The late Sam Cooke sang, “Don’t know much about history” in his classic “Wonderful World.” He was a great artist, so we’ll give him a pass, but the rest of us need to learn more history. We need to ensure that political campaigns, judicial decisions, education and laws are based on fact, not myth.

When asked the causes of the Civil War, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley did not mention slavery. She’s the former governor of South Carolina, which declared back in 1860 it was leaving the Union because of “an increasing hostility on the part of the nonslaveholding States to the institution of slavery.” Of the four states that spelled out why they were seceding, all proclaimed their support of slavery.

Florida legislators have another approach. They simply outlaw the teaching of facts they don’t like. The Stop WOKE Act requires history to be taught in a way that students not “feel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin. Anyone who can teach about slavery without conveying distress ought not be teaching at all.

Members of the Supreme Court apparently need a history lesson, too. In striking down affirmative action at a private university, Chief Justice John Roberts offered what he called “an originalist defense of the colorblind Constitution” based on the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. That amendment was passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866. Ten days later, the Senate reaffirmed a law establishing a Freedmen’s Bureau to benefit newly emancipated African Americans. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor futilely pointed out to Justice Roberts, laws like that one were anything but colorblind and leave “no doubt that the Equal Protection Clause permits consideration of race to achieve its goal.”

Supreme Court justices have twisted the historical record time and again. Its 2008 decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms ignores precedent, too. As former Chief Justice Warren Burger, appointed by Richard Nixon, said: “The Framers clearly intended to secure the right to bear arms essentially for military purposes.” Justice Samuel Alito’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade cites the opinion of a 17th century English judge regarding abortion but doesn’t mention that Sir Matthew Hale also sentenced women to death for witchcraft. In a 1997 case, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, “We begin, as we do in all due process cases, by examining our Nation’s history, legal traditions, and practices.” Wouldn’t it be nice, then, to get the history right? It might do some good to have a few Supreme Court justices with Ph.D.s in history sitting on the bench along with the law school grads.