending a letter to James Madison, writing: “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on Earth, and which no just government should refuse.”
Jefferson was right about rights. A bill of rights is built upon principle, not personality. Without independent judges to interpret the Bill of Rights, it is meaningless. It is designed as a check on those who govern. If the president interprets it as he or she sees fit, then there is no check and there is no freedom. The power of the people to conserve some power for themselves is stripped from them.
This is the danger we, as Americans, face now. It’s not a Democrat or Republican issue; I am an Independent. Some argue that a bill of rights is not needed in democracies, that once a majority selects a president, he should be unrestrained. Untrue! Democracy does not work without a bill of rights. As Edmund Burke wrote in Reflections on the French Revolution, in a democracy the masses of people can be easily manipulated through a cult of personality of a particular leader to give up their rights. He was correct — it is happening today.
Thomas Paine explained in The Rights of Man (both books were bestsellers in their day) that people are not swine. They can read and write and enshrine into a document a bill of rights, a set of rights to which they are entitled, even in a democracy.
Burke and Paine both had truths in the points that they were making.
Democracy is the best government ever designed, but the power of the people can be usurped easily, even voluntarily; a bill of rights is needed at these moments as what author Yuval Noah Harari in his new book, Nexus, calls “a self-correcting mechanism,” so that when those who govern exceed the power given them, judges can prevent the stripping of all power of the people.
So let us stand up for the rule of law. If you want to show support for the idea that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, please visit the nonprofit Unite for Rights at uniteforrights.org, where you can enter your name and country and a spark of light will ignite on a digital globe wherever you are, showing your support for bills of rights and the rule of law.
Unite for Rights was founded in 2025 and builds on the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt to create an International Bill of Rights. A draft document is on the website. If you would like to help write an International Bill of Rights, your suggestions are welcome.
Most of us want to live in a free society. When we lose the rule of law, as we are right now, we lose our freedom. Please join us at Unite for Rights to protect our rights and the rule of law to enforce them.
~ Kirk Boyd lives in Olympic Valley and has three law degrees from UC Berkeley Law, including his doctorate. He has argued at the U.S. Supreme Court and has taught constitutional law and international human rights in the UC system. He is the CEO of the nonprofit Unite for Rights.
