Dear friends, colleagues, and family members,
I hope you will consider signing the Democracy Commitment https://ldad.org/democracy-commitment and consider contributing to the Lawyers Defending American Democracy. https://ldad.org
Lawyers Defending American Democracy was founded after their 50th law school reunion by Scott Harshbarger, Gary Ratner and a group of classmates to respond to the emerging threats to our democracy during the Trump presidency.
After Trump’s electoral defeat, there was a takeover of the US Capitol, an effort to change votes in Georgia, and illegal efforts to overthrow the results of a free and fair election in multiple states. These threats have since metastasized into armed militias, threats to the lives of election officials and educators, and efforts in a number of states to disenfranchise voters of the opposing party, particularly racial and ethnic minorities.
Our nation, the first modern democracy, is backsliding on its commitments to the rule of law. We now rank poorly compared to our peer nations. In particular, we rank in the bottom third compared to our peers on criminal justice, civil justice, fundamental rights and order and security. https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/wjp-rule-law-index-2021
We as lawyers have a singular professional duty to uphold the Constitution, both of the United States and of the states in which we are admitted to practice. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/professional-life/anatomy-of-our-oath/ We must conduct ourselves in the practice of law with honesty, civility and integrity. https://www.courts.ca.gov/25857.htm
Over the past year, LDAD has taken the lead to initiate bar disciplinary proceedings against those lawyers like Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Ken Paxton and Jeffrey Clark who sought to overthrow the election results, who violated their oaths of loyalty to the Constitution, who filed meritless litigation, or who lied to the federal and state judiciary. LDAD has begun a Voting Rights Committee to protect the right to vote of all American citizens and has initiated its Democracy Commitment to rally all lawyers and all bar associations to protect fundamental principles of our democracy.
We have hired an interim Executive Director to marshal, guide and give greater exposure to our efforts. https://ldad.org/news-feed We now have a 501c3 fiscal sponsor to assure that all contributions to LDAD will be tax deductible. Our Board is growing, diversifying and adding new powerful voices in support of our mission.
In the coming year, our democratic institutions face severe challenges. Voter suppression efforts in state legislatures and at the local level are growing, not diminishing. The prospects for loss of democratic rights and freedoms (e.g. racial gerrymandering, loss of reproductive rights, book banning and restrictions on the teaching of our nation’s history) are increasing.
We do need your help at whatever level you think is affordable or in whatever form feels appropriate to you.
This month, we celebrate President’s Day and Valentine’s Day, and we honor and learn in Black History Month. It is a fitting time to show our lifelong commitments to those things we love best about our nation.
Many thanks and all my best, hoping you are well and safe.
Lucien