Document Type
Article
Publication Title
South Carolina Law Review
Publication Date
Summer 2025
Page Number
857
Keywords
courts, access to justice, democracy, citizenship
Disciplines
Courts | Law
Abstract
In recent years, the topic of democracy has seen a resurgence-perhaps due in part to a recognition of its heightened global instability. Yet, in these pervasive discussions regarding democracy and its role with respect to governance, relatively little attention has been paid to the courts, particularly at the state and local levels where most people are likely to interact with them. In a time when the courts' authority is being questioned, it may be helpful to emphasize that courts, like all democratic institutions, are "of the people, by the people, [and] for the people." In relation to the other branches of government, the courts often serve a countermajoritarian role-but as part of our broader democratic system, access to and engagement with the courts should still be guided by democratic values. As Allan Hutchinson has observed: "Democracy . . . is one of the most frequently mentioned, yet least specified ideas in the political lexicon." However they interpret the term, access to justice scholars invoking the concept of democracy seem to have focused primarily on how courts and adjacent service providers support or advance the greater democratic project of governance by the people.
Recommended Citation
Lauren Sudeall,
Justice Citizenship, 76 South Carolina Law Review. 857
(2025)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1717