Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, said recently, “America has two fundamental powers, the power of intimidation and the power of inspiration.”

We couldn’t agree more. We’ve spent our entire careers on the “hard power” side of the ledger. Yet we know that U.S. humanitarian assistance, the keystone of the U.S. “power of inspiration,” is critical to U.S. national security. Americans understand that the U.S. military acts as a deterrent to those who would otherwise do us harm, but they should also understand that the United States’ extraordinary history of alleviating suffering and fighting extreme poverty around the globe is a major asset in securing our nation.

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Access to justice

The Trump administration intends to completely eliminate the budget for the Legal Services Corporation, abandoning the millions of Americans who receive assistance from this agency.

One dispiriting aspect of America’s recent presidential campaigns is the almost complete silence surrounding access to justice. The lack of national policy discussion is not for lack of a problem. According to the World Justice Project, the United States ranks 67th (tied with Uganda) of 97 countries in the accessibility and affordability of civil justice. Other developed democracies devote three to 10 times more funding to civil legal aid than the United States.

As a consequence, a majority of those who seek help from federally funded civil legal aid programs are turned away due to lack of resources. The budget for the LSC has declined almost 40 percent over the past three decades. Only 5,000 attorneys serve a nation with more than 60 million low-income individuals eligible for assistance. Funding for direct legal services for low-income individuals comes to just $5.85 per eligible person per year and would drop dramatically if federal funding dried up.

Those grants are highly cost-effective. Much of this aid helps individuals meet their most basic human needs and prevents exploitation of the most vulnerable groups: veterans, the elderly, disaster victims and impoverished children.

Deborah Rhode

Professor, Stanford University Law School