Response to Bishop Baron’s Critique on Legal Rights

Bishop Robert Baron recently published an opinion piece criticizing my comments at a Senate hearing regarding the origins of legal rights. This hearing included testimony from individuals who contended that such rights don’t come from laws or government. It’s a perspective that deeply concerns me, and, judging by Bishop Baron’s acceptance of it, perhaps he feels the same.

Undeniably, I’m in agreement with many ideas in the Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson. However, my experiences working alongside Catholic missionaries in Honduras during military dictatorship have taught me a crucial lesson: rights lose significance without legal protection. My seventeen years as a civil rights lawyer in Virginia reinforced this understanding.

What about the right to a jury trial? Or the right to own a firearm? There’s also freedom of the press, as well as protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Consider the right not to have your property taken without due process. Even the basic right to assemble peacefully and seek redress from the government fits here. And let’s not forget the right to vote.

These rights aren’t explicitly listed in biblical texts, nor are they universally accepted around the globe. Yet, they are enshrined in U.S. law, recognized in our Constitution. Jefferson articulated this notion in the Declaration, emphasizing that a democratic government exists to ensure these rights for all.

To claim that all rights originate from the Creator, rather than from law or government, opens a door for dictators to disregard laws. This has been a recurring theme throughout history and continues today in various parts of the world.

We can all acknowledge that slavery was an egregious violation of fundamental rights. Nonetheless, without the Civil War and the 13th Amendment, those natural rights remained hollow concepts.

Unless safeguarded by law, individuals cannot be sure their essential rights are upheld. Arguing that rights derive solely from divine authority allows tyrants to bypass legal frameworks, claiming to act on divine will. This echoes our nation’s past, when we sought to break free from monarchical rule over 250 years ago. We fundamentally reject the idea that a king has the divine right to create, alter, or abolish laws—tyranny in any form is unacceptable.

Bishop Baron should be grateful that his rights, like those of all Americans, are upheld by law.

In the pursuit of safeguarding these vital legal rights, we could all benefit from St. Augustine’s wisdom: “Pray as if everything depends on God.”