Attack on the judiciary?

For anyone who missed it, you really should read the remarkable March 1 News' article "ABA President Zack derides attacks on judiciary," that summarizes Steve Zack's remarks to the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society.

Mr. Zack calls on Florida lawyers "to respond to attacks on the judiciary, make sure citizens have meaningful access to the courts, and fight for adequate court funding."

He enlists every lawyer's participation in promoting the rule of law and educating others on the role of the courts if we are to avoid the risks of "loss of our liberty" and being "governed by mob rule." Mr. Zack suggests that we are in danger of becoming like Cuba unless we support "access to the courts."

In support of his impassioned message, Mr. Zack states "the role of the courts was clearly set out by the founding fathers, particularly John Adams, who emphasized that courts were not meant to be controlled by majority vote." Invoking the name of this founder, Mr. Zack implies that our system of government was designed to afford minorities and poor people access to the courts so that they could be protected from "the tyranny of the majority."

However, the suggestion that the rule of law is a concept that somehow emanated from that founder's overriding concern for the protection of minority rights through ensuring access to the courts does not appear to have strong support in the historical materials I have examined, at least as to John Adams' concept of the rule of law.

On Wikipedia, John Adams is credited with enshrining the principle of the rule of law in the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. In fact, Part One, Article XXX of that document reads: "In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers...