From the Magna Carta on, the Rule of Law has generally informed government action in England and later in the
From the Magna Carta on, the Rule of Law has generally informed government action in England and later in the United States and other countries. Discuss the importance of The Rule of Law to official government policy and actions. An appropriate start might be to examine how the principle of The Rule of Law lies at the heart of several specific recent events: the court cases involving the prosecution of President Trump’s first National Security Adviser, LTG Michael Flynn; the actions of some state governors in decreeing COVID-19 lockdowns; and the most far-reaching, the police use of deadly force against unarmed African-American men that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement. Then, on a more philosophical note, address a very basic question: might a duly-enacted law (“positive” law) itself sometimes be invalid as conflicting with Natural Law (consider the old slave codes and the German Nazi laws stripping Jews of basic human rights). Finally, explore the thought that, no matter what its good effects, The Rule of Law may well be imperfect in preventing human rights abuses.
