[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 86 (Friday, May 3, 2013)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26227-26228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10754]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 86 / Friday, May 3, 2013 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 26227]]


                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.

[[Page 26228]]

                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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2013-10754
Filed 5-2-13; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F3