The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government. ~ George Wash ington.

In the United States criminal justice system our country must uphold jus tice though seeking truth due to justice being at the core of our society. The m ost prudent way for the judicial system to uphold justice is seeking the truth b y giving priority to truth seeking over attorney client privilege. For these and other reasons I stand in firm affirmation of today's resolution. Resolved: In t he United States criminal justice system, truth-seeking ought to take precedence over attorney-client privilege. First I would like to clarify some terms in today's resolution: The following definitions have bin gathered from the new world dictionary of Ame rican English third college edition Ought: To be Compleled by obligation or duty Justice System: The system of law enforcement that is involved in apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing those who are suspected of cri minal offenses Attorney-Client Privilege: A client's privilege to refuse to disclose, and to pr event any other person from disclosing, confidential communications between the client and his or her attorney I would now like to turn to my value for today's debate: Justice Justice is defined as the proper administration of the law; the fair and equitab le treatment of all individuals under the law in order to conform to truth, fact , or reason In the United States criminal justice system there are two kinds of justice we m ust uphold, justice for the accused and justice for the victim. Our judicial sys tem must uphold both of these justices equally, if our judicial system is not up holding both these justices then we do not have true justice, the most prudent w ay to achieve justice is to hold truth seeking above attorney client privilege t herefore we should affirm the resolution. My value criterion is: Truth Seeking Truth Seeking is defined as trying to find or discover the true or actual state of a matter. The Judicial System was designed to find the truth of a matter and because you c annot have justice without truth we must uphold and priorities truth seeking abo ve attorney client privilege therefore we must affirm the resolution Contention 1: Attorney Client Privilege forces the judicial system to neglect vi tal information and therefore obstructs justice Sub point A) I have defined justice as the proper administration of law in order to conform to truth this definition shows that truth is directly connected to j ustice and therefore we cannot have justice without truth Sub point B) Attorney Client Privilege Prevents the court from obtaining crucial pieces of evidence as shown by Ronald J. Baumgarten, Jr in his book Bonston Uni versity Law Review where he states the purpose behind evidentiary rules is to fo ster the fair administration of justice and ascertain the truth. Hearsay rules, for example, help to ensure the trustworthiness of evidence by excluding unrelia ble out-of-court statements by third parties. Conversely, evidentiary privileges are "clearly inhibitive" and "shut out the light." A privilege prevents the fac tfinder from obtaining evidence that may prove highly relevant in a case. Or in other words because the current judicial system is preventing the court from obt aining these pieces of evidence it is not upholding the truth and therefore not upholding justice. Ronald J. Baumgarten , Jr., 0NQA, BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, February 2000, p. 245. Sub point C) The judicial system, under the resolution, would not be preventing the court from obtaining crucial pieces of evidence therefore the resolution uph olds the truth and consequently upholds justice. We must uphold justice because as Michelle Maiese states in her essay Principles of Justice and Fairness When p

rinciples of justice operate ineffectively or not at all, confidence in and orga nization's or the society's institutions may be undermined. Citizens or group me mbers may feel alienated and withdraw their commitment to those "unjust" institu tions. Or, they may rebel or begin a revolution in order to create new instituti ons. however If justice principles are applied effectively organizations and soc ieties will tend to be more stable and its members will feel satisfied and secur e and therefore justice is at the core of society or in other words we must upho ld justice above all else on account of justice being the core principle in our society and the implications of what could happen if we did not value justice. Michelle Maiese, Principles of Justice and Fairne ss, June 2013 Contention II: Attorney Client Privilege obstructs justice in the judicial syste m We must hold truth above attorney client privilege because as Scott H. Hughes, A ssistant Professor of Law, University states in his book Marquette Law Review th e second principle of confidentiality is the freedom from involuntary testimony provided for in the statutes and evidentiary rules regarding privileges. Most ru les of evidence are intended to aid an adjudicative body's search for truth by d istinguishing unreliable information from more probative evidence; rules of priv ilege, in contrast, exclude information which may be extremely helpful to the court in its search for the truth. Privileges do not promote the search for the truth through reliable evidence. Rather, "their effect is to obstruct ... the se arch for truth, and in that this effect is consciously accepted as less harmful on the whole than the disadvantages which would ensue to other interests of soci ety if no such limitations existed." When a privilege attaches to a confidential relationship, a normative choice has been made that society is better served by fostering the relationship even though this may deprive the court of valuable, or even conclusive, evidence. Or in other words attorney client privilege constr ains the truth and therefore constrains justice so consequently we must affirm t he resolution. Scott H. Hughes, Assistant Professor of Law, University of New Mexico School of Law, MARQUETTE LAW REVIEW, Fall 2001, p. 32-33. In Conclusion we must uphold justice through seeking truth because we cannot hav e justice without truth. The most prudent way to uphold justice through truth se eking is to hold truth seeking above attorney client privilege in the U.S. judic ial system due to attorney client privilege forcing the judicial system to negle ct important evidence and therefore attorney client privilege obstructs truth an d consequently justice. For these reasons I strongly urge an Affirmative vote. Thank You.