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The theme of this year’s annual Law Day celebration declares that the rule of law is the “bedrock of American rights and liberties in times of calm and unrest alike.”
Law Day is the annual opportunity to understand how the law contributes to freedom, justice and equality.
In 1957, American Bar Association President Charles Rhyne proposed an observance to celebrate the legal system. A year later, President Dwight Eisenhower was the first to proclaim Law Day to be a national dedication to the principle of government under law.
In 1961, Congress, in a joint resolution, designated May 1 as the official date to observe Law Day, codifying that it “is a special day of celebration by the people of the United States … in appreciation of their liberties and the reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States and of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law in their relations with each other and with other countries;