Judges in black robes stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the Durham County courthouse steps Thursday afternoon and administered the attorney’s oath to dozens of legal professionals before them who raised their right hands and reaffirmed their pledge to defend the Constitution.
The gathering was part of nationwide observances of Law Day. Established by President Eisenhower in 1958, Law Day transformed this year into a more urgent, and public, “Day of Action” amid attacks on judicial independence.
“In a time when judges, law firms and lawyers are being specifically targeted and fear economic and political retribution, it is particularly important that we add our communal voices to the defense of the rule of law,” Durham County Bar Association president Josh McIntyre read from a statement that the association published last week. “Stand up. Speak out. Defend the courts. Uphold the rule of law. Silence is not an option.”
The event drew a cross-section of Durham’s legal community: public defenders, prosecutors, court staff, civil trial litigators. Every judge on the Durham bench was present except Superior Court Judge Mike O’Foghludha, who was on circuit out of town. Milan Pham, an adoption and family lawyer who helped organize the event, told the INDY that this marks the first time Durham legal professionals have observed Law Day with such a reaffirmation…