I Start This Blog...

November 20, 2007

I start this blog with an event that has nothing directly to do with the Center and its work, but has everything to do with why I do this work.

Today I met with several hundred lawyers at the Law Library of the Library of Congress to march in solidarity with lawyers all over the country, showing our support for the lawyers in Pakistan.  As you perhaps know, as part of the martial emergency law declared in Pakistan by Musharraf, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has been placed under house arrest for meeting.  Each day the lawyers of Pakistan have dress for work and walked to the Supreme Court to protest the illegal closing of the courts.  Each day lawyers have been beaten and jailed for their dedication to re-establish the rule of law in Pakistan.  Some estimates are that as many as one in every four lawyers in Pakistan are jailed for trying to do their job.

When you become a lawyer, you become subject to lawyer jokes.  The most common “joke” is to quote: “The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."  Most people are vaguely aware this is Shakespeare, but few recognize that this quote—rather than disparaging lawyers—is a high honor.   The quote comes from Henry VI Part 2 (Act IV, Scene II) where Dick the Butcher as a part of a mob wants to assure that he and his fellow rioters are not prosecuted for their illegal actions.

In Pakistan the joke has become a reality.  The rule of law is too big of a threat for Musharraf to bear.  So he closed the courts and is jailing the lawyers.

It is this notion that the rule of law is one of the greatest protections we have that drove me to become a lawyer.  It is why the Center works to change the laws that affect conscientious objectors. 

I may not be facing beatings and jail at this point, but I would if necessary.