Posted March 21, 20178:28 am
In a time of shrinking budgets and conflicting priorities, we must not lose sight of our core values. Access to justice is one of our nation’s most important.
It has been fundamental to our country even before we were a country. In 1620, as they made their way to the New World, the Pilgrims drew up a governing agreement, the Mayflower Compact. Chief among its principles — a call for “just and equal laws.”
A similar call for justice is enshrined in the first line of the Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice….” It is also engraved on the facade the Supreme Court and recited every day by school children who proclaim we are a nation “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of this value when he said, “The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.”
To remain true to this sacred duty, we must ensure that there is equal access to justice, regardless of economic means. This is the mission of the organization I am privileged to lead, the Legal Services Corporation, and the legal aid providers across the country that it funds, such as The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
This mission to expand access to justice not only advances a quintessentially American commitment, it yields economic benefits as well. Civil legal aid, for example, reduces repeat incidents of domestic violence, thus cutting public spending on medical care, special education and counseling for affected children, and police resources. Representation in housing court reduces evictions, unjust foreclosures, and homelessness, saving public dollars on emergency shelter, healthcare, foster care, and law enforcement. Providing assistance in child welfare cases, landlord safety disputes, and other matters realizes similar benefits.
Civil legal aid also improves the smooth functioning of our courts by reducing the number of self-represented litigants. Cases involving self-represented parties frequently reach the courts as litigation, when — had counsel been involved — they would have been resolved long before reaching any court. And once they are in court, they take up significantly more time, as judges and clerks must explain information commonly understood by lawyers.
More importantly, by reducing the number of self-represented litigants, civil legal aid improves the quality of justice in our judicial system, since many objectively meritorious claims fail for lack of legal expertise, particularly when unrepresented parties are opposed by experienced attorneys.
To those who must go it alone in court, many civil legal aid providers offer document assembly apps, instructional videos, and other self-help resources, many available online.
In this time of transition, when in Washington and elsewhere we are deciding what to preserve and what to jettison, we should heed the warning of Judge Learned Hand: “If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.”