Part VI — Restoring Constitutional Responsibility: A Practical Path for 2025

by Darius A. Lecointe, PhD, JD 

If America’s constitutional crisis is a crisis of identity and responsibility, then the way forward must begin with recovering both. Judicial supremacy displaced the constitutional duties of citizens and institutions, but the solution is not a new doctrine. It is a return to the original design: shared responsibility at every level of national life.

1. Responsibility Begins With the Oath

The Oath is not ceremonial. It is the constitutional mechanism that binds officials to the identity of the people. Every officer — executive, legislative, judicial — has the same duty: protect the Constitution at all times, not only when “called upon.”

Reaffirming the meaning of the Oath is the first step toward restoring fidelity.

2. Congress Must Reclaim Its Duty

Congress has become reactive, waiting for courts to resolve violations. But the legislative branch was designed to defend the constitutional identity of the nation. Congress must: refuse to implement unconstitutional demands, assert its independent interpretive duty, and treat violations as identity threats, not partisan maneuvers.

A passive Congress is incompatible with constitutional life.

3. The Executive Must Relearn Its Limits

The Presidency has drifted into a posture of personal will. Restoring constitutional responsibility means returning to Washington’s model: lead within the Constitution, refuse authority not granted, and treat the Oath as a constraint, not an instrument of power.

Executive restraint is a form of fidelity.

4. The Judiciary Must Step Out of Supremacy

The Court must abandon the illusion that it alone defines the Constitution. Its proper role is to articulate, not to dominate. Fidelity demands: transparency about constitutional limits, rejection of unnecessary intervention, and recognition that responsibility is not exclusive.

A non-supreme Court strengthens the system.

5. Citizens Must Reenter the Constitutional Equation

For too long, Americans have acted as spectators of constitutional conflict. But constitutional identity belongs to the people. Citizens must: treat violations as civic emergencies, demand fidelity from representatives, and understand that the Constitution’s sovereignty depends on public responsibility.

The people are the first line of defense, not the last.

6. Institutions Must Remember the Sequence

Stability returns only when the constitutional sequence is honored:

Identity → Governance → Fidelity → Force

Today, the order is reversed. Restoring the sequence is not abstract. It requires daily reaffirmation of identity and active defense of constitutional norms.

The Lesson for 2025

The Constitution does not survive because it is enforced. It survives because the people and institutions bound by it choose fidelity over convenience.

Restoring constitutional responsibility is not optional. It is the only path out of identity drift and back into constitutional life.