National Center For State Courts

I & DO yvUrfvu, 4/n/qi MyybtJy EXCERPTS FROM REMARKS TO THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS 11:00 A.M. APRIL 11, 1991 TEMPORARY PAVILION WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA BY GOVERNOR L. DOUGLAS WILDER Thank you. At the outset, I want to take a moment to commend the National Center for State Courts for its well-deserved reputation across the nation for professionalism and effectiveness. As judges, your courtrooms are this nation's metaphorical wheels of justice. As a clearinghouse, the Center often functions as a hub of information and assistance for your courts and for the public at-large, thereby helping to ensure the continuous progression of this nation's wheels of justice. For its many invaluable contributions toward improving the operation - as well as the end product - of America's legal system, we are all most grateful. I sincerely hope each of you will have time during your stay in Williamsburg to take in plenty of the history and the shopping which are within easy walking distance. I may be somewhat biased, but I have found that its historic re-creations and its specialty shops offer experiences unlike anything found beyond the borders of the Commonwealth. Williamsburg is a remarkable community. It was in this city of fledgling America that many of the leading figures of the day thought, argued and prayed about the destiny of this nation. It was here that future leaders named Jefferson and Mason spent their formative years of study at the College of William and Mary, harnessing the intellect and the burning spirit from which the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution sprang to life years later .... documents which committed to writing the fundamental rights committed to each of us by our Creator as a right of birth; ....here, that the imagination for a Statute of Religious Freedom sprang forth in the first recorded document of its kind anywhere ; ....here, that abiding beliefs in the inherent good of the free individual - and in the collective destiny of this nation of doers - toiled in tandem to emblazon "America" ... .the word and the way.... upon the awaiting pages of eternity.