In the 1960s I was motivated to become a lawyer by a belief that justice for all was a worthy goal. To make that decision I had to first determine what justice meant. That led to a determination that the rule of law was the only possible path to a world of fairness and equality. I fully realized that there were no guarantees; after all, Nazi Germany operated under strict laws and in our own country Jim Crow laws were a model of injustice. Nonetheless, it is clear that without binding rules of some kind there is little hope for a just society.
A hallmark of the rule of law is that no person is above the law. There may be laws that recognize the special responsibility that attaches to those in positions of authority, but those persons must be held accountable or we lose any sense of predictability and trust in our government.
What does society look like when the law is not available to address official misconduct? Unfortunately, our world provides numerous examples of governments that operate beyond the reach of the people and above the law. In the United States we have rightly taken pride in our adherence to the rule of law even when we were sharply divided along political lines.
We are, once again, approaching the need to answer whether we are committed to the rule of law or whether we are willing to be governed by the whims of a political savior.
RICHARD A. HESSE
Hopkinton