The Rule of Law

The rule of law holds that public power must be exercised according to known, general rules rather than the will of whoever holds office. Its roots run to Magna Carta in 1215 and the English common law, and John Adams wrote it into the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 as a government of laws and not of men. The American Constitution builds it in through a written charter that every federal and state official swears to support, a Supremacy Clause making that charter the highest law, and guarantees of due process in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Its core elements are that laws be public, prospective, and reasonably clear, that they apply to officials as well as citizens, that independent courts resolve disputes over their meaning, and that government follow fair procedures before depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property. The Supreme Court affirmed in Marbury v. Madison that officials can be held to legal duties, and in United States v. Nixon in 1974 that even the President must comply with a valid subpoena in a criminal case.

The rule of law is invoked by every side of American politics and contested in its application. Debates over prosecutorial independence, compliance with court orders, the scope of executive power, and presidential immunity after Trump v. United States in 2024 have all been framed as questions of whether those in power remain bound by law. International indexes that measure the rule of law across countries have recorded declines for the United States in recent years, findings that are themselves disputed.