“Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and constantly defended by each generation.”
—President Reagan, inauguration speech as California Governor (1967)
The survival of our republic, Benjamin Franklin famously said, is for as long as “we can keep it.” Our founders fought for independence from a king, recognized the risks of a standing army that operated as an occupying force in our communities, were committed to a system where laws were administered fairly and equally, and safeguarded our freedom of speech. As Supreme Court Justice Brandeis famously said about our founders’ commitment to our First Amendment’s protection of free speech, in the face of speech we disagree with, the “remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
At this perilous moment, we are witnessing historic attacks on our fundamental freedoms. These attacks—on law enforcement in blue states; on the rule of law that requires prosecutions be based on the law and the evidence, not used as a tool to harass opponents (or reward allies); and on the freedom of speech (by television networks and others)—are lawless, dangerous, and reckless. We cannot be silenced or bow down to the Trump administration in the face of such intimidation. Rather, when dealing with a lawless bully, the only response is to stand strong for your principles and fight like hell for what you believe in.
The emerging effort to deploy the National Guard in states—against the wishes of the Governors and without a legal justification—is outrageous, an abuse of power, and dangerous. In a clarion call against this effort, Judge Immergut—a federal district judge appointed by President Trump—called out President Trump’s actions in Portland as “untethered” to reality and a threat to our republic, stating that “We are a nation of constitutional law, not marital law.” And Oklahoma Governor (and chair of the National Governors Association) Kevin Stitt called this effort out as an affront to federalism and wrong.
Our founders were clear on the imperative of keeping the military subordinate to civil authority. They recognized that the deployment of troops in our communities could chill, as one court put it, the right to “speak freely and to vote,” and could “create the atmosphere of fear and hostility which exists in territories occupied by enemy forces.” I recently talked about this issue with 9News’ Kyle Clark–and you can watch that interview here.
Under our Constitution and laws, any deployment of the military must be restricted to narrow circumstances that involve an invasion, an organized rebellion to overthrow the government, or a scenario where normal law enforcement is unable to function. None of those situations are remotely the case in Colorado—or in Portland.
In America, it is the job of law enforcement to keep our communities safe, and that is what they are trained to do. The National Guard and military, by contrast, are not trained in important techniques around de-escalation or criminal investigations—and it is thus counterproductive and dangerous to call them into our cities. And it is disrespectful to take our service members away from their families for a political stunt.
As Colorado’s Attorney General, I will always defend our state’s sovereignty—and will not hesitate to stand up against the intimidation and lawless bullying of this administration. That means we will fight any attempts to deploy the National Guard from other states here, to federalize the Colorado National Guard against our wishes, or to send in the military. I have demonstrated that I will stand up to this administration—and have challenged their illegal actions 37 times in court.
We cannot be intimidated, we must continue to use our voice, show up at No Kings rallies, and defend the very foundation of our republic. Our founders put in place three pillars to support our democratic republic: (1) the clear separation of the military from civilian law enforcement; (2) the rule of law and the fair administration of justice; and (3) the freedom of speech. They are all under attack. If these pillars are eroded, our future as a free country is in jeopardy. Together, we must stand strong, clear, and vigilant to protect these basic freedoms and keep our republic.