This op-ed by Cornerstone’s Isabella Peters was originally published in Granite Grok on 3/25/2025.
Growing up homeschooled in New Hampshire meant that after I learned my “ABC’s” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” my parents quickly taught me the “Preamble Song” by Schoolhouse Rock!. If you’re not familiar with it, the song is—as the title suggests—the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution set to a catchy tune. As the lyrics go, we “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Unfortunately, New Hampshire law does not go as far as our federal protections do when defending our liberties.
The NH Constitution is the one invariable safeguard of our liberties in the Live Free or Die state. Yet there is a legal gap in NH law that undermines the value of these rights by leaving them unprotected. Under the status quo, if your constitutional rights are currently being violated or are going to be violated, you have the chance to seek relief in court. However, there is no remedy for a violation that was completed in the past. This time frame requirement in the law is a roadblock to justice that needs to be addressed.
I’m a student from New Hampshire and the fact that this kind of gap exists in my state is appalling. As a young Christian woman, my beliefs are constantly coming in conflict with my peers, making it challenging to exercise my freedom to express those beliefs. After being homeschooled, I attended a public college in NH for two years. I faced difficult situations where I would avoid political or religious subjects in assignments for fear of being “punished” with a bad grade. Because I stayed silent, I never faced this type of injustice, but there are students who have.
A real, recent example of this is the Exeter High School case. At the heart was a student who was punished for expressing a belief on a schoolbus—a direct violation of his constitutional rights to free speech and religious beliefs. Under current NH law, students like him lose, as clearly seen in his 2024 ruling. Despite the judge acknowledging the harm to the student and the violation of the student’s constitutional rights, he could not affirm it legally or rule in the student’s favor because the violation had already been completed. In short, his hands were tied because of a glaring gap in constitutional protections under NH law.
This legal dilemma doesn’t only apply to students. Like many other NH patriots, I exercise my rights to free speech, equality, privacy, and religion on a daily basis in multiple public spaces. In these combative times, we can’t count on the status quo to back us up when our civil liberties are violated.
Representative Glenn Cordelli has proposed a simple solution to provide justice for these past grievances: HB 614-FN. This bill adds a new chapter (RSA 354-C) to New Hampshire law, that directs courts to provide relief—such as declaratory judgments, nominal damages, or other equitable remedies—for proven completed violations of state constitutional rights.
If HB 614 was already law, the court could have affirmed the violation of the Exeter student’s rights and granted him the nominal judgement he sought (such as his request for $1). Seen more broadly, this law will empower students and all citizens to speak boldly about their beliefs and practice their rights freely while increasing accountability for public institutions to defend everyone’s right to free expression. HB 614 responds directly to these scenarios, ensuring that violations of constitutional rights can be addressed regardless of when those violations occurred.
The law should always favor victims of injustice, whether that injustice happened yesterday, or last week, or last year. It is incoherent for the “justice” system to recognize rights that are violated but fail to provide a legal stance or remedy. HB 614 will shift New Hampshire’s legal landscape by closing this gap to make the New Hampshire Constitution a reliable safeguard for the continuous protection of our civil liberties. The entire House will be voting on HB 614 tomorrow and I urge you to join me in contacting your representatives to vote NO on the ITL recommendation. Signing this bill into law will protect us and our posterity—the future generations of America—by better defending and securing the blessings of liberty.
