Page 8 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

Justice, Justice shall Ye Pursue
6
honorable Jonathan Lippman1
In New York State and across the country, millions of people every year confront legal problems that threaten their fundamental interests and the basic necessities of their lives . Yet many of them cannot afford to hire a lawyer to help them make sense of our legal system and advocate their positions effectively . Whether they face the loss of their homes or their children, are the victims of unscrupulous lenders, or need protection for their physical safety, these vulnerable people find themselves adrift in a sea they cannot hope to navigate without assistance . The scales of justice are not balanced for those without the resources for a lawyer . This crisis in access to justice is – and must be – of the highest priority to our government and our society, as it has been for me in my seven years as Chief Judge of New York State .
It is a core value of the judiciary and the legal profession to ensure a fair system of laws and equal justice for all . That imperative is reflected in the words of our founding fathers . Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of our Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States, tells us that “the most sacred of the duties of government” is “to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens .”2 Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury and one of the architects of our U .S . Constitution, wrote that “the first duty of society is justice .”3 Repeatedly, our Supreme Court Justices have reaffirmed this basic principle . Justice Learned Hand, for example, commanded us that “thou shalt not ration justice .”4 And Justice Lewis Powell wrote that “Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society . It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists . . .it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status .”5 Looking back even further to biblical times, this mandate is forcefully stated as “Justice, Justice shall ye pursue” and “You shall not be partial in judgment: hear out low and high alike .”6 There can be no doubt that we must confront the crisis in legal services for the poor and ensure justice for all if we are to be true to our founding ideals .
Our government and our legal community have recognized the need for civil legal aid . The United States Congress established the Legal Services Corporation in 1974 to support high- quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans around the country .7 States fund civil
1 The honorable Jonathan Lippman served as Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals from 2009 until 2015.
2 Thomas Jefferson, Note for Destutt de Tracy’s Treatise on Political Economy, in The PaPers of Thomas Jefferson: reTiremenT series, Vol. 9, at 633 (J. Jefferson Looney ed., 2012).
3 Alexander hamilton, quoted in The QuoTable lawyer 172 (Tony Lyons ed., 2010).
4 The honorable Learned hand, Chief Justice, united States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Keynote Address at the Legal Aid Society’s 75th Anniversary Celebration (Feb. 16, 1951), available at http://www.legal-aid. org/en/las/thoushaltnotrationjustice.aspx.
5 The honorable Lewis Powell, Justice, united States Supreme Court, Address at the ABA Legal Services Program Annual Meeting (Aug. 10, 1976), available at http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/legalservices/ sclaid/atjresourcecenter/downloads/gideons_new_trumpet_9_08.authcheckdam.pdf.
6 Deuteronomy 16:20, 1:17.
7 See Legal Services Corporation Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93–355, 88 Stat 378.
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice