An American activist during the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King, once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This statement concisely impresses upon us a truth that, although not uttered by any, we have reason to believe that it has lurked deep in the hearts of many long before it was said by King. Like all untold truths, this truth, if not acted upon, shall prove to be fatal to the world’s prosperity; a minuscule crack in a glass sculpture that shall spread over time, until, one day, the sculpture shatters, seemingly out of its own accord.

            Due to technological advances of the twenty-first century, people are now capable of sharing information across the globe within seconds. Thus, it is not very difficult to imagine that the political and economical affairs of each country very rapidly become the affairs of another. This statement is particularly true in regards to the United States. Throughout most of the twentieth century, as well as the twenty first, the U.S. has remained a world power in the eyes of many. It is no longer uncommon for a Norwegian citizen to be reading an American newspaper or watching the latest news update on CNN. As a result, it is not incorrect to assume that the results of U.S. cases, particularly those of the Supreme Court, are not only anticipated by U.S. citizens, but also by worldwide citizens. This assertion, if held true, provides irrefutable evidence that any injustice that occurs in American courts immediately becomes known worldwide. In addition, any justice that occurs in American courts likewise spreads across the world. However, due to human nature, people are naturally more inclined towards spreading news of that which is unjust than of any just action. This realization, in addition to the fact that many countries regard the U.S.A. as a role model for the ideal country, provides proof that what occurs in American courts does not, has never, and will never concern only those within the parameters of the court walls but, in fact, spread to extend far beyond that which is obvious. A judge, thus, should ideally be expected to provide immaculate and impeccable judgement regarding a particular case. This action is, undoubtedly, nearly unfeasible a feat to carry out, and an even more impossible value to maintain. Nevertheless, the truth is that each judge and lawyer should realize that each case he or she is asked to judge upon or defend possesses an outcome that concerns the whole world. The outcome of a particular case in the United States might lead to a political overthrow in Afghanistan, and so forth.

  

            In conclusion, I assert King’s claim that “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is nor sufficient for a case to be studied by analyzing the actions, claims, and evidence both for and against the offended or the defender. Each case must thus be studied with an extreme sense of responsibility, and the judge must seek to abandon any personal prejudice or biased opinions, because it is not a case of “The victim is innocent until proven guilty.” It is a case that concerns the stability of the world, a case that could lead to uprisings and wars as well as the deaths and murders of millions of faceless, nameless people, who don’t speak the tongue of the oppressed or oppressor; people who never once set foot on the soil which bore weight to the oppressed and the oppressor; people who never felt upon their skin the cool breeze felt by the oppressed and the oppressor; all of whom the judge could never have imagined that this case would concern. Yet, the case did concern them. The judge’s decision determined their fates and the fates of their children, for we are all bound by “a single garment of destiny” what is said by one is later said by all, and what today belongs to one shall tomorrow belong to all.

– Ayah Gouda