Whoopi Goldberg’s question to John McCain was not just asinine race baiting, but it showed a profound lack of knowledge of the Constitution.

Yes, the Constitution alludes to slavery in a way that permits it. (U.S. Const. art. I, § II, cl. III)

However, despite any shortcomings the Founding Fathers may have had in terms of slavery, they had the rather bright idea of including an amendment process (U.S. Const. art. V) with which to update the Constitution as needed. Once an amendment is ratified, it is part of the text of the Constitution and supersedes any contradictory part of the Constitution, including an previous amendments.

On December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, stating, in part:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

So, the Constitution, interpreted as it is written, clearly bars slavery. Judges interpreting the Constitution as it is written are not going to be reinstituting slavery anytime soon. And people who believe the courts should enforce the laws, not make them, are not going to be reinstituting slavery anytime soon.

I realize that Goldberg is an entertainer, not a Constitutional scholar, but she might want to make sure what she says on the subject has some grounding in reality.