More than 100 attorneys and supporters gathered outside the Cumberland County courthouse Thursday afternoon to commemorate Law Day.
It’s celebrated every May 1, but Maine attorneys say they’re taking additional steps this year to affirm their commitment to the U.S. Constitution in light of attacks from the Trump administration.
To commemorate the day, 633 attorneys and 100 law firms from around the state signed a declaration, which calls on Maine lawyers to stand up to what they say are unprecedented attacks against the nation’s legal system.
Those attacks, said Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, include intimidating lawyers, threatening judges and eliminating due process rights.
“Essentially depriving the courts of being the referee, when we see our government bypass due process and just deport people out of the country, kick down doors, ripping children from their parents,” Frey said at Thursday’s rally in Portland. “We cannot allow that to happen if we want our Constitution to be given the life it’s expected to have.”
Bill Harwood, an attorney and Maine’s former public advocate, said lawyers from around the state are trying to raise awareness about attacks on judges and others for doing their jobs.
“We are in a constitutional crisis, and there is no playbook. There’s no textbook on the library shelf to tell us exactly how to do this,” he said. “You have to hold on to that view that if enough of us speak up, eventually enough people will hear — the judges will hear, our elected political leaders will hear. And eventually, the voters will have a chance to change people who refuse to change, but we need to hold on.”
Thursday’s event ended with former Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Daniel Wathen reading the oath that attorneys take when joining the bar.
Harwood said all major law firms from Portland and Bangor signed the declaration, including firms and partners that have supported President Donald Trump in the past.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
