Justice Thomas Discusses Second Amendment Rights

In a conversation with Sen. Ted Cruz on the Verdict podcast, Justice Clarence Thomas articulated that the Second Amendment “assumes the right, it doesn’t grant a right.”

He elaborated on the idea that our rights originate from God rather than the government, emphasizing that these rights predate both the U.S. government and the nation itself.

According to Thomas, the distinction is significant: whether one views the government as the primary provider of rights, leading to a sense of dependence on government for rights and benefits, or recognizes that rights belong to individuals and that the government derives its authority from the people.

He reminded listeners that we should acknowledge that our rights are “antecedent, transcendent,” referring to the writings of Justice Antonin Scalia, who described the Constitution as a protector of these inherent rights.

On April 30, 2017, Breitbart News highlighted the Declaration of Independence, which states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

This excerpt underscores two key points: first, Thomas Jefferson attributed our rights to our “Creator,” not to the government or a majority decision. Second, Jefferson indicated that government derives its powers from the people. Essentially, governments are endowed with powers, not rights, and their authority stems from the populace lending some of their inherent power.

Furthermore, the authority granted to the government by the people does not include the permission to violate the rights endowed upon them. This is why James Madison emphasized in Federalist 46 that “ultimate authority…resides in the people alone.”