The American Bar Association is pleased to support the thousands of people who will gather on the National Mall on Sunday to dedicate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial. Dr. King and his life’s work inspired our nation to rise to the fullest of our potential by fulfilling the promise laid out in the immortal declaration—that all men are created equal.

Thomas Saenz, a commissioner serving on the American Bar Association Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights & Responsibilities, is one of the 16 “Champions of Change” lawyers who will be honored at the White House today. The lawyers will be recognized for their work in using the law “to close the justice gap” in America.

At the Sept. 23-24 Symposium on State Court Underfunding, Margaret Marshall, retired chief justice of Massachusetts, presents the closing remarks. American Bar Association President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III concludes the event by reminding attendees of the current crisis to our judicial system: “No courts, no justice, no freedom.”

ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Kentucky Law School on Sept 23.  In his keynote speech, Robinson described how shrinking budgets are to blame for the current crisis in state courts across the country.

Child custody cases, divorces, business lawsuits and employee compensation matters have all been moved to the back burner in states across the nation as court budgets dwindle. Nine state supreme court chief justices and American Bar Association President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III tackle the problem and analyze the impact of the court underfunding crisis across the country at a symposium in Lexington, Ky.

A national dialogue on the practical and constitutional impact of court underfunding at the University of Kentucky College of Law on Sept. 23–24 included Chief Justice of Kentucky John D. Minton Jr., and American Bar Association President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III.

Protection of the innocent is one of the legal profession’s most serious obligations. That obligation has life-and-death consequences when the death penalty is at issue. The American Bar Association previously urged the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant clemency to Troy Davis, in part because the ABA has identified serious, longstanding concerns with the fair administration of Georgia’s death penalty.

On the 17th of September 1787, a group of 39 men signed a document that became the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution is the foundation of our union and the guarantor of our rights. On Constitution Day, we celebrate both the document and its legacy.

The American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project, created in 1986 to help ensure fair trials and quality legal representation for those facing a possible death sentence, is recognizing its 25th anniversary Sept. 14, with a program featuring retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and death row exoneree Anthony Graves.

Judge Bernice B. Donald, who just ended her three-year tenure as the first African-American female secretary of the American Bar Association, is still breaking barriers by now being the first African-American woman to hold a position on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Donald was appointed by President Barack Obama in December 2010, and on Sept. 6, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 96-2.

We are pleased that the Senate passed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, legislation that provides the most comprehensive revision and improvement of the nation’s patent laws since the original codification of those laws in 1952. Important reforms include awarding patents to the first inventors to file application, and a streamlined system for determining when an invention should receive a patent and when an issued patent should be upheld or invalidated.

As the nation remembers and continues to grieve the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we look ahead and are hopeful. In the aftermath of a day when so many lives were lost and so many lives were changed forever, we should remember that the values we hold sacred in our country prevailed: liberty, democracy and volunteer service to others.