Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0002-4879-4295

Graduation Year

2025

Date of Submission

12-2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Government

Reader 1

Professor George Thomas

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2025 Grayson Z Schementi

Abstract

The Constitution is the foundational pillar of American democracy. The freedoms that allow the American experiment in democracy to exist rely on it and the strength of the order it creates. It was drafted and implemented as a defense of the people to maintain their individual freedoms and to structure a government that serves them. I seek to understand its effectiveness at humanizing its people. The domain of law intends to build guardrails for a society of social primates who are prone to war and despotism. The question: Is the legal project, as it is, reinforcing a base dehumanizing element in society? Here, I define “dehumanize” broadly: to deny human characteristics and capabilities from a person, including rights and freedoms.

Specifically, I analyze the impact of the September 8th, 2025, Supreme Court case Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo, an emergency docket case that comments on the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans. I try to understand the immigration landscape using data, public opinions, policies, and historical context. I conclude that the majority opinion in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo uses dehumanization as its baseline analytical framework. I also conclude that the United States is falling short of its attempt at a humanistic democratic project of liberty and justice for all because of the continued presence of unrecognized dehumanization in law, and that the dehumanization must end to genuinely achieve justice. I propose that American law be analyzed through a humanist lens to prevent dehumanization in law.

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