Letter to Bar Associations

300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: 202-465-8728

February 14, 2025

To: All State Bar Associations, New York City Bar, Federal Bar Association

Re: First Responders in Defense of the Constitution and Rule of Law

President Donald Trump has declared war on the Constitution and laws of the United States with a blitzkrieg of unprecedented executive orders, proclamations, and decrees equal to or exceeding the tyranny of King George III that provoked the American Revolution. A tiny sample includes Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order, in violation of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, his vast spending freeze in violation of the Impoundment Control Act and the congressional power of the purse, his firing at least 17 Inspectors General in violation of the Inspectors General Act of 1978, as amended, and his notorious refusal to enforce the congressional ban on TikTok for 75 days or as long as he likes in violation of his duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The Constitution’s separation of powers, a structural bill of rights, is barely on life support. Moreover, directly and through prominent surrogates, Mr. Trump has asserted or insinuated that he is prepared to ignore court decrees that he finds objectionable—the death knell for the rule of law.

The human toll of Mr. Trump’s latest lawlessness has been steep. Work has stopped on demining unexploded ordnance that continues to kill and maim children in Gaza, Vietman, Laos, and Cambodia. Hospitals and medical clinics have been forced to ration care. An untold number have been deprived of funds needed for the bare necessities. Humanitarian and welfare organizations like churches have lost operational funds. The most vulnerable have been the victims of Mr. Trump’s spending freeze order. At present, he has left the bloated Pentagon budget undisturbed.

The legal profession is saddled with an ethical, moral, and legal duty to act as first responders where, as here, the Constitution has been set ablaze. We believe it urgent that you establish task forces, tutorials, teach-ins, or comparable education-advocacy efforts to expose and oppose President Trump’s naked lawlessness aided and abetted by Elon Musk who is illegally operating in a twilight zone with no accountability. Musk is acting as a de facto principal officer of the United States without Senate confirmation in violation of the Appointments Clause.

A model was set by the American Bar Association’s three Presidential Task Forces to check the lawlessness of the Bush-Cheney administrations in the aftermath of 9/11: 2002 Task Force on Treatment of Enemy Combatants. https://nader.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ABA-Task-Force-on-Treatment-of-Enemy-Combatants.pdf; 2006 Task Force on Domestic Surveillance in the Fight Against Terrorism. https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/aba-task-force-on-domestic-surveillance-in-the-fight-against-terrorism/; and, 2006 Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements. https://balkin.blogspot.com/aba.signing.statments.report.pdf

We would be eager to assist in fulfilling your first responder duties to block President Trump’s dictatorship, including support for articles of impeachment to end Mr. Trump’s untrustworthy stewardship of our liberties and rule of law. See the attached draft of fourteen (14) articles of impeachment.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

Bruce Fein

Lou Fisher

Attached: ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP