In response to President Trump and his allies’ sweeping and dangerous assault on judicial independence and the rule of law, Free Speech For People joined a broad coalition of more than 80 national and local organizations representing millions of Americans released an urgent open letter warning that the United States faces “a moment of unprecedented constitutional danger” under President Trump’s second administration.

The full letter is below:

America faces a moment of unprecedented constitutional danger. In the first weeks of his second term, President Trump has issued public statements and signed dozens of executive orders, memoranda, and proclamations to gut our federal government, challenge our system of checks and balances, and undermine our Constitution. Federal district courts have issued numerous injunctions and restraining orders to halt or temporarily stop this assault on our system of government. Trump and his allies have responded by threatening judges and private law firms, and by proposing legislation to undercut and intimidate the judicial branch.

As organizations representing millions of Americans, we are profoundly concerned by these sweeping proposals and the actions of President Trump, his administration, and his congressional allies to intimidate the judiciary, dismantle the rule of law, and weaponize the executive branch.

The Trump administration’s authoritarian actions threaten a system of checks and balances that has safeguarded our democracy for nearly 250 years. That’s why we are demanding that:

1. Congress reject legislation that would undercut the independence and integrity of the judiciary;
2. Lawyers and judges speak out to defend our legal system, which the American people depend on to protect their rights; and
3. The American people ensure Trump cannot dismantle a co-equal branch of government.

Our Constitution unequivocally establishes that a president is not a king and that no one stands above the law. Yet President Trump and top officials—including Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk, and senior adviser Stephen Miller—have made alarming public threats that undermine judicial independence and dangerously disregard our constitutional separation of powers.

Barely a month into this administration, Vice President Vance declared that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Elon Musk revealed the personal information, full name, and employment of the daughter of a judge who ruled against the administration. And when District Judge James E. Boasberg ruled against the administration’s use of a 1798 wartime law to justify mass deportations, the judge described the White House response as “possible defiance” of a lawful court order. Musk has proposed impeaching judges who rule against the administration, and Trump has proposed impeaching Judge Boasberg. The constitutional crisis once dismissed as hyperbole now stands at our nation’s doorstep.

Efforts to delegitimize court orders, threaten judges, and erode constitutional safeguards fundamentally threaten American democracy. Even more disturbing, congressional allies are now attempting to codify these authoritarian power grabs through legislation.

For example:

• The Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act (H.R. 1702) would grant President Trump authority to appoint 22 new lifetime district court judges, enabling him to stack federal courts with loyalists who would rubber-stamp his agenda and shield him from accountability.
• The Promptly Ending Political Prosecutions and Executive Retaliation (PEPPER) Act (H.R. 1789) would dramatically expand executive power by allowing current and former executive branch officials to move cases against them from state to federal courts and requiring federal courts to dismiss virtually all cases against presidents and vice presidents—effectively placing them above the law.
• The No Rogue Rulings (NORRA) Act (H.R. 1526) would prevent judges from granting relief beyond the parties directly before the court—impeding judicial relief for unconstitutional executive actions.
• The Nationwide Injunction Abuse Prevention Act would similarly ban nationwide injunctions by district court judges.

President Trump’s assault on judicial authority extends to unprecedented attacks on the legal profession itself. The administration has issued executive orders targeting specific law firms against which he holds personal grudges and accused them of engaging in dishonest and dangerous activities. By intimidating and threatening the livelihoods of legal professionals, the administration is attempting to systematically undermine the judicial system’s capacity to provide checks on overreaches of executive power.

We urge Congress to stand firm against the assaults on our democracy by rejecting the JUDGES Act, the PEPPER Act, and the NORRA Act. 

We urge legal professionals to speak out against these unjust attacks.

Instead, we must strengthen judicial independence and reinforce the separation of powers. We demand that the president, his administration, and Congress cease attacks on judges and lawyers and reaffirm their commitment to the rule of law.

Sincerely,

LIST OF SIGNERS

National Organizations

1. A More Perfect Union
2. Accountable.US
3. All Voting is Local Action
4. Alliance for Justice
5. American Civil Liberties Union
6. American Federation of Government Employees
7. American Federation of Teachers
8. Americans United for Separation of Church and State
9. Autistic People of Color Fund
10. Bend the Arc
11. Catholics Vote Common Good
12. Center for American Progress
13. Center for Digital Democracy
14. Center for Economic Justice
15. Center for Media and Democracy
16. Chevedden
17. Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
18. Color Of Change
19. Consumer Action
20. Consumer Federation of America
21. Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
22. Demand Justice
23. Demand Progress
24. DemCast USA
25. Democracy 21
26. Democracy Forward
27. Feminist Majority Foundation
28. Fix Democracy First
29. Free Speech For People
30. Freedom Writers Collaborative
31. Friends of the Earth
32. Government Information Watch
33. Harrington Investments, Inc.
34. Human Rights Campaign
35. Indian American Impact
36. Indivisible
37. Jewish Democratic