OPINION: Constitution Day reminds us of the role of an independent judiciary

“We the People of the United States. …” These memorable words start the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, which was signed 238 years ago by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. We celebrate the anniversary of that signing on Constitution Day, Sept. 17.

The Constitution — its seven articles and 27 amendments that followed — serve as the foundation for the American system of government and establish core rights that “we the people” enjoy. Importantly, the Constitution in Article III created an independent judicial branch of government separate from the executive and legislative branches, which administer public policies and write laws. It was by this genius that our nation’s Founders ensured that each of us can rely on courts to deliver fair and impartial justice by applying the law to resolve disputes brought to the judicial branch.

The Framers of the Constitution saw an independent judiciary as critical for preserving individual liberty and protecting our rights. Federal and state courts carry out that critical mission each day. The New Mexico Constitution, like its federal counterpart, established the state’s judiciary as an independent and co-equal branch of government.

The lack of an independent judiciary was among the reasons the American colonies separated from Great Britain in 1776. We will soon celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which lists among its grievances that King George III had “made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.” The colonists viewed independent courts and impartial justice as necessary to protect their liberties from arbitrary governmental power.

Key figures behind the U.S. Constitution, including James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, understood that a successful democracy depends on a fair and impartial judiciary, in which judges follow the law — not the influences of their personal beliefs or pressures from a king, government or public opinion — in deciding legal questions that come before them. “We the people” depend on this judicial independence to ensure that we are treated fairly and equally in remedying problems or controversies that arise in our daily lives, whether it is in resolving a traffic offense, a dispute involving a business or governmental agency, or a family matter such as a divorce or child custody.

We look to the courts to safeguard the rule of law, the principle that the law applies equally to all of us — individuals as well as institutions — and that each of us is accountable to the laws of our state and nation. The rule of law is the glue that binds “we the people” into a nation that respects and upholds the rights of one another.

“The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution,” Hamilton wrote in Federalist 78, one of the essays promoting ratification of the Constitution signed by the delegates in 1787.

On Constitution Day this year and in the future, let us recognize and celebrate the rights and principles enshrined in our Constitution and the enduring framework of our democracy established more than two centuries ago by the nation’s Founders, who wisely recognized the vital role of judicial independence.