Transcription
Today's topic: the rule of law. This might be in the top five of most redundant phrases in the English language. I mean, these words are essentially the same thing. It's pretty difficult to explain what a law is without using the word "rule."
In any case, the rule of law is one of the foundations of American government, and we need to know what it is. Let's define this as a concept that those who govern are bound by the laws. This means people like the president and the lawmakers, they have to follow the same laws as everyone else. Simple, right?
Well, if you're still confused, perhaps a better way to observe the rule of law is to compare a society that operates under the rule of law and then one that doesn't. And then we can compare. Let's start with a society that does not have the rule of law. In this society, some people might not have to follow the rules. Now, who might these people be? Certainly, this list would include government officials, people that work in the government, or maybe even famous celebrities or extremely wealthy people.
Now, imagine what life would be like as a regular Joe walking down the street in a society that does not have the rule of law. This could be a terrifying experience because we don't know who's going to follow the rule and who is exempt from following the rules. Frustrated about the whole situation, we might end up just walking back home because we can't take a chance trying to cross the road. It would just be our luck that we get hit by a car. And when the police officer shows up at the scene of the crime, the person that was in the car that ran you over is from the government, or somebody famous, or somebody wealthy. And so the police officer might just send them on their way because they're someone important. Or they might accept money as a bribe and say, "Hey, look, give me a couple hundred bucks and I'll make this disappear because you've got the money, you don't have to follow the rules." That's the way it goes in a society with no rule of law.
Now, let's compare this to a society that has the rule of law. No matter who's driving a car in this society, whether they're a government worker or an average Joe, they all have to follow the laws. Now, this doesn't mean that in a society with the rule of law, nobody breaks a law. It just means that whoever does break a law will have to face the consequences of what they've done.
So, how does the rule of law protect citizens from the example we just went over? It probably seems like the rule of law is a shield to protect people from other people, and you're not wrong to think this. The rule of law helps us maintain law and order in the country. But the ones who could abuse this power more than any other would be the government itself. After all, they're the ones that make the rules. They're the ones that enforce the laws. How bad could it get if government officials were exempt from the laws that they wrote? They could target the people with these laws and not have to follow them themselves. They wouldn't have to pay taxes, but at the same time, they could raise taxes for everyone else. They could quite literally get away with murder, and that would be a pretty awful place to live in. The people would fear their government and their ability to go above the law.
You know, that's another way of thinking about the rule of law: that no one, not even the president, is above the law. Let's visualize it in this way. Now, let's say there's someone working in our government and they are above the law. Then they don't have to follow the rules of society, unlike everybody else. When we have the rule of law in our country, even the president has to follow the same rules. And in this way, no one is above the law. On the flip side, no one is below the law. Nobody is too poor, nobody's too unimportant, nobody is too marginalized to have equality under the law, which is really good for me because I'm all three.
Now, earlier in the video, we defined a rule of law as a concept, and that's exactly what it is. It's an idea. And while the intentions of it are golden, it's really hard to achieve. The first area we want to look at is law enforcement. If a country is going to have the rule of law and apply the law equally, the enforcers of that law have to be nearly robotic, which we know is not the case. Our police officers are human beings. They each have different values, and they're each going to enforce laws differently. One of the major challenges of making sure no one is above the law is having law enforcement enforce those laws as evenly and consistently as possible.
Another important condition to have the rule of law is the consistent application and location of that law. If someone is arrested in this country, all suspects are entitled to legal representation. We have the rights of the accused found in the Bill of Rights. This is designed to make sure that everybody is treated equally under the law. Even if you can't afford a lawyer, you'll be given one. If you don't know your rights, they'll be read to you. "Byron Hadley, you have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law."
The transparency of government institutions is another condition of the rule of law. And when we say transparency, that means we need to be able to see what the government is doing. We need to have public trials. We need to have public records. A government that tries to hide what is going on from the people can also break the rule of law.
The last two elements of the rule of law are accountability before the law, where basically everybody is legally responsible for their own actions, and due process, which is the fairness of law. Everyone is given the fairness of law, including those accused of breaking the law.
To wrap it all up, this doesn't mean that a country with the rule of law is a magical rainbow world of law-abiding citizens where everyone follows the rules and everyone is perfect. It just means that everyone is responsible for their actions, that rules will be applied as evenly as possible, that the government will provide transparency in how they administer justice, and that no one is above the law.
Perhaps the best example in U.S. history of the rule of law is when the United States challenged President Nixon in the Supreme Court. And the big argument of this case was, does the president have executive privilege? Basically, can a court demand that the president be subject to the judicial rules and laws of the country, or are they exempt from following the same rules and regulations that you and I have to follow? The court determined that this was not the case, and that Nixon did not have special privilege to ignore the court order of turning in evidence. This case proved to all government workers and all future government workers they are not above the law. And if the court orders them to do something, then they got to do it, just like everyone else.
Okay, that's it for now. Now, thanks so much for sticking to the end of my video. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something. We'll make more videos soon. [Music]