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Solidarity at the Sesquicentennial If
a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, those who know a little Shakespeare
are fond of quoting, “The first thing we do let’s kill all the lawyers.”
Those who know their Shakespeare a little better know that that line
is uttered by Dick the Butcher, to his fellow rebels who are conspiring
against the lawful government and contemplating squashing the people’s
liberties. Solidarity
with Pakistani Lawyers As I write these words, liberty
and the rule of law are under attack in Pakistan. And the lawyers—and
the judges—are indeed being arrested and silenced. On November 3,
amid growing political turmoil, Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf—acting in his military capacity—imposed martial
law. He suspended the constitution, dissolved the supreme
court, arrested the chief justice, and dismissed or arrested
many other judges. The regime has purported to “replace” many judges
with successor judges who are more loyal to the president. On November 5, 2,000 Pakistani
lawyers demonstrated at the Pakistan supreme court
in protest of emergency rule. The media report that thousands of lawyers
were arrested for demonstrating elsewhere in Pakistan—including the
president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz
Ahsan; and Asma Jahangir, a leading
human rights lawyer associated with the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan, whose offices the police raided. These recent developments follow
on a disputed presidential election. President Musharraf
sought reelection to the presidency this year, but opponents argued
to the supreme court that he could not constitutionally serve both
as head of state and as military chief. The court threw out some challenges,
clearing the way for Musharraf’s reelection;
but several other challenges remained. The protests continued. The
president responded by declaring martial law, suspending constitutional
democracy, and attacking the judiciary and the legal profession. Here
in the United States, and around the world, lawyers are being called
in an unprecedented fashion to respond. On November 14, over 100 Minnesota
lawyers turned out in the cold to rally on the steps of the Minnesota
Supreme Court in solidarity with our colleagues half a world away:
the lawyers and judges of Pakistan. On the same day, bar associations
nationwide showed support for restoration of the rule of law in Pakistan
through demonstrations in Washington, D.C., New York City, and other
major cities. This
year and next, Minnesota celebrates its sesquicentennial: 150 years
of statehood. On October 13, we marked the 150th anniversary of Minnesota
voters ratifying our state constitution. Five months from now, on
May 11, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Minnesota’s admission
to the Union as the 32nd state. But with those anniversaries, we celebrate
far more than history: we celebrate our living political heritage.
A century and a half of constitutional government—a
century and a half of individual rights—a century and a half of free
elections, and of peaceful transfers of power. Those
facts are precious, rare, and fragile miracles. In every nation at
some time, and in every era in some nation, even today, men and women
have fought and died just for the dream of these facts whose reality
we Americans take for granted. Throughout human history, only a few
nations can claim any real experience with them at all, and none for
as long as ours can. We know a little bit about disputed presidential
elections from just seven years ago. But in 2000, despite five weeks
of bitter partisan wrangling over those last precious few electoral
votes, we—the whole nation—arrived together at a peaceful transfer
of power on Inauguration Day. Without a life being lost, and without
a shot being fired. All because we had enough faith in the rule of
law, that we can settle even the deepest differences over the nation’s
future with words and ideas and arguments, rather than with tanks
… or guns … or fists. Imagine that process without lawyers. Our state and federal constitutions
establish a society based on the rule of law, the liberty of the individual, and equal access to justice—to each of which an
independent legal profession is essential. A world without lawyers
is a world without law, liberty, or justice. When you get rid of the
lawyers, you deprive innocent citizens of their right to a competent,
professional legal defense when the state accuses them of a crime.
You deprive businesses of their right to a professional advocate when
they deal with governmental regulators. You deprive consumers of legal
counsel regarding their rights when vastly more powerful organizations
take advantage of them, or injure them. You deprive the poor, the
have-nots, and the discriminated-against of a champion when they try
claiming their BRIAN MELENDEZ is president of the Minnesota
State Bar Association and a partner in the
law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP. He
received his undergraduate and law degrees cum laude, as well as a
master’s degree in theology, from Harvard University. He is active
in numerous professional, civic, and alumni organizations both locally
and nationally. |
