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Governor warns against attacks on the judiciary, urges defense of the rule of law
Summary
In a brief gubernatorial address, the governor warned that efforts to intimidate courts and to target law firms through executive actions threaten the separation of powers, invoked Watergate as a historical parallel and urged citizens to defend constitutional norms.
Governor Janet Nils delivered a short address warning that recent efforts to intimidate courts and to pressure legal professionals threaten the separation of powers and the rule of law.
She framed the remarks as grounded in her oath "to uphold the constitution," calling the constitution the "great equalizer" that protects the vulnerable. "The law is neither red nor blue," the governor said, adding that the rule of law "is the thing that protects all of us, especially the weak and the vulnerable."
The governor cited Watergate as an historical example of political loyalty supplanting legal duty, saying the nation once watched "the president of The United States [forced] to resign" and other officials face professional and legal consequences. She said lawyers and law firms are again under pressure from political powers in Washington and asserted that "the administration issued executive orders that targeted various law firms by name," measures she described as suspending security clearances, barring access to government buildings and terminating government contracts for firms that once represented clients the president disagreed with.
She warned that the executive branch has sometimes attacked the courts when it did not get its way, using derogatory language toward judges that she summarized as accusing them of "hating America" and having a "sick ideology." To illustrate the long-term risk to the legal system, she quoted a Reagan appointee, Judge Harvey Wilkinson the third: "now the branches come too close to grinding irrevocably against one another in a conflict that promises to diminish both."
The governor broadened her concern beyond the bar and the bench, saying the administration's actions threaten businesses, colleges, scientists and researchers, unions and veterans, and imperil Social Security, health care, medical research and education. She framed these as risks to cities, states and countries large and small.
She concluded by urging vigilance: "We have got to stand up for the rule of law," the governor said, adding that citizens' efforts to defend constitutional checks and balances will make the country "stronger, and the rule of law will thrive." The remarks were a speech rather than a policy announcement; no formal actions or votes were recorded in the transcript.
