Bill of Rights Day, 2024

Proclamation 10872 of December 13, 2024

Bill of Rights Day, 2024

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

America is the only country in the world founded on an
idea: that we are all created equal and deserve to be
treated equally throughout our lives. Two hundred and
thirty-three years ago today, that idea was at the
heart of our Nation's Bill of Rights, launching the
greatest self-government experiment in the history of
the world and endowing all of us with fundamental
rights and liberties. Today, we recommit to
safeguarding those first 10 freedoms guaranteed by the
Bill of Rights and all the progress we have made to
protect Americans since.

The freedoms guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights
help define the soul of our Nation. The first 10
Amendments to the United States Constitution include
the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and
privacy, which form our Nation's north star. And the 17
additional Amendments that came later helped our Nation
realize its promise of liberty and justice for all--
from abolishing our Nation's original sin of slavery to
giving women the right to vote.

But freedom is never guaranteed--every generation has
had to defend and fight for it. In recent years, long-
established civil rights principles and protections
have been undermined and challenged. The Supreme Court
gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, opening the
floodgates to a new wave of restrictive voting laws
that States across the country have passed. Anti-
LGBTQI+ rights bills have emboldened discrimination
against Americans for who they are and whom they love.
And in 2022, the Court overruled Roe v. Wade and took
away the constitutional right to choose, which had been
the law of the land for nearly 50 years.

As President, I made it my mission to protect our
democracy and the freedoms it guarantees. When the
Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I took executive
action to protect women's access to reproductive health
care. To protect the will of the people, right to vote,
and have that vote counted--which is the threshold of
democracy and liberty--I signed the Electoral Count
Reform Act to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
And to protect the civil rights and liberties of
LGBTQI+ Americans, I signed the landmark Respect for
Marriage Act, upholding the rights of same-sex and
interracial couples. But there is still more to do to
ensure that our Nation respects the civil rights and
liberties of all Americans. I continue to call on the
Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in
Federal law and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the
John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

On Bill of Rights Day, we recommit to protecting and
expanding Americans' civil rights and liberties. We
must continue fighting for progress and following our
Nation's north star, securing dignity and respect for
all Americans. And we must continue to strengthen the
guardrails of our democracy, ensuring that our Nation
and all the freedoms it guarantees will be enjoyed for
generations to come. I know we can do it--because
together, nothing is beyond our capacity.

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, 2024, 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
thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.