Presidential Document2022-27598
Bill of Rights Day, 2022
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 19, 2022
Signed
December 14, 2022
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 77465-77466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27598]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 242 / Monday, December 19, 2022 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 77465]]
Proclamation 10507 of December 14, 2022
Bill of Rights Day, 2022
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
With three simple words--``We the People''--the United
States Constitution set in motion the most
extraordinary experiment in self-governance that the
world has ever known. The Bill of Rights made this
possible, ensuring ratification by every State then in
our new Nation. On Bill of Rights Day, we celebrate the
fundamental American freedoms enshrined in those first
10 Amendments to our Constitution and recommit to
making the full promise of America real for all
Americans.
The Bill of Rights embodies a core American strength:
the capacity for compromise and self-improvement. By
codifying fundamental freedoms, it won over States
skeptical of a Federal Government at the time of our
founding and proved our Constitution to be a living
document, capable of evolving to perfect our Union. The
basic rights it guarantees--to religion, speech, press,
privacy, and more--have come to define our Nation. And
in the over two centuries since their enumeration, 17
other Amendments have been ratified--ending slavery,
ensuring equal protection under the law, giving women
the right to vote, banning poll taxes, and more--
opening the door of opportunity a little wider with
each generation.
But freedom is not free--it requires constant
vigilance. And nothing about our democracy is
guaranteed. Every generation has had to defend our
Constitution, including ours today. The right to
choose--grounded in the 14th Amendment, enshrined in a
half-century of precedent, and relied on for
generations--is now under assault. A wave of anti-
LGBTQI+ bills is attacking Americans' freedom to be
themselves. In recent years, at least 20 States have
passed laws that make it harder to vote. And we have
seen new threats to the rule of law that disregard the
will of the people.
At the same time, we have also seen tens of millions of
Americans stand up to protect our rights and stand
against any of these attempts to take our country
backwards. I am determined to be a partner in that
work. My Administration has taken immediate action to
protect reproductive health care, access to
contraception, the privacy of sensitive health
information, and more; and we will keep fighting to
pass a Federal law restoring every woman's right to
choose. I was also proud to sign the Respect for
Marriage Act this month and will keep working to
advance equality for LGBTQI+ communities, fighting to
pass the Equality Act, and building on Executive Orders
tackling discrimination in health care, foster care,
housing, schools, and more. And because voting is
democracy's threshold liberty--a sacred right on which
all our other freedoms rely--I am pushing for new
investments to secure voting sites and equipment and to
recruit and train election workers. I issued an
Executive Order directing Federal agencies to expand
access to voter registration. I appointed top civil
rights advocates to the Department of Justice, which
has separately doubled its own voting rights staff. And
I will keep pushing to pass the John Lewis Voting
Rights Advancement and Freedom to Vote Acts, as well as
the Electoral Count Reform Act, to make voting easier
and our democracy more secure.
The Bill of Rights consecrates twin American ideals of
equality and democracy. They are the rock on which our
Nation is built and the reasons
[[Page 77466]]
why America has long been a beacon to the world. Our
democracy will be preserved not just in courts of law
but also in people's habits of heart. It lives in our
national character, courage, and optimism and in the
fundamental empathy that underlies our system of
government--a willingness to see each other not as
enemies but as fellow citizens with equal rights.
Today, we recommit to defending and extending that
promise to everyone.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 15,
2022, as Bill of Rights Day. I call upon the people of
the United States to observe this day with appropriate
ceremonies and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
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(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2022-27598
Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 19, 2022.
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