Checks & Balances is a newsletter of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute.

Some eight years ago, a small group of conservative and libertarian attorneys and former public officials came together around a shared concern: that the erosion of the rule of law and rising threats to liberal-democratic norms and institutions endanger our shared Constitutional inheritance. They believed the challenge required a concerted, robust response.

They started a new group dedicated to defending these essential American values and institutions at a time when they were under clear strain. They started meeting and talking to others who shared these concerns, and built the foundations of a new movement of legal conservatives dedicated to certain clear principles. Among them are the rule of law, separation of powers, the integrity of the criminal justice system, the imperative of individual rights, and the necessity of civil discourse.

They called that group Checks & Balances, in a nod to the Founders’ vision for our Republic, one in which ambition counteracts ambition, and no one—regardless of office—is above the law. A few years later, with new leadership, more than 1,000 members, and its first full-time staff, the group re-launched as a new organization with a more ambitious mission: the Society for the Rule of Law. (At this time, it also established a sister organization, the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, which operates this newsletter.)

At the time of our organization’s founding, we could scarcely have foreseen how vital this work would be. Looking around at the legal landscape today, it couldn’t be clearer that the work of standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law—rooted in solid conservative principles, arguments, and traditions—is both necessary and urgent.

Many of the guardrails that were built up over generations and served our constitutional order so well have been systematically torn down by those who have chosen to put politics, partisan advantage, or personal ambition over core notions of truth, democracy, and the rule of law.

Confronting that problem head-on requires new thinking, and a fresh approach. Our Constitutional inheritance belongs to all Americans and saving it requires cross-ideological alliances. We welcome those of various political and jurisprudential opinions and diverse perspectives on existing groups, parties, and institutions—so long as they share our bedrock commitment to preserving our liberal-democratic inheritance.

Meeting this challenge also requires that we advance our arguments convincingly and repeatedly, in the real world. It is imperative that we not assume that our views will be automatically accepted, or are the default mode of thinking for the rising generations of legal conservatives and others. The modern-day radicals, authoritarians, and constitutional vandals gain ground when we assume the values of liberal democracy and our institutions speak for themselves or enjoy resiliency not borne out by history. We must speak for them, and we must renew them.

The argument of our time comes down to one question: Are we going to have the rule of law in America or not? If we are serious about winning this argument, it’s on us to make the case, over and over again, for as long as it takes. And it’s on us to do so with the same confidence and resolve that our nation’s Founders had when they set about making real their dream for a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. That is what we will do here.

In that spirit, we are calling this newsletter Checks & Balances. It is both a nod to our roots, when a small but determined group dedicated itself to fighting illiberalism and authoritarianism in any guise they may arise. And it is a clear statement of what’s so sorely lacking in this moment, when so many actors have chosen to surrender their integrity and influence at the altar of political power, rather than standing on principle. It’s checks and balances that our Founders saw as “necessary to control the abuses of government,” and it’s checks and balances that we need to restore if we are to hold onto their vision of liberty under law.

We will post regular pieces here by leading legal figures and others, making the affirmative case for the rule of law and touching on the major questions of the day. Our first will be from Alberto Gonzales, 80th Attorney General of the United States, and Gregg Nunziata, our executive director, both of which will publish in the coming days. We will serve as a forum for like-minded people to come together and address these issues in real time. And, in this partisan and polarized age, we will serve as a necessary counterweight to those leaders and organizations who would discard the permanent things for temporary power or partisan advantage.

If you would like to lend your support, we encourage you to subscribe, become a member of the Society for the Rule of Law, or share this newsletter with others who may find it valuable.

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