In legal circles, September 17th is considered "Constitution Day," the date the founding document was officially ratified. It was a radical experiment in 1787, when a young, upstart nation invested power in the people through the rule of law. But 238 years later, at an annual ceremony in San Francisco, judges, lawyers and legal scholars warned that those principles are in grave danger.

"I don't think a lot of us here today, when we graduated law school, gave much thought to Constitution Day," said Bobby Shukla, president of the SF Trial Lawyers Association. "It now has greater meaning because we firmly believe that the Constitution is under attack."

It was a small, but distinguished group that gathered in front of the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. Among them, former California Sup

See Full Page