Unknown Speaker
Well, I always thought I was the perfect person to introduce Justice O'Connor, because although it might not be obvious, if you look at our resume side by side, she and I do share two very important qualities. First, we are both women of the Southwest. Secondly, we have the most marvelous patient husbands on the face of the planet.

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But the other reason, Justice O'Connor that I assumed that I was given the honor of introducing you today is that although you don't know it, you look over my shoulder every single day at work. One of the pleasures of being a president of the American Bar Association is that you meet magnificent people from all over the world. And very often you have your photographs taken with them. I've even had my photograph taken with Mickey Mouse. But I have only one picture of a famous person in my office. And it isn't with me. It's looking at me right above my desk, behind my chair. When I come into my office and Albuquerque every morning and turn on the lights and pull up the blinds. Justice O'Connor is looking right at me with her very direct gaze, that Brooks no dilly dallying, and says to me every day, I expect you to do more than your best because your best isn't quite good enough. I know that you will hear this afternoon when Justice O'Connor receives the ABA medal about her magnificent contribution to American jurisprudence. And introducing her today. To all of you who care so deeply about the cause of democracy around the world. I wanted to put her in a little different context. Justice O'Connor has been on the CEELI executive board since it's very beginning. But lest any of you who don't know her think that Marilyn means she allows her name to be put at the front of the book comes occasionally to dinner. You need to understand that that is not what Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is all about. Justice O'Connor has been with CEELI with every fiber of her considerable being in Lithuania, in Bulgaria, in Slovakia, in the Ukraine and in Poland. It is Justice O'Connor very often who insists that we do better than our best as an association and supporting CEELI. It is Justice O'Connor who insists that we look forward into the next century and figure out exactly how we are going to continue to do our duty in the way that we do. It is Justice O'Connor who worries about the safety of our volunteers about their physical health and about their well being. Justice O'Connor sits on the Executive Board of CEELI to make its vision or reality. One of the most moving moments that I've had in my legal life was to go with Justice O'Connor and Homer Moyer and President Lee Cooper to the Ukraine last summer, two weeks after their constitution had been democratically approved. And to listen to Justice O'Connor explained to the president of the UK, Ukraine, what it is that she does every day along with her other Associate Justices in making that slender volume. That is the United States Constitution or reality, gave a kind of aura or meaning to what democracy and the rule of law is about that no one else could have explained on that day. There is a picture that I saw recently, of a new mexico ranch woman that really reminded me of what I see as Justice Connors role in the broader world of CEELI. It's a picture of a woman on a horse, her hat tossed in the wind. And she's racing forward as fast as that horse can possibly go to gather one stray steer that didn't think he knew where he was going. Justice O'Connor

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leads us

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forward on a very fast horse pursuing the rule of law, justice and democracy wherever we need her. Ladies and gentlemen, the magnificently honorable Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor.

Unknown Speaker
Thank you.

