Earlier this week, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) visited Mira Mesa High School to share how Congress has evolved since our Founding Fathers established the Constitution and how it shapes our laws today. He was invited to participate as part of the school’s Constitution Day programming. Constitution Day celebrates the day the U.S. Constitution was signed by the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

“As legislators, we have the privilege of working every day to make our nation better and continue the work of our Founding Fathers, who envisioned a country that strived for a more perfect union,” said Rep. Peters. “Throughout our history, we have fought to ensure every American is granted equal protection under the law.”

Rep. Peters highlighted the inequalities still present, despite the equal dignity granted to every American by the Constitution. He spoke about the fight in Congress to reform our criminal justice system, defend marriage equality, and end gender discrimination. Rep. Peters also discussed his work on the Energy and Commerce Committee to define civil liberties on social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

“We know now that a lot of Facebook ads were funded by Russia, who also had access to users’ personal information, so we asked Mr. Zuckerberg about this. Congress is wrestling with whether we should pass regulations for Facebook and Twitter, to protect the civil liberty and privacy rights of Americans,” said Rep. Peters.

Finally, Rep. Peters shared how the Constitution is shaping the debate on divisive issues.

He continued, “The Constitution allows California to lead the nation in environmental protections, gun safety, health care, and more. There are significant differences in the needs of urban and rural communities. California is not looking to export our gun laws to another state, but we don’t want their laws imposed on us either.”

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Rep. Peters speaks with Mira Mesa High School students about the Constitution and Congress.