Tennessee Injury Law Center
The Rule of Law is critical to democracy. At its core, it means that everyone must follow and obey the law regardless of how much money you have, regardless of what position you hold and regardless of who you know. By adhering to the Rule of Law, we essentially agree that everyone is going to play by the same rules. The Rule of Law affects our lives every single day. It affects our rights; it affects our economy, and it affects our trust in our government. As lawyers, we are deeply committed to the rule of law and judicial independence and here are some reasons why you should be committed to those things as well:
The Rule of Law protects your rights such as owning property, the right to free speech and the ability to go to court to seek redress in the face of unfairness or injury. For example, without the Rule of Law, persons in power, whether Republican, Democrat or Independent, could take your business if they decided they did not like something you did or said.
Similarly, the Rule of Law helps create a strong economy. Businesses thrive when they know that contracts will be honored. Workers need to know they will be protected from unfair practices. Investors need rules and regulations to protect their investments. Without the rule of law, corruption and uncertainty cause the economy to stagnate and only perform for a select few.
The Rule of Law protects our elections and citizens from its government. Regardless of the party in power, the Rule of Law must be maintained. Power can easily change hands, but the rules should not change. We expect our local, state and national leaders to have the character and integrity to comply with the Rule of Law and we ask our judiciary to enforce the Rule of Law when it is broken by anyone.
As such, judges are central to the Rule of Law and are at the heart of democracy. Lady Justice is blindfolded while holding a scale for a reason: judges are ethically obligated to uphold the law regardless of the parties involved. If a party disagrees with the judge’s decision, the party can appeal – often to more than one appellate court. Threats to and intimidation of judges undermines the Rule of Law. While such conduct is not new, it should never be encouraged, and we should not become numb to it. We must never allow ourselves to be ruled by the fist of those who cannot persuade us with a pen or their policies.
This post is not intended to be political. It is about a concept that applies equally to all political leaders regardless of whether they are Republican or Democrat. The US Marshall Service has warned today that threats against judges are increasing. Bomb threats, swatting calls and more are on the rise, and this is antithetical to us as Americans, to the Rule of Law and to our democracy. The purpose of this blog post is to hopefully lower the temperature on our debates and to simply be a reminder of why the Rule of Law is so important and why it must be protected.