When President Eisenhower proclaimed the first Law Day in 1958, he sought “to remind us all that we as Americans live, every day of our lives, under a rule of law. Freedom under law is like the air we breathe. People take it for granted and are unaware of it—until they are deprived of it.” Statements of the President and Chief Justice on Law Day—U.S.A., 44 A.B.A. J. 544 (1958). Indeed, the rule of law feels to many of our fellow citizens like an abstract concept, on which even some judges have only a “superficial grasp.” See Patricia Timmons-Goodson, The Bell Tolls for the Rule of Law, Judges’ J., Winter 2008, at 32, 33. But to those of us who have lived in countries where the rule of law has not always been followed, the concept is cherished as integral to a healthy democracy.

I remember what it was like growing up in a country where respect for the rule of law was flimsy at best, and I have previously written about my father’s experiences living under a dictatorship in our native Dominican Republic. Rolando T. Acosta, Separation of Powers: A Tribute to My Father, NYLJ, May 1, 2018, at 10, col. 1. To my father, the rule of law, like the separation of powers, “was not a lofty concept taught in school; he knew it was a necessary ingredient to bring the dream of liberty and good government to fruition.” Id. It is important for those of us who have personally experienced a breakdown in the rule of law to share our stories, for “[t]he clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened where there is no rule of law.” THE NATION: May Day, U.S.A., Time, May 5, 1958 (quoting President Eisenhower’s Law Day remarks).

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