DECEMBER 18, 2019 – A few years ago I was asked to represent a faction of a local mosque, whose members were Somali immigrants. They claimed they’d been ousted from the board and other positions by a competing faction that had resorted to illegal methods, aided by the local police. After extensive interviews, thorough examination of governance documents, meeting minutes, and correspondence, and other evidence, all against well-established law, I concluded confidently that my clients were in the right and the opposition, quite in the wrong. I agreed to take the case.
However, as I always do, I counseled my faction to consider a less costly, more certain alternative to scorched-earth litigation. I asked if they’d consider taking their marbles, going down the street and opening their own, independent mosque.
I was moved by their response. “What you have to understand,” one of their leaders said, “is that we come from a place that was ruled by warlords. They did whatever they pleased to whomever they pleased. There was no such thing as rule of law. But here we are in America, where there is rule of law, where people can’t walk around threatening others, taking away from others, outside of the law. Our group was properly elected to the board. We did everything by the law. Now the other group changes the locks, denies us access, kicks us off the board, seizes control—all illegally. This is not right. This is America.”
But then came the ultimate civics lesson for me, an American-born lawyer, whose entire vocational mindset and educational background revolve around the idea, the ideal of “rule of law”. . .
. . . “What’s important,” the eloquent Somali immigrant continued, “is that we show our children, but even more so, that we show ourselves that in America, the rule of law is the rule!”
Every practicing lawyer has had a client who is “all about principle” until the pain of legal fees and the reality of nuance come to bear on the client’s idealism. If we learn anything from our experience, we lawyers learn to be pragmatists, understanding that for better or worse, attached to “the principle of the matter” is an old-fashioned price tag.
However, in the case of my Somali clients, I was forced to acknowledge that “the principle of the matter” cut to the heart of why they’d endured hell and high water to get here. More important, I saw at stake something priceless, the sine qua non of democracy.
In the face of Republican criticism that Democrats have been “out to get Trump since he was elected,” I am reminded of that eloquent soliloquy by the Somali immigrant. And when I myself grow weary of the talking heads, the editorials, the opinion pieces who hammer away ad nauseum about what is happening to our Republic, our democratic norms, our democratic institutions, and above all, our the rule of law, I draw upon the inspiration of those clients of mine—Americans of the first order, if ever there have been such people.
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© 2019 Eric Nilsson
