[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