You may have heard a lot lately about the Rule of Law. You may wonder about its effect on your own lives or why you should even care. Frankly, the term is vague, but if you take one message away from what I’m about to say, it is this – the Rule of Law is the backbone of our country, the essence of who we are as Americans, and it plays a profound role in the lives we lead every day.
In its simplest form, the Rule of Law establishes a society governed by rules that apply equally to everyone; that no one person or institution is above the law. In practice, it shapes our everyday experiences in ways we might not even notice.
When we buy groceries, we trust the food meets safety standards. When we drive a car, we expect our fellow motorists to follow the same traffic rules. When we go to work, we expect to be paid what our employer promised us. When we visit public lands, we expect them to be available and protected.
The Rule of Law protects us all and ensures our economic well-being and provides ordinary citizens with access to justice. It guarantees relief and security for victims of crime and offers due process for those accused of wrongdoing. If you or your family have a problem or dispute that cannot be resolved, the law guarantees that a qualified member of your own community – a judge sworn to be fair and impartial – will make a decision based on the facts and law alone. And if you disagree, you have the right to appeal.
The Rule of Law does not create a society that blindly follows the rules. It allows us to challenge rules we believe are unfair. It allows us to amend current rules and even add new ones. It lives and breathes within a framework.
Historically, one of the first examples of the Rule of Law was Hammurabi’s Code. The code created a doctrine of fairness to resolve disputes and punish wrongdoing. Over the ensuing centuries, the Romans and Greeks refined the concept, and later even the English king was subject to the Rule of Law under Magna Carta.
Then, consider the foundation of our nation. The grievances that fueled the American Revolution were, at their core, a rejection of what the colonists perceived as the unchecked exercise of power by the British Crown. The Founding Fathers understood the dangers of tyranny and demanded a system based on established laws.
Thus was born the U.S. Constitution.
Have we always lived up to the ideals of this document? No. The country’s growth has not always been smooth or achieved without bloodshed. Discrimination and unfair laws and practices have reared their ugly heads far too often. Yet, despite the blemishes, the guardrails of our democratic experiment have generally held up and our country has moved forward to be the envy of the world.
Today, the Rule of Law is facing an existential crisis. There has been a great deal of uproar these days from the head of the executive branch that certain laws and judicial decisions not to their liking should be ignored; or that judges making these decisions should be impeached. In an already divided nation, these actions are thrusting a knife ever deeper into the heart of the Rule of Law
Understandably, many people feel frustrated and alienated by a system that seems to benefit the few above the many. Our country is changing and some feel the America they love is losing its values. Nevertheless, backsliding into chaos and tyranny are not the answer.
Make no mistake – the sustained and vitriolic assault on the legal system that America is witnessing today, if successful, not only threatens the underpinnings of our law-abiding society, but will forever change life in our country.
Silence is no longer an option. America is an experiment worth defending.
Brian K. Schowalter has practiced law in Durango since 1999. He is a partner at Whitney and Schowalter, a criminal defense firm.
