Opinion ID: 848785
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Post-1791 Development

Text: While petitioning in colonial America afforded even the disenfranchised access to the People's representatives, petitioning eventually atrophied as a popular tool of self-governance at the center of our republican form of government with the increased emphasis on voting and the expansion of rights of enfranchisement in the United States. [8] Mark, supra at 2154, 2158-2160. Because petitioning itself has receded in its political prominence, it is not hard to understand why, especially with the enormous expansion of protections now accorded under the Free Speech Clause and the Free Press Clause during the last century, the Petition Clause has lacked apparent independent political importance in constitutional adjudication. Despite what I believe is a compelling historical and textual case for according the Petition Clause distinctive meaning, [9] by the twentieth century, the federal judiciary had all but relegated the Petition Clause to the status of a step-sibling without independent identity or import apart from the Free Speech Clause and the Free Press Clause of the First Amendment. Our contemporary Petition Clause jurisprudence is thus entirely anchored in that developed under the other First Amendment clauses. See, e.g., McDonald, supra .