Sandra Day O'Connor [automatically transcribed, may contain inaccuracies]
Thank you, Roberta. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Roberta, my fellow South Westerner. And appreciator of CEELI and all that it does. And President Obama and President Lee Cooper and about to be president Jerry chef's stack, distinguished ambassadors and other distinguished guests here today. and members of the board and delegates of the American Bar Association, and friends of this association and CEELI. I'm so happy to be here with you today. This is something I've really looked forward to. Now you've heard a lot already and you ought to be going home, or about your business or to your next meeting. But nevertheless, I'm going to try to hold you here for a few minutes. Today, to tell you a few more things about this remarkable project of the American Bar Association. For the first time in history. There are now democratically elected governments in more than one half of the countries of the world 118 democracies as of 1997. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, and unparalleled number of nation states sought to form democratic institutions that would enable them to enter a free market environment. The response in our country was elation, and an expectation that the transition would be rapid and successful. The reality eight years later, is more guard. The progress has been slower than Americans anticipated. And there has been regression in some areas. But the bottom line is still a solid net gain for the free world. The American Bar Association has recognized that continuing need to assist these emerging democracies and its response has been noteworthy and creative. The story of that response is what I will share with you today. Sandy Delon Barrett was the president elect of the American Bar Association in 1989. He and ABA member Homer Moyer, over here to my right of washington dc agreed that the American Bar Association should try to provide technical legal assistance to the emerging nation states and Central and Eastern Europe took a small group of ABA members to Eastern Europe to see if there was an interest in their idea. They were met with a warm response. Sandy and Homer call their brainchild, the central East European law initiative, the acronym CEELI. Now every self respecting washington dc lawyer thinks in acronyms, so you're just going to have to bear with it. The ABA Board of Governors approved the ABA section on international law and practice supported CEELI with an initial grant of money and executive director was found and the person of Mark Ellis and CEELI became a reality. The idea behind it was simple. And it was wholly American. A need was identified the need in these new countries for an operative legal system to enforce the rule of law. And Sandy and Homer, we're confident that volunteers would come forward to meet this need. They use the volunteers to do the work of CEELI was the result of two factors. The limited of the limited funds available to see me would stretch further if the payment of salaries and consulting fees can be avoided. Second, and more important, the presence and other nations have volunteers from this country who were there to help because of their own personal convictions about the need to be filled, would create very favorable impressions in those countries. These volunteers are not beltway BAM DOS, as we call them, or highly paid experts. They are qualified nuts and bolts lawyers with a can do attitude, and with no agenda other than to help create lasting democratic institutions. The impressions we create in this world are

and they can leave their mark. A friend of mine tells the story of a bus driver who was becoming angry, but kept his composure nonetheless, when a woman passenger made many complaints during the bus trip, she was rude and made the trip very unpleasant for everyone around her. It wasn't until a driver opened the door at her stop to let her off the bus that the driver said lady, you left something behind. She turned on snarled but wasn't I left behind. The driver smiled and said softly. A bad impression.

One impression America leaves is that of a substantial amount of volunteer service both at home and abroad. 47% of America on households engage in some form of volunteerism, perhaps that's a byproduct of the pioneer spirit that led neighbors to help each other build a new nation. Whatever the cause our commitment to volunteer service sets us apart as a nation. Today's volunteers are more likely to work in groups or committees than as individuals. Getting a group of people to work together is not always easy. Just ask the school board or a city council, or even a Supreme Court justice. Indeed, it reminds me of another story, a story about the famous inventor Charles Kettering. He was in his office at General Motors years ago, when someone rushed down and interrupted with the news that Charles Lindbergh had successfully made his solo flight across the Atlantic and had landed in Paris. The inventor just nodded and kept working. When asked why he didn't seem excited by the news Kettering answered. Oh, that's nothing. Let them try it with a committee.

