Former US President Joe Biden delivered a passionate address at the National Bar Association’s 100th Annual Awards Gala in Chicago, celebrating the nation’s civil rights legacy while issuing pointed criticism of the current administration under Donald Trump.
Speaking amid ongoing speculation about his health and mental acuity, Biden struck a defiant tone, praising the contributions of Black legal professionals and calling for renewed vigilance in the face of political efforts to roll back civil rights protections.
“So many of you have fought to make this country live up to its highest ideals,” Biden told the audience. “Not since the tumultuous days of the 1960s has this fight been so existential to who we are as a nation, with marginalised groups so dramatically under attack.”
Founded in 1925, the National Bar Association is the oldest and largest network of Black lawyers, judges and law professors in the United States. Biden’s speech underscored the crucial role the legal profession plays in defending democracy and safeguarding human rights.
He condemned what he described as an administration that seeks to “erase history, erase equality, erase justice itself”, and cited the targeting of immigrant families, law firms, and federal judges as evidence of a broader assault on the rule of law.
“We see the apparent glee of some of our politicians while watching immigrants who are in this country legally torn from the arms of their family, dragged away in handcuffs from the only home they’ve ever known,” he said. “We need to face the hard truths of this administration.”
Biden criticises further
Biden also criticised law firms that he claimed had bowed to political pressure from the Trump administration, accepting multimillion-dollar penalties and abandoning their commitments to justice. He further highlighted rising threats against federal judges, which have prompted discussions around the creation of dedicated judicial security forces.
This latest speech is one of several recent public appearances in which Biden has taken indirect aim at Trump. In June, he delivered remarks during a Juneteenth service at Reedy Chapel AME Church in Texas, and earlier this month he addressed the Society for Human Resource Management conference in San Diego.
During the latter event, he revealed he was “working like hell” to complete a memoir of his presidency, which he hopes will serve as both a reflection on his time in office and a response to the public questions surrounding his health.
While Biden openly praised former vice-president Kamala Harris at the Chicago gala, he did not address his decision to step aside during the current presidential campaign. Nor did he directly mention recent allegations that aides concealed the extent of his physical decline during his final years in office.
However, he did wryly acknowledge his unique place in political history: “the youngest person ever elected to the US Senate, and the oldest person elected to the presidency.”
Republican critics have seized upon reports of Biden’s cognitive challenges, launching congressional investigations into whether he personally authorised clemency decisions during his final months in office. Biden has dismissed the claims, telling The New York Times that he personally gave verbal approval for all pardons and commutations issued under his administration, and labelling Republican accusers “liars”.
Earlier on Friday, Mike Donilon, one of Biden’s longest-serving advisers, appeared before the House Oversight Committee as part of its inquiry into the alleged “cover up” of Biden’s health issues. Fellow aide Steve Ricchetti also testified earlier in the week.
Despite the controversies, Biden’s address to the National Bar Association was received with standing ovations, as he urged legal professionals to continue the legacy of justice and resistance.
“This moment in history makes us confront hard truths,” Biden said. “But I still believe, deep in my bones, that the law can bend toward justice if we have the courage to stand firm.”
