About Us
ACS DePaul is a group of students dedicated to reinfusing progressive values into American law and politics. We believe deeply in the importance of law as the mechanism which governs the relationships between and among the individuals and institutions that form our society, and we recognize the direct relationship between legal theory and the broader political debate about the kind of society in which we live. We believe that the law, and, in particular, the Constitution, serves human values. We believe that the Constitution is a charter of liberty, the blueprint for a noble and unique experiment designed to prevent the excesses of government in order to protect the human dignity necessary for individuals to realize the full potential of their lives. The goal of the Constitution, and the United States it created, is to permit the People to succeed in the "pursuit of happiness," one of the inalienable rights this nation explicitly was founded to secure to the American people. We believe that the Constitution, and by extension, many other areas of American law, can be understood only by reference to principles of decency, reason, humanity, and compassion. We believe that those who enforce the law must have concern for the way in which it affects the lives of the people who make up the nation in which we live. And we believe these principles should form a starting point for enactment, as well as interpretation, of the law. The mission of ACS DePaul is to harness these values of compassion and respect for each individual, and to re-incorporate them into American law and politics, in order to build a stronger and more decent national community. We seek to restore the fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, protection of individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice to their rightful — and traditionally central — place in American law. We want to strengthen the intellectual underpinnings of -- and the public case for -- a vision of the law in which these values are paramount. Our goal is a rekindling of the hope that by reason and decency, we can create an America that is better for us all. ACS DePaul seeks to honor the values of DePaul University through socially responsible leadership and Vincentian values. We believe in human dignity and the power of community.
