Tampa lawyers rally outside federal courthouse, reaffirm oath to support rule of law

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May 1st is celebrated as Law Day, and legal professionals across the Tampa Bay area rallied to advocate for the rule of law and reaffirm their oath they took as lawyers. 

A crowd of over 30 stood outside the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa with their right arms raised, reciting the Oath of Admission to the Florida Bar. 

The oath was led by retired Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Samantha Ward.

 Ward says it’s important to remember what they pledged to do. 

“I think that when judges are attacked for legal decisions that were made, like some of the speakers were saying, and they’re not attacked as it relates to the quality of the decisions they make, but just the acts of the decisions themselves then we’re not giving deference to what the rulings are,” Ward told WMNF.

The event comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly gone after the judicial system. 

In March, Trump called for the impeachment of a U.S District Court Judge after he temporarily blocked a flight for deported migrants to an El Salvador prison. 

Trump also called him a “troublemaker and agitator.”

Joseline Jean-Louis Hardrick is a law professor at Cooley Law School.

She said events like this remind her that people can overcome attacks on the rule of law. 

“I was thinking about what am I going to tell my kids when they’re in history class in high school, and they’re learning about this period of time, they’re going to say ‘Mom, what were you doing during that time? What was happening?’ and I want to be able to say ‘I was standing up for what was right, what was fair, what was just, and what was equitable,” Hardrick said.

Tyrone Laury, Esq. says he came out to the Tampa rally to support the rule of law.

He hasn’t recited the oath since he became an attorney in 2023, but says it feels great to reaffirm it given everything going on in the nation today. 

“Hearing the words, just it makes me proud to be in the particular profession that we’re in, and also just serving the clients – it makes me feel good inside,” Laury said.