LET US HEAR FROM YOU!
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Change Starts Here
The Law Day gathering on Thursday, May 1, co-hosted by the WSBA, was just what I needed to recharge my battery and refocus on helping those with no or minimal access to justice. I happened to attend the one at the University of Washington where U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones and Dean Tamara Lawson provided insight, and Judge Jones had us retake our oath, but this time “mindfully.”
Judge Jones said that next time he sees us, he expected each of us to be able to share with him what we’ve been doing since to make a difference, other than at our jobs. In other words, how we are volunteering or serving as legal ambassadors to uphold the rule of law, educate others, and provide access to justice.
That same night I was reminded by a friend of John F. Kennedy’s 1963 remarks, which I couldn’t really appreciate at age 10, but sure resonate with me today after retaking my oath (as did many others at multiple venues throughout our state and country) and reinforce why our gatherings were necessary.
President Kennedy in his 1963 speech at Vanderbilt University shared the following:
… the educated citizen has an obligation to uphold the law. This is the obligation of every citizen in a free and peaceful society—but the educated citizen has a special responsibility by the virtue of his greater understanding. For whether he has ever studied history or current events, ethics or civics, the rules of a profession or the tools of a trade, he knows that only a respect for the law makes it possible for free men to dwell together in peace and progress.
He knows that law is the adhesive force in the cement of society, creating order out of chaos and coherence in place of anarchy. He knows that for one man to defy a law or court order he does not like is to invite others to defy those which they do not like, leading to a breakdown of all justice and all order. He knows, too, that every fellowman is entitled to be regarded with decency and treated with dignity. Any educated citizen who seeks to subvert the law, to suppress freedom, or to subject other human beings to acts that are less than human, degrades his heritage, ignores his learning, and betrays his obligation.
Certain other societies may respect the rule of force—we respect the rule of law.
Michael B. Goldenkranz
Seattle
Keep Politics Out
The article in the June issue of Bar News hardly restores our faith in the rule of law in this country. “Rule of law” as a slogan is a thinly disguised attack on the Trump administration. The article tells us there is a “deep and growing distrust of government institutions” and “this trend [obviously the Trump administration] strikes at the core of our democracy.” Not quite.
We have three branches of government: the presidency, Congress, and the courts. All are bound by the Constitution: The president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Article 2, Section 3. Courts are appointed during good behavior which practically means for life. Courts have power only over “cases.” District courts do not necessarily have authority to enter injunctions affecting the entire country. These are all recipes for legal argument, not proclamations.
The rule of law encompasses legitimate claims that this president has exceeded his power to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The rule of law likewise encompasses legitimate claims that the courts do not have authority to rule on the validity of executive acts either because they are not “cases” or because they are not a justiciable claim of one branch against another or because their authority does not extend beyond their district or circuit.
The rule of law means for us that we acknowledge that the Constitution is the law of the land. All of it. The Bar Association should not take a position that promotes one party’s claims about the Constitution, claims deeply engaged with today’s politics, and that other claims about the Constitution are not equally part of the rule of law.
Roger Ley
Gresham, OR
Letters to the editor published in Bar News must respond to content presented in the magazine and also comply with Washington General Rule 12.2 and Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990).* Bar News may limit the number of letters published based on available space in a particular issue and, if many letters are received in response to a specific piece in the magazine, may select letters that provide differing viewpoints to publish. Bar News does not publish anonymous letters or more than one letter from the same contributor per issue. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity, civility, and grammatical accuracy.
*GR 12.2(c) states that the WSBA is not authorized to “(1) Take positions on issues concerning the politics or social positions of foreign nations; (2) Take positions on political or social issues which do not relate to or affect the practice of law or the administration of justice; or (3) Support or oppose, in an election, candidates for public office.” In Keller v. State Bar of California, the Court ruled that a bar association may not use mandatory member fees to support political or ideological activities that are not reasonably related to the regulation of the legal profession or improving the quality of legal services.