Lawyers: Are You Just Going to Stand There and Do Nothing?

A few years ago, I attended the Annual Dinner at the Westchester County Bar Association. It was a particularly memorable event for two reasons. First, I spilled my Scotch on the dress of the President of the Bar (it was my first one of the evening, and she was a good sport about it).

Second, I felt proud to be at least a tangential member of the legal fraternity.

Among the many notable guest speakers was a judge who talked about the importance of Law, and of how we were able to survive, even prosper, as a Democracy because of our respect for, and adherence to, the Rule of Law.

But this country’s respect for the law and our legal system is very much on the wane. This was the topic of a recent New York County Lawyers’ Association podcast, Amicus Curiae, a highly respected program hosted by my friend Dan Wiig. The podcast had a panel of judges and attorneys. According to one panelist, disdain for the law today even extends to some lawyers who are showing disrespect to each other and to judges right in their own courtrooms or on the courthouse steps in front of a bank of microphones.

Things have changed since that night in Westchester when I felt proud of America – more than any other country in the world, we were a society governed by Laws that were respected and honored, and that protected each and every one of us. (Well, mostly).   

The Law provided the foundation upon which our country was built. The Law was what preserved and protected our Democracy. The Law recognized that it had to be a beacon and guide our people so they could live together in equanimity.  

The Law was there to protect society from its worst impulses, and especially to protect regular citizens from the power grabs of the wealthy and connected. This is something our Founding Fathers — although wealthy and connected themselves — greatly feared and sought to prevent. They placed the country’s best interests above their own. How very old- fashioned, some might think today.

The Annual Dinner speaker declared the legal fraternity has a Sacred Trust to protect the Rule of Law.

So what has happened? Where have you folks in the legal community been?

We have let our system of checks and balances fail: all three components are under the sway of one man. As for the fourth component, the press, Thomas Jefferson said, “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.” Well, Thom, the Fourth Estate itself is not safe anymore, its freedom and credibility being continually threatened. Readers aren’t safe either, since too many today are relying on alternative facts, not truth.

Even those historically opposed to a strong Presidency — wealthy and powerful business leaders — are surrendering their independence to pay fealty to the Anointed One … and by so doing, preserve their wealth and power.

The principal American investor in TikTok donated $46 million (some reports say $100 million) to Republican causes the very same year that legislation was enacted banning   TikTok from our shores. TikTok also sponsored one of the main inaugural parties – and got a seat on the dais. The ban has been lifted, at least for now.

The Koch Klan donated $61 million to the GOP in 2024. Elon Musk reportedly donated $288 million, and as a result, has become a major power in Washington.  

Must we now openly admit to ourselves that we have the best government that money can buy?

And respect for law? Give me a break!

A former federal prosecutor (and America’s Mayor) ignored court orders and was held in contempt by two different judges in the same week! Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and two other U.S. Congressmen blew off Congressional subpoenas, and it is now all-too common for people of all stripes to refuse to appear for depositions, hearings and even trials.

Our new leader breaks the law by firing at least 17 Inspectors General overnight. The law, enacted in 1978, says the President must communicate to Congress his reasons for terminating an IG within 30 days before removal.  An amendment in 2022 states there must be a “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for a removal.

Instead of being incensed by this Presidential law-breaking, some in the legal media have opined that this law may be unconstitutional, so therefore the President’s action was probably legal.

If I remember my 4^th grade civic class correctly – only the Supreme Court can ultimately declare a law unconstitutional – until it does, the law is the law and must be obeyed. If it isn’t, the violator faces prosecution.  Or not, I guess.

Where’s the outrage? Where is the legal fraternity?

Now the President has signed an executive order aimed at revoking birthright citizenship for children born to unauthorized immigrants and temporary visa holders.  The 14^th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The only persons born here who are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. are children of foreign diplomats and those who are born on foreign warships visiting US ports.

Oh, the wringing of hands and furrowing of brows on the part of so many liberals, media outlets and attorneys. One national publication said Trump’s policy “appears to clash” with the 14^th Amendment.

Appears?

Give that publication the Milquetoast Wishy-Washy Award of the month. What a lack of moral courage. Thomas Jefferson would be aghast.

Some have said the Supreme Court can decide this 14th Amendment matter. Do they mean the Supreme Court can rule on the constitutionality of the Constitution itself?     

The Law was always like an oak tree, not a palm tree — it could sway from side-to-side a bit, but it wouldn’t bend over in a strong prevailing wind. What has changed?  The ground in Washington today is littered with palm fronds.

Many people don’t care anymore –they only disdain the Law, and ignore it.

I know from talking with prosecutors that unless a crime meets certain parameters, they don’t have the resources to prosecute. In other words, these days you can get away with almost anything short of murder and break the law with impunity.  (If the murder takes place on 5^th Avenue, you might get away with that, too!)

The Founding Fathers knew our Democracy would be a very fragile experiment. They knew that Athens, the first recognized democracy, only lasted about 180 years. We might not make it to our 250^th year.

Our Founders were not the first to see the frailty of Democracy. Plato, writing 2,400 years ago, said, “Dictatorship naturally arises out of Democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny…[arises] out of the most extreme liberty.” He also warned that in a Democracy, selfish people who care nothing for others — but who are only motivated by their own personal desires — are able to attain power.  And so they have.

During the NYCLA Amicus Curiae podcast, former Congressman Michael McMahon, now District Attorney for Staten Island, said the disparaging rhetoric we hear about judges and lawyers “is hurtful and upsetting.”   Elizabeth Strong, US Bankruptcy Judge – EDNY, observed, “Trust and confidence in the system is at risk,” a sentiment echoed by the other panelists. “Things are not the way they should be,” another said.

Many of the clients I work with as a career mentor tell me they want to do something that is helpful to others. What can be more helpful to others than teaching respect for the Rule of Law? New York State Chief Justice Rowan Wilson said the growing disdain for The Law “is a multi-headed problem.” A key to resolving it, he said, begins with civics education for children, noting that respect for the Law starts by understanding how it works.

District Attorney McMahon said that Bar Associations can play a critical role in stemming the tide of disrespect for the Law by organizing community outreach programs. Defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden said she goes out and talks with high school classes to teach about how our legal system functions, and why it protects us. “This is where it starts,” she declared.

If you want to do something helpful to others in your career, you can start now. Go out into your own communities, start talking with your neighbors, your friends, your families and especially your children, about the importance of the Rule of Law and why the Law needs to be respected and protected. You don’t have to argue politics, just explain how the system is supposed to work, and why it can be trusted.  

If we don’t do this now, right now, it may be too late. We all know the quote about the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.  So don’t just stand there. Do something! Please! Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative, the Law is there to protect all of us.

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Bruce Blackwell, President of Career Strategies Group, is the former head of the Barnstable County Bar Association and currently leads a consumer advocacy NGO working closely with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. A former New Yorker, he is now based in Cape Cod.