In 2023, a California school board became a national story when a conservative majority twice rejected state-approved curriculum over a lesson mentioning Harvey Milk. Governor Newsom threatened a $1.5 million fine. Parents packed the meetings. Everyone invoked constitutional rights. Very few on any side could have told you what the First Amendment actually says. Not the general idea. The text.

That same year, senators spent hours grilling social media executives about censorship. Questions about platform liability were First Amendment questions. Questions about user tracking were Fourth Amendment questions about the third-party doctrine. Neither term appeared in the hearings. The 2023 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that only one in 20 Americans can name all five First Amendment rights. Constitutional illiteracy isn't ignorance of trivia. It's the inability to connect your argument to the document you're invoking.

A California coastal property owner once sat through a zoning hearing that ended his investment. He hadn't violated any law. Environmental review requirements were individually defensible and collectively prohibitive. His land was regulated into near worthlessness without being acquired. He didn't know the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation," was written in part for exactly this situation. Whether........

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