[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 49569-49570]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24310]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: September 29, 1994]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 188
Thursday, September 29, 1994
____________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6725 of September 26, 1994
National Legal Services Week, 1994
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The preamble to the Constitution reminds us that our
great Nation was founded ``to establish Justice . . .
and secure the Blessings of Lib-Perty. . . .'' The very
nature of justice demands that it be available to all.
True justice cannot be rationed--it cannot be accorded
to some while others are denied the full benefit of
their rights. Our Founders understood that privilege
and responsibility are inextricably linked. The words
``Equal Justice under the Law,'' inscribed over the
portal of our highest court, represent a solemn promise
made to every American.
Twenty years ago, the Legal Services Corporation was
created to help keep that promise, promoting equal
access to justice by making high-quality legal
assistance in civil matters available to those who
would otherwise be unable to attain it.
In designing the Legal Services Corporation the
Congress recognized the need for an independent entity,
protected from political interference, to support local
programs that would be accountable to their own
communities. Legal Services was designed to ensure that
all Americans needing assistance are provided with
legal representatives whose responsibility is to fully
protect and defend their clients' best interests
according to the highest standards of professional
obligation.
For two decades, the Legal Services Corporation has
fulfilled that mandate. It supports local legal
services programs that operate under the auspices of
their own Boards of Directors, which are made up of
clients and representatives of the local bar. Today,
the Corporation supports 323 programs operating in over
900 neighborhood offices across the Nation. In
addition, more than 130,000 private attorneys volunteer
their time and energy toward activities associated with
local legal services projects.
Legal Services programs extend assistance to more than
1.5 million people every year, vindicating their
rights, resolving their disputes, and offering a means
of improving their lives. Dedicated attorneys,
paralegals, staff, Board members, and volunteers have
worked with unflinching commitment, often under adverse
conditions, to serve those whose rights and interests
they represent. Legal Services has won the respect of
the judiciary, the organized bar, and the client
community. For many Americans, the existence of legal
services has renewed their faith in our government of
laws.
On the 20th anniversary of the Legal Services
Corporation, I reaffirm our national commitment to
equal access to justice, to decency, to fair play. I
voice my deep respect for those who have given so much
to keep those principles alive over the years.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim the week of September 26
through October 2, 1994, as ``National Legal Services
Week.'' I urge all Americans to join me in recognizing
the contributions that the Legal Services Corporation
and the local programs that it supports have made in
fulfilling the promise of equal justice under the law,
and I call upon the people of the United States to
observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and
activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and nineteenth.
(Presidential Sig.)>
[FR Doc. 94-24310
Filed 9-27-94; 4:32 pm]
Billing code 3195-01-P