Well, this group has tried it with a committee. And today I can report that the American Bar Association acting through its governing board and CEELI acting under the direction of its executive committee have achieved some very exciting results. Starting in Poland, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. CIA recruited American lawyers, judges and law professors and sent them to these newly independent states to offer whatever help was needed in drafting constitutions or amending them criminal and commercial codes, civil and human rights provisions, laws governing private property, and so on. For countries that had been under the communist system for 50 years, the task was daunting, the foundational concept of the rule of law, a principle we take for granted in this country had to be constructed from raw material. There must be guarantees that action cannot be taken by a government against citizens, except on the basis of clear laws, properly adopted, and publicly available. provision must be made for free and fair elections of legislators and leaders. A wall of legal protection must be built to allow citizens to live, to speak, to worship, to work and to travel as they see fit. And without fear of the state. The legal rights of citizens must be enforceable and fair and competent courts of law. These are major tasks when starting from ground zero. And when citizens have little or no experience some such a system that the Soviet system lacked a structure for the rule of laws underscored by the remarks of a former prisoner from Czechoslovakia, who said that the spirit of justice had been driven from our country and replaced with an indescribable sense of terror. In the past seven years, CEELI has met this challenge with the help of more than 4000 American volunteer lawyers, judges and professors. in 24 countries these volunteers have advised and taught, served as him country liaisons, conducted hundreds of workshops, reviewed drafts of constitutions and laws, and helped form non governmental organizations, commercial law centers, judges, associations, education centers, and so on. A sister law school program was established to form relationships between your knighted states law schools, and those in the areas served. Recently, CEELI has even gone into Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, and is providing legal assistance to the War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. All of the Central and Eastern European nations that have been assisted, have now adopted constitutions except Albania. All of them have adopted basic laws and legal systems all have held free elections. Of course, not all the concepts of the American common law legal system are ones these new nations have chosen to adopt. Their historical roots in the European civil law system have led them to adopt that system as the primary model, but nevertheless to embrace certain features of our laws as well. Once the basic structural and legal systems were in place, series efforts focused more closely on helping build qualified and independent judiciary's, one of the greatest innovations of the American Constitution was that strong reliance on the separation of powers of the three branches of government, each was significant controls over the other two. This system has been crucial in ensuring that constitutional and legislative guarantees are more than paper promises that they are enforceable in courts, that the state cannot abuse its power. Under the Soviet system, the judiciary was an enforcement arm of the Communist Party. Judges had to be party members, they were expected and required to uphold party policies. Government officials would telephone judges to request particular rulings and cases of interest to the party. This system of telephone justice left citizens with very negative perceptions of the judiciary perceptions that linger today, even now that the process of reform is underway. The support system for the judiciary is so weak in some of these countries that it barely functions. Court facilities staff, judges sell raise the means to record prompt and distribute decisions. The availability of law libraries, case management and judicial training may be wholly lacking or seriously inadequate. In the civil law tradition, the courts fall under the umbrella of the executive branch Ministry of Justice, which can easily lead to some of the former abuses. For example, in Albania, one of the judges selected to serve in 1991 was a man named Rosie. He was active in helping Albania's tradition transition to democracy. He became chairman of the Albania's Court of Cassation its highest appellate court. his opinions occasionally went against the government and he denounced government corruption. His rulings were perceived by them president Berisha and the ruling party as a threat. He was removed from office and highly irregular midnight maneuvers. his apartment was searched without warrant, he was forced to flee the country. He remains in exile but is working on drafts of a new Albanian constitution. Judges and some other newly formed countries in the region have been stripped of benefits been drafted into the military in order to report for combat duty, received death threats and suffered from other negative actions as a result of decisions or rulings which went against the government. CIA volunteers and liaisons have been active and creative in helping respond to these problems. With Celia systems independent judges associations have been formed and nearly every one of the country's served. The Macedonian judges Association has succeeded and unrolling almost all of the judges in that country as members, and has become a staunch advocate of judicial independence and competence. As a result, the stature of the judiciary in Macedonia has notably improved in Bulgaria, a group of judges has established an excellent Legal Education Center to train Bulgarian judges, attorneys and prosecutors. It is now reaching out to help neighboring countries to do likewise, this effort show signs of success, as evidenced by a recent case in the Bulgarian Constitutional Court. There is a Turkish Muslim minority population in Bulgaria, which has raised very divisive issues and cause conflicts in the past. The new Bulgarian constitution bands political parties based on ethnicity. Members of the majority and the Bulgarian Parliament petition the Constitutional Court there to declare one of the political parties dominated by the Muslim minority unconstitutional, and to remove its members from parliament and a divided ruling the majority of the Constitutional Court rejected that petition, affirming the party's legal status and the rights of the minority.

In Latvia, CLA succeeded in establishing a judicial Training Center, as you've heard from the President, that has taken root as a viable, self sustaining institution. Since 1995. The center has convened numerous seminars for both new and experienced judges on subjects such as judicial independence, Criminal Procedure and property rights. With ceilings help a model code of judicial ethics was drafted, published and distributed to every Latvian judge, sila even pitch them to help with non legal matters such as computer training, English language courses, and a workshop for Baltic judges on public relations and dealing with the media. such silly sponsored training has had an enormous impact. For instance, in Croatia, which has had which has an exceedingly strong prevailing party and executive leadership, a Croatian judge who had spent three weeks in a judicial training program and the United States had the courage to dismiss charges against two journalists accused of violating Croatia's strict anti defamation law. The journalists had published articles critical of Croatia's president, the judge ruled that the alleged defamatory material was merely a matter of opinion, not fact, and therefore not a violation of the law.

