Law Day, U.S.A., 2013

Proclamation 8972 of April 30, 2013

Law Day, U.S.A., 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As a Nation, we are bound together not by the colors of
our skin, the tenets of our faith, or the origins of
our names. What unites us as Americans is our
allegiance to an idea articulated more than two
centuries ago: that ``all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.'' In the years since that
declaration, we not only forged a Republic of, by, and
for the people; we also set ourselves to the task of
perfecting it, and bridging the meaning of those words
with the realities of our time.

This Law Day, we look back on our long journey toward
equality for all. We reflect on the Emancipation
Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln 150
years ago to mend a Nation half-slave and half-free
under the unifying promise of liberty. We remember when
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood in Lincoln's shadow
a century later and gave voice to a dream, sounding the
call for an America that truly lives out the meaning of
its founding creed. We honor the courageous men and
women who fought to bring those ageless ideals of
freedom and fairness into the rule of law--from the
Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act to Title IX
and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Even now, that work is not yet finished. Opportunity
remains painfully unequal for too many among us;
justice too often goes undone. Law Day is a chance to
reaffirm the critical role our courts have always
played in addressing those wrongs and aligning our
Nation with its first principles. Let us mark this
occasion by celebrating that history, upholding the
right to due process, and honoring all who have
sustained our proud legal tradition.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, in accordance with Public Law
87-20, as amended, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2013, as
Law Day, U.S.A. I call upon all Americans to
acknowledge the importance of our Nation's legal and
judicial systems with appropriate ceremonies and
activities, and to display the flag of the United
States in support of this national observance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.