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Donald Alexander, Ellen Gorman and Warren Silver are retired Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices.
We are Maine lawyers who have served the people of Maine as Supreme Judicial Court justices. We are deeply concerned with the Trump Administration’s recent attacks on the courts and law firms, including calls for impeachment of judges who rule against the administration and attempts to silence law firms through executive orders preventing those firms from entering federal buildings or contracting with the government.
These efforts to eliminate the pillars of our legal system may be merely the first step towards authoritarianism and the elimination of the people’s fundamental rights. We write to encourage all of us to stand up and oppose these attacks on the rule of law.
Since the earliest days of our country, it has been understood that our three branches of government are co-equal. The role of the judicial branch is to ensure that the executive and congressional branches of government comply with the Constitution and laws. For that balance of power to work, however, the executive and legislative branches must comply with judicial rulings. No government official should ever threaten retribution against a judge for ruling against the government. As U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts explained recently, the proper response to an unfavorable ruling is to seek appellate review, not to attack the judge personally.
Although the chief justice has rebuked the administration and those members of Congress following its lead in calling for the impeachment of judges who rule against it, the attacks on judges falsely identified as “lunatic” or “radical left” have gone on unabated. Given that there are over 120 lawsuits pending against various actions of the administration, and that judges have already ruled against it in many of those cases, it comes as no surprise that the administration would attempt to discredit and vilify the judiciary.
We believe these attacks ultimately lead to only one place — defiance of court orders. And once court orders can be ignored, no one’s rights are secure, including the rights to criticize, to protest, and to be safe from arbitrary seizure.
In a different context, but equally applicable today, Maine’s own Margaret Chase Smith stood up for those rights in her Declaration of Conscience:
“I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation. Whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the Senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined,” she said.
“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism –
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought,” Smith said.
“The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t?
Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in,” the senator said.
The protection of our rights ultimately lies with the judicial branch. But its ability to continue to protect those rights depends upon our willingness to stand up for it — to stand up against attempts to intimidate judges or defy their rulings. We urge all Mainers, especially all Maine lawyers, to stand up for the rule of law and forcefully reject the administration’s attempts to overturn it.
