The Introduction Theatre

Audio Transcription

Along the back wall of the theatre are the four columns of the Rule of Law: Separation of Powers, Guaranteed Individual Rights, Due Process of Law and Equal Protection of the Laws. They each have descriptions and quotations: SEPARATION OF POWERS: The power of the government is divided among three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—to ensure that no one person or branch of government can exercise the powers of government to oppress the people. "The accumulations of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." This quote is from James Madison, The Federalist No. 47. "[A] bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth... and what no just government should refuse...." This quote is from Thomas Jefferson. GUARANTEED INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: The Bill of Rights and other amendments to the Constitution establish the rights that are guaranteed to the people and limit the power of government with regard to those rights. DUE PROCESS OF LAW: The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution establish limits on the government's power to search you and your property, to compel you to answer incriminating questions, and to bring criminal charges against you. "Judicial review of the due process guaranty of the Fourteenth Amendment inescapably imposes upon this Court an exercise of judgment upon the whole course of the proceedings in order to ascertain whether they offend those canons of decency and fairness which express the notions of justice of English-speaking peoples even toward those charged with the most heinous offenses." This quote is from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Malinski v. New York, 324 U.S. 401 (1945). EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS: The laws apply equally to everyone: rich and poor, powerful and powerless, majorities and minorities. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...." This quote is from the Declaration of Independence. The movie playing inside the theatre is a fast-paced short history of the rule of law and a discussion of the four pillars of the rule of law.