Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg welcomed a group of new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony before the Constitution in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

“Today you join more than 20 million current citizens born in other lands who chose, as you have, to make the United States of America their home,” Ginsburg told the 31 newly sworn-in citizens from 26 different countries.

“We are a nation made strong by people like you, people who traveled long distances, overcame great obstacles and made tremendous sacrifices, all to provide a better life for themselves and their families,” she continued.

The ceremony took place in the Archive's rotunda, which is dimly lit to protect the fragile documents including the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The celebration marked the 227th ratification of the Bill of Rights.

Ginsburg said the nation’s founders established the government so that citizens would be the heart of America, “not it’s rulers.”

The Constitution at first allowed slavery and “severely limited” who counted among its opening lines of “We the People,” she continued. . . .