In Kurdistan, she later on solicited contributions and established a law library with a wide range of Russian and English language texts, and computer databases for the country's lawyers, legislators, judges and law students. A library Board of Trustees has been established, a continuing legal education program has been operating, and public hearings have been initiated and arranged for some graft laws. A judges Association has been formed and a code of ethics approved, and the new Bar Association has already demonstrated its value. When a judge there was removed from office under circumstances that raise serious concerns about judicial independence. The newly formed Bar Association petition the president for her reinstatement, and successfully argued her case, it's an excellent example of the effectiveness of the new institutions that CEELI has helped to build. In 1997, the ceiling liaison and Lithuania knew that money laundering by the criminal element was a major problem. The liaison decided to organize a workshop in Vilnius to address this issue. He arranged significant international participation. The workshop attracted public attention and TV coverage. It brought together government officials and business leaders and generated a list of recommendations. Afterward, the Prime Minister call the ceiling liaison to thank him and say he was forming a working group to draft new laws to correct the situation.

In Albania, the CIA volunteers face regular outages of power water and telephone service. Recently, the liaisons had to be evacuated by helicopter during the fighting in Toronto, they'll be back. But more than one third of lawyers in Albania showed up for a CIA sponsored law practice management workshop and the written material for it so like hotcakes, CEELI also managed to print and distribute Albania's basic legal codes to the judges, prosecutors and lawyers nationwide, the first such publication ever to be produced.

The CIA liaison in Bosnia-Herzegovina arrived there by military transport wore a helmet on a Flak Jacket. But in a month, he helped organize the first Federation constitutional court with a composition of Croatian Muslim and Serbian judges, plus three judges from other countries to help provide a decisive balance. CEELI even produced judicial robes from the United States for each member of the new court.

In Russia, CEELI has helped nine demonstration states can be jury trials, the first since before the revolution. It also organized a three day criminal law training workshop for Russian judges throughout the country. The Vice President of the Russian Academy shed tears at the conclusion of that workshop, which had included lively discussion and debate on many contentious issues. She noted that the workshop was a long way from the days when she was hustled into a room of superiors and instructed on how the government wanted her to rule in the upcoming cases.

There are numerous such stories from each country in which CEELI has worked. The CIA volunteer liaisons and others have provided the most cost effective and creative programs in the world today. The American Bar Association should be justifiably proud of the splendid, dedicated, talented and selfless lawyers who've interrupted their lives and their careers, to make a difference in the world in which we live. To meet them and talk with them fills me with pride about what's right and good about our country. And such volunteerism has long been a hallmark of American citizenship. As the world's nations become more interdependent, as you've heard today, CEELI and the American Bar Association provide an inspiring example of global community service. And it should make each of you here today stand a bit taller, and bask in the reflect beneficence of their contributions to world stability. Their efforts to carry our national commitment to freedom and the proud tradition of our legal traditions and institutions, to emerging democracies have been daring and creative, and they have produced hopeful results.

The foundations of democracy and the rule of law will develop over time in Central and Eastern Europe. These countries want to be recognized and accepted within the European Union and in the world of free nations. They want economic progress. They look to establish democracies and then adapt the principles they find to their own national experience. One crucial aspect of their success will be their ability to promote a qualified, competent, honest, and independent judiciary. We must be prepared to assist that effort for a longer time and to continue to build a network of non governmental organizations and associations in each of the countries to help institutionalize necessary changes. We must not be impatient.

The leadership of Homer Moyer, the expertise and management skills of Mark Ellis, in directing this endeavor have been superb. Don't you agree with me that we owe them and all of the volunteers and the ABA CEELI program a warm and enthusiastic thank you .