It is generally accepted by citizens and lawmakers that the Constitution’s “We the People,” refers to all persons living in the United States regardless of class, sex or race. Its contents, many believe, were left vague and open to interpretation for future generations to match the progression of time, society and culture in the nation.
But not all see the document like that.
Preston Damsky, a twenty-nine-year-old white nationalist and antisemite, had written a capstone paper for a fall seminar on originalism 一 taught by John L. Badalamenti, a federal judge nominated by Donald Trump 一 that was violently for a white-only America. According to the New York Times, the University of Florida student receive an A for the paper and was awarded the “book award,” symbolizing his position as top in the class.
He has since been suspended, as his views were circulated and known around the campus which has the largest Jewish undergraduate population in the U.S., and a 5 percent Black population. Damsky’s suspension came after countless students made it known to the interim dean of the law school, Merritt McAlister, that they felt unsafe because of Damsky’s remarks.
McAlister, reported by The Times, “also invoked ‘institutional neutrality,’ an increasingly popular policy among college administrators. It instructs schools not to take public positions on hot-button issues,” in the name of free speech.
But what makes Damsky’s paper and students’ remarks force one of the most prestigious law schools in Florida to claim neutrality?
The capstone paper argued for many changes to how modern America functions, such as removing voting rights protections for people of color, kill orders on those who cross the border illegally, a reevaluation of birthright citizenship as well as the constitutionality of both the 14th and 15th Amendments.
Damsky, The New York Times says, concludes the paper calling for what can only be seen as ethnic cleansing to ensure a white ethno-state: “‘The People cannot be expected to meekly swallow this demographic assault on their sovereignty,’ he wrote, adding that if the courts did not act to ensure a white country, the matter would be decided ‘not by the careful balance of Justitia’s scales, but by the gruesome slashing of her sword.’”
This was not the only time that Damsky had written a paper of sorts. He had also written a paper for another class where he argued that only white people get the protections, freedoms, and everything else promised in the Constitution, as well as that people of color in America should have voting rights revoked and given a 10-year deadline to relocate to a different country.
His summer internship at a prosecutor’s office in Florida has since been rescinded.