Where lawyers are the new heroes

All this should be great news for the U.S. in its war on terrorism. The emergence of an empowered lawyer class with a popular mandate to check the executive would help put Pakistan on a path toward stable democratic governance. Further, the lawyers' movement has provided an alternative outlet for discontent with autocratic rule, robbing right-wing Islamist groups of their claim that only they can bring about just and disciplined governance. In a country that many Americans know only as a land of mullahs and military rule, nothing has united the Pakistani people more than the promise of genuine constitutional democracy.

Over the long term, the lawyers' most important challenge will be to cement their new identity as defenders of the rule of law and, in turn, sustain their popular mandate for serving in this role. After decades of judicial subservience to the executive, this will be no easy task. Much depends on whether they can demonstrate real political efficacy in the current crisis by restoring the deposed judges.

We spent the journey to Islamabad with a group of student activists, perched on top of a bus adorned with colorful posters and stickers. Waving Pakistani flags as traditional songs of protest blared over a loudspeaker, the students displayed a remarkable passion for building democratic institutions.

"One person can't come and save us," said Sundas Hurain, a law student who took part in nonviolent protests, sit-ins and a hunger strike over the last year. "If we build processes and institutions, if we build a democratic process in its true sense, then leaders can't do much damage. We don't want leaders but processes above leaders."

On top of our rickety bus, as the crowds threw us bottled water and flashed victory signs, we were moved by the outpouring of public support for Pakistan's newly heroic legal community.

In the U.S., where the public casually disparages its lawyers, it is easy to take for granted the enormous public benefits of an empowered legal community. Because the rule of law operates through repetitive, ingrained social practice, its invisibility in the U.S. is perhaps the best sign of its health.

But in places like Pakistan, where democratic institutions remain fragile, the rule of law still needs its champions. Those who stand in its defense deserve our wholehearted support and our applause.