Who Governs Attorneys?

Some argue that attorneys are not to be trusted because they are officers of the court; therefore, an attorney's first loyalty is to the court and not to his client. Such complaints, however, bely misunderstanding.

An American attorney's ultimate oath and loyalty is to the first principles of the law as set forth in the Constitution, not to any court. It is the duty of every attorney - whether he sits on the bench or argues before the court - to insure that the court upholds the Constitution by insisting that the court observe due process and that any articulation of the law and its application remains within the law's first principles.

That the common-law tradition makes attorneys accountable to courts does not lessen their ultimate duty of loyalty to the law, where the courts hold contrary. Further, the courts are to be independent of the executive and legislative branches. The greater danger is not that attorneys are officers of the courts; but rather, that the judges, and therefore the courts, will become dependent upon the executive or legislative branches for their jobs and pay.

Such controlled courts will hold undue power over the attorneys practicing before them by destroying attorneys' independent judgment and bringing attorneys under uniform and central control of the state.

If the executive or legislative branch holds sway over the courts, these branches will also hold sway over the lawyers through the courts: in short, the courts will become the state's tool to silence the lawyers and limit lawyers' defense of those of whom the state merely disapproves.

A court obstructs justice when it hinders an attorney's freedom of argument and ability to present relevant evidence in defense of his client.

The larger government becomes, the more attorneys the government will employ in disproportion to the sum of attorneys in private practice and government. As a result, the total attorney pool will increasingly consist of government attorneys, increasing the probability that government attorneys will be chosen as judges, as opposed to drawing judges from private practice.

Experience has shown that former government attorneys sitting as judges are less likely to apperciate the problems of private-sector relationships and the rights of the accused: former government attorneys will likely be predisposed toward the will of the government and to the detriment of private relationships.

Copyright © 2008 by Brent Winters