Wyoming lawyers, judges right to ask delegation to condemn Trump

I salute more than 100 lawyers and former judges who sent a fervent letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation asking members to condemn attacks on the judiciary by President Donald Trump and his MAGA followers. 

These courageous legal professionals — including former Gov. Mike Sullivan and four retired Wyoming Supreme Court justices — emphatically shared their outrage over the danger an out-of-control executive branch poses to the co-equal judiciary, which is not being defended by either the Republican-controlled House or Senate. 

Their letter was diplomatic, urging Wyoming’s U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman to help halt Trump’s daily assault on the Constitution they took an oath to protect, but not explicitly chastising them for looking the other way in the past.

I’m not a lawyer, just a pixel-stained member of the Fourth Estate who feels compelled to add a non-diplomatic P.S. on behalf of all who want to know why the delegation is missing in action on this and other destructive acts by the new administration.

Here’s my addendum for the delegation:

What in the world are you doing? Are you so spineless that you’re going to do nothing when the president callously ignores judicial orders while he insults and threatens judges, putting their lives at risk? Some of his supporters even tweeted that a judge should be beheaded.

Lummis and Hageman, you’re both lawyers. How would you like it if judges’ favorable rulings on your cases went ignored? Have you lost all respect for the rule of law? Trump called for the impeachment of a federal judge he derided as a “radical left lunatic” because he ruled against illegal deportation flights. A lapdog member of Congress promptly filed a bill to impeach the judge.

The courts are our last hope to keep Trump from dismantling the federal government and causing irreparable harm. Many Wyomingites look at the carnage of Trump’s first three months back in office and fear our democratic republic may not survive. Yet the three of you sit on your hands and let Trump’s executive orders take away your own legislative power over the budget. Who do you represent?

A Turkish Tufts University graduate student with a legal visa that was revoked without her knowledge was literally grabbed off the streets by hooded federal agents last week, whisked into a van and flown to a Louisiana prison, despite having committed no crime. This is the kind of “law and order” practiced by a dictatorship, but it’s the deplorable result of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Do you condone this in America? Will you accept a judge’s ruling if what happened is found to be an egregious violation of the student’s rights, or blast it as anti-Trump bias?

You probably think as lawmakers from a solid Trump Country state, you have the safest congressional seats in the nation. Perhaps, but so did former Rep. Liz Cheney. If Americans revolt and Trump’s reign of terror ends, do you believe voters won’t hold you responsible for all the damage he’s caused?

I don’t expect our delegation to do anything but defend whatever Trump does, even if a court rules it’s illegal. But it’s worth publicly putting them on notice that what they’re doing is being watched.

Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily violence against judges and other public officials is never acceptable, but added he believes judges’ rulings against the Trump administration have been unjust.

“Americans are right to be outraged by the recent onslaught of activist judges abusing their power to try to stop the Trump administration’s agenda,” Barrasso said. “When partisan, unelected district court judges try to micromanage the president of the United States, it isn’t judicial review. It isn’t checks and balances. It is pure partisan politics — and it is wrong.”

Are you serious, senator? It’s not micromanaging to tell a president and Elon Musk, the unelected co-president he put in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, that firing thousands of federal employees without cause is illegal. Or that funds Congress authorized can’t be withheld because the president wants to gut an agency that for decades has distributed humanitarian aid desperately needed by other nations.

A spokesman for Lummis told the Cowboy State Daily she strongly disagrees with the letter’s premise “and wishes they had expressed their concerns privately with us before going on a press blitz.”

I’ll bet she does! It would be much less embarrassing if the attorneys and retired judges hadn’t boldly aired their grievances with federal lawmakers who are complicit in Trump’s campaign against the judicial branch.

But it’s only one of the actions dutiful servants of Trump like Barrasso, Lummis and Hageman will have to answer for. Here’s just a sample of the president’s controversial priorities: topple the Department of Education; cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security that millions depend on; defund National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service; and rewrite American history by telling the Smithsonian Institution what exhibits it will display.

I don’t believe this is what many Trump supporters expected when they cast their ballots. Trump is targeting prominent legal firms for daring to file lawsuits against him or making campaign donations to his opponents. In its letter, a large segment of Wyoming’s legal community described this as a growing movement to attack and discredit, not just judges and lawyers, “but seemingly the American Rule of Law, as we know it.” 

“Recent executive orders targeting prominent national law firms disfavored by the administration with severe retribution — unprecedented executive action immediately deemed unconstitutional on many grounds by a federal court — has, as night follows day, resulted in yet more incendiary social media postings attacking the judiciary and openly encouraging the executive branch to disobey court orders.”

Musk, the letter noted, routinely uses his “X” social media platform to call all rulings against the administration “illegal,” “corrupt,” “radical” and “evil.” When a congressman brought impeachment articles against a highly regarded senior federal judge — whom he called a “predator” and “radical LGBTQ activist” — Musk rewarded him by donating to his campaign.

I’m glad the letter was sent to Wyoming’s delegation, and not just because it seeks accountability from our federal lawmakers. If any delegation should merit the president’s attention, it’s Wyoming’s — and not just because the state gave Trump his highest margin of victory in the nation in his three presidential bids.

Barrasso is second in the Senate GOP’s leadership and in frequent contact with Trump. Just as he did whenever there was a camera near former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Barrasso is now often a hovering presence on Trump’s right side.

Hageman, of course, owes her political career to Trump, who handpicked her to run against Liz Cheney, his political enemy. Lummis, always a staunch Trump backer, recently got his endorsement in her reelection bid for a second term.

Any member of this trio has the opportunity to grab Trump’s ear if his treatment of the judiciary crosses a line even they can’t defend. The question is what would that line be, since they have listened to his childish rants against judges and not even whispered the slightest criticism.

The letter included an important warning by the Federal Judges Association: “Any erosion in the independence of the judiciary is a threat to the Constitution and to democratic rule of law. Ensuring judicial security is not just about protecting individuals, it is about preserving the integrity of our legal system and the public’s trust in an impartial judiciary.”

Even U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the odious opinion that granted presidential immunity against criminal prosecution, issued a rare personal public statement after Trump called for a judge’s impeachment. Roberts reminded Americans the appellate process is the appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision, not impeachment.

If Roberts can offer that criticism, which no doubt angered Trump, there’s no reason why Wyoming’s congressional delegation can’t stop marching lockstep on his behalf and at least state the obvious: Trump is undermining the public’s trust in our judiciary, and it’s inexcusable.