Statements from Signatories of DOJ Alumni Statement
As Counsel to Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox when President Nixon ordered the “Saturday Night Massacre,” I am particularly concerned that President Trump may not understand the basic lesson of that tragic episode: The American people expect the officers of the Department of Justice , as Cox put it, “to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” even into the Oval Office. President Trump may be inclined to repeat a similar assault on the integrity of the federal law enforcement process. It is the responsibility of the people’s representatives in Congress to discourage any similar intrusion and, if necessary, to react strongly to assure that the investigations can stay on track to uncover the truth. — Philip Allen Lacovara, Counsel to Watergate Special Prosecutor, served for 5 years under Ford, Nixon, and Johnson
The President’s unprecedented attacks on the Justice Department undermine the rule of law that lies at the heart of our democracy and has enabled our republic to flourish for nearly 250 years. We cannot allow the partisanship that has consumed our politics to erode the principle that no person is above the law. As former Justice Department officials, we must speak out against the President’s dangerous threats and stand together with all Americans to defend the principles that make our country great. — David Uhlmann, former Chief of the Environmental Crimes Section, served for 17 years under Bush II, Clinton, Bush I.
I served under 7 presidents, both Democrat and Republican, during my 37 year career at the Department of Justice. Despite ideological and policy differences between administrations, all of the men and women I served with took pride in the Department’s independence from political interference. We all took an oath to enforce the Constitution and our laws in a fair and even handed manner. This is the bedrock principle of our constitutional republic: that we are a government of laws, not of men. President Trump’s shameful and baseless attacks on the Department and the Special Counsel threaten to undermine this foundational premise. The law is not a weapon in the President’s political arsenal. A President who fails to understand this and who cannot protect the Department of Justice from political interference is unfit to serve. — Joyce Branda, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, served for 37 years under Trump, Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter.
Our Constitution provides for three co-equal branches of government, the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches. These three “legs” were intended by our founders to protect against the excesses of an unfettered monarchy by creating a system of checks and balances that has served our nation for almost 250 years. It is time for Congress to rediscover its function as the Legislative “check” to an unbalanced Executive branch seeking unfettered authority. Congress must pass strong laws protecting the integrity of the Special Counsel, speak out against attacks on judges and the press, stop enabling the distortions of truth that have made a mockery of the very concept, and remember the oath they swore on the Bible: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” — Daniella Sapriel, former Attorney in the Civil Division, served for 3 years under Carter and Ford.
