May 1 is National Law Day, and dozens of Columbia area lawyers, two federal judges and a Richland County magistrate gathered Friday in front of the Matthew Perry federal courthouse near downtown to commemorate America’s rule of law.
The Declaration of Independence, signed 250 years ago, does much more than just declare our separation from Great Britain, said Steven Austermiller, executive director of the University of South Carolina Rule of Law Collaborative.
“It asserted a fundamental principle that power must remain accountable, and that law is an instrument of peoples’ sovereignty. The rule of law is what gives principle and force and meaning to this declaration,” said Austermiller, whose group works to promote the rule of law and independent judiciaries around the world, including in emerging democracies…