Elinor R. Jordan*
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Introduction
Lawyers are “masters of a science that is necessary, but which is not generally known.”[1] An ordinary person relies on her attorney to comprehend and sometimes challenge the law or the decision of a governmental body.[2] This role of the lawyer as interpreter between government and individual serves as a bulwark of American democracy, and separation of powers, by ensuring that minority voices are heard and given opportunity for redress.[3] Our society also has a general respect for the role of attorneys in voicing the position of the most insular, and sometimes the most hated, minority voices.[4] In the context of war, our nation—like most, if not all nations—has prioritized the safety of the majority above the voice of the minority.[5] However, in the past, the attorney’s ability to serve as a mouthpiece for the minority has remained intact.[6] Lawyers have taken on the responsibility to shine a light on dark shadows of our past and, at times, prevented government action that would trammel minority rights.[7] As Justice Jackson once observed, “[w]hen rights ‘are threatened,’ . . . they are worth only ‘what some lawyer makes them worth.’ . . . ‘Civil liberties are those which some lawyer, respected by his neighbors, will stand up to defend.’”[8] Given this history, a lawyer’s capacity to serve as a diligent advocate for the clientele she chooses to represent is perhaps most important in times of war.