Citizenship, Independence, and the Centrality of the Rule of law

Citizenship, Independence, and the Centrality of the Rule of law:  I had the great honor yesterday of attending the naturalization ceremony of a close personal friend who, more than 12 years after leaving her native Russia, was finally able to become an American citizen. If you've never witnessed a naturalization ceremony before, I highly recommend it. Set in the beautiful neo-classical courtroom of our local federal courthouse, it was an emotional experience for all of us.

There were more than 100 soon-to-be citizens in the room, and by the time half of them had stated their country of origin, I had lost count of where they were from – Afghanistan to Ethiopia, Canada, to Thailand, New Zealand, Peru, and all parts in between -- their diversity was amazing.

As a rule of law practitioner, I was struck by how central the rule of law is to the process. The materials on which our new citizens are examined before the process even began required them to learn the values that underpin the Constitution, our system of government accountability, the responsibilities that we, the governed and the governing, all share under the law, and the major decisions of the Supreme Court. The proceeding itself was a demonstration of the rule of law in the way it was conducted -- according to the law, with all of the reverence we accord to a court proceeding and under the watchful eye of a sitting federal judge and a certifying US attorney. Prospective citizens, having been fully vetted according to law, then swore their personal allegiance to the law not once, but five times in the Oath of Citizenship; “justice” as the underpinning to our liberty and freedom, was cited throughout. 

Afterwards, over celebratory glasses of wine and the last, local softshell crabs of the season, we talked about what it all meant, and how easy it is for those of us born into a society that values the rule of law to take it for granted. My friend’s husband remarked that in Russia during the Soviet times, they had a beautiful Constitution that guaranteed individual rights and liberties. But, he reflected, it was rarely followed and never enforced. We discussed the guarantee of religious freedom, and what a rare and important commodity that is. We talked about the opportunity that the law provides, when evenly enforced, for everyone to realize their individuality and potential. The pursuit of happiness, as the Judge had noted during the ceremony, is not some abstract good idea – it is a concept that can only be achieved when it is supported by law.

It was a beautiful reminder of why the rule of law matters so much to each and every one of us. So with that in mind, I want to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. We are so fortunate to live in a land where individual patriots were, and are, willing to sacrifice their lives and their fortunes for equality, justice, and the rule of law. It makes freedom possible and we need to value it more.