Donald Trump’s attacks on the rule of law – the basic notion that we have no kings and no one above the law in America – has made the phrase a common feature in our recent political discourse. Indeed, Kamala Harris embraced it as a "fundamental principle" to be held "sacred" in her acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. In doing so, she called our attention to the one thing that most took for granted until the arrival of Trump and his MAGA movement. Up until that point, we, the beneficiaries of the free, democratic society that has made us the envy of the world, assumed it would always be that way.
Simply put, the rule of law is what keeps us free. Its constraints override the contrary will of any one person. For that reason, dictators have no use for it. In authoritarian states, the autocrats’ will governs, allowing them to prosecute, imprison or take the life of anyone who opposes them. As concisely put by John Locke, the brilliant 17th-century political philosopher who inspired America’s founders, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”
