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Happy Law Day! Remember That The Law Is Mostly Terrible.

The law is a tool, not an end unto itself.

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(Image via Getty)

Happy Law Day, everyone! Law Day, a special day of celebration “for the cultivation of the respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life,” is an opportunity for the lifelong gunners among us to wrap themselves in the flag and declare themselves the very model of a modern Atticus Finch — except without all the racist parts.

Of course, “Law Day” is just a contrivance of the McCarthyite era, when gutting what the rest of the world celebrates as “Labor Day” involved propping up a menacing tribute to law and order to silence worker complaints. The unions that agitated for child labor laws and the 40-hour work week often had to step outside the lines of the law to be heard — often at terrible personal cost — and in 1958, when Law Day was dreamed up, a holiday celebrating “order” stacked on top of the international workers’ holiday was an admonishment that wasn’t lost on labor.

And where do we find ourselves on this anniversary of Law Day? Well, there’s a Supreme Court bolstered by a seat taken in broad contravention of over 200 years of constitutional norms has upended decades upon decades of precedent to hamstring organized labor. With a frathouse drunk joining the Court — and the rest of the judiciary populated by right-wing bloggers and hack children — these attacks will only grow more strident.

Meanwhile, Roy Cohn is being upheld as a model of professionalism in the Oval Office and the former FBI Director is scolding the Attorney General for frustrating an investigation. Some would say that the rule of law is on the ropes these days.

And not to knock the importance of a regime that respects the rule of law, but perhaps this moment — this “Law Day” — is a time to reflect on what the rule of law has meant in this country. For most of the nation’s history, the rule of law is what allowed companies to bust the heads of striking workers, segregated the country, and rendered women second-class citizens. Respect for the rule of law has allowed the courts to lead the way in making in-roads into all of these injustices, but at each and every juncture these legal victories began with people agitating for their rights and ending up on the losing end of the so-called lawful authority.

So remember on this Law Day to not just celebrate the “reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States and of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law,” but to remember that equality and justice have usually been on the losing end of the legal system. Rather than a celebration, Law Day should be a somber moment where the profession recognizes its complicity in the injustice perpetrated in the name of “law” throughout the country’s history. An opportunity to refocus on equality and justice and recognize “law” not as a false idol but both a cure and the disease in the effort to realize those ideals. Literally, this day was created to bully people fighting for their rights — keep that in mind when you celebrate all the progress the law has achieved.

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Be happy for the rule of law. Celebrate what the law has achieved. But never accept “law” as a false idol. Once the law becomes an end to itself — as the people behind Law Day wanted — it’s just an empty signifier primed to soak up the ramblings of half-wits and crooks.

And remember the workers on real Labor Day and thank all those workers who broke the law back in the day to make the society Americans enjoy today.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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