Faculty Resolutions

Albany Law School Faculty Resolution Regarding The Principles Of Law That Have Guided Our Country For Over 200 Years

On March 3, 2025, the American Bar Association (ABA) issued a thoughtful, nonpartisan statement in response to actions by the current federal administration calling,

upon every lawyer to insist that the government adhere to four major principles of law that have guided our country for over 200 years: Defending Judges and Courts, Acknowledging the Role of the Courts, Adhering to the Rule of Law, and Respecting the Separation of Powers and the three co-equal branches of government with distinct duties and responsibilities. These principles have been bedrocks of American democracy.

The ABA further queried

             Who will speak for the judiciary? Who will protect our system of justice? If we don’t speak now, when will we speak?

              The American Bar Association has chosen to stand and speak. Now is the time for all of us to speak with one voice. 
              We invite you to stand with us.

As the faculty of a law school, we have a unique role in the development of law and of new lawyers and feel a responsibility to counter attacks by the powerful on the courts, the very rule of law, the constitutional separation of powers, and the legal profession.

As the faculty of a law school who counts among its alumni the illustrious Justice Robert H. Jackson, we know, “Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we have no claim to it. It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.” As a faculty we want to live up to Justice Jackson’s legacy when faced with the issues of our time. We stand with the ABA and its resolution of March 3, 2025.

Dated: March 25, 2025

*Faculty Resolutions reflect the vote of a substantial majority of the faculty according to the Albany Law Faculty Handbook.