Voice of Reason: Don't Panic

Seldom in U.S. history has it been so urgent that calm and reasoned voices be heard above the tumult and the shouting of a divided nation. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger provided such a voice last week in a speech to the American Law Institute. In it he counseled patience to the radical reformers and rebuked those who might be tempted to restore order at the expense of America's fundamental freedoms. Excerpts:

SYSTEMS of justice are being attacked throughout the world. They reflect the uneasy temper of the times that stir and shake the mind and spirit. This is an era we will not fully understand until it is over, but meanwhile we must cope with events, with a seeming weakening of some institutions and attacks on institutions. Of immediate relevance to us as lawyers is that gnawing doubt whether our system of justice, especially criminal justice, is sturdy enough to withstand the assaults which are leveled at it. Some say we must "crack down," that we must "smash" the challengers and restore tight discipline. In periods of stress there are always some voices raised urging that we suspend fundamental guarantees and take short cuts as a matter of self-protection. But this is not our way of doing things short of a great national emergency.

If we have the long view, we see that we have never been a tightly disciplined people and, reflecting this, our legal structure has been more relaxed than that of many other societies. If this has negative aspects, it also gives us a resiliency to tide us over and enable us to meet any crisis as it arises. We will respond slowly, but that is the nature of a democratic society. In those few periods of our history when we suspended basic guarantees of the individual in times of great national emergency, we often found, in retrospect, that we had overreacted.

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It would be foolhardy not to be concerned about the turmoil and strife and violence we witness, much of it mindless and devoid of constructive ends. But concern must not give way to panic. I am optimistic. I believe our institutions are durable enough to surmount any attack. This is so partly because no week passes in this country without meetings of men and women dedicated to revise, improve and reshape our institutions to serve people.

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