Declaration of Independence to be read July 4

The Declaration of Independence is our nation’s most revered symbol of a nation’s stand against the illegal and immoral depredations of the crown against our citizens.

To celebrate and demonstrate the document, members of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (TCDLA) across the state have organized local public readings of the Declaration of Independence to the public on or around, Independence Day, July 4.

This practice started in Houston in 2010 and each year since that time criminal defense attorneys in all 254 counties conduct the procedure to bring awareness to the importance of the document.

“We are honored on Independence Day to commemorate the birth of our nation,” TCDLA president John Hunter Smith of Sherman said. “TCDLA celebrates the Declaration of Independence as the true north guiding principle this great nation was founded upon. The Declaration of Independence has always signified freedom and equality for everyone in our country. As defenders of this nation, defense lawyers continue to fight to preserve freedom and equality in courtrooms from the largest cities to the most rural communities every day.”

Locally, criminal defense attorney James Reeves will read the Declaration of Independence on the south side of the Lavaca County Courthouse lawn on July 4 at 9 a.m.

"We’re (TCDLA members) are trying to remind people of the freedoms we hold dear,” Reeves said. “Our military is the first line of defense overseas, but our criminal defense lawyers deal with it every single day in courtrooms, where rights have been violated or their allegations have been made. I would say your lawyers are your first line of defense, whether in civil court or on the criminal side.”

The primary purpose of the criminal defense attorneys reading the document is to educate people, and especially the young.

“One of the problems, we’ve noticed about the education of our young people nowadays is they’re not very well informed about our Founding Fathers, and the documents which formed the basis of our republic,” Reeves said. “At this reading, we try to remind people and hopefully awaken in them an interest that they would go read and learn about the Declaration of Independence.”

Reeves started reading the Declaration of Independence while he practiced law in San Antonio and has been doing it locally since around 2017.

He said he does not read the Constitution or the amendments. In the past he has gotten help from local attorneys Mike Johnson and Matthew Jirkovsky to read it.

“Our goal is to educate people on how we got to where we are,” Reeves said. “It is not a political rally by any stretch of the imagination. It’s something that every citizen, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum should understand. Our Declaration of Independence got you here somehow or another, and provided you with the country in which we live today.”