[leodeid]

Nit: The inalienable rights of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is in the Declaration of Independence. None of those things are broadly recognized as rights in the Constitution. I have been unable to determine to what extent referencing the Declaration of Independence is permissible in questions related to constitutional law. I'm inclined to believe that it depends on the party involved. (Scalia certainly objects to Declaration of Independence having legal sway [1]. Surprisingly to me, Clarence Thomas goes the other way [2].)

[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/99-138.ZD1.html [2] http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/373697/clarence-th... - I wasn't able to find a clear opinion from Thomas citing the DoI, but I am not good at searching through opinions.

[astrodust]

I stand corrected, but in any case, the very founding of the country was, in stark contrast to basically every country on Earth that had ever existed to that point, declaring that the "pursuit of happiness" is of utmost importance.

That says something about what America was striving to be, and comments like the one that sparked this thread show how absurdly far from that goal America has slid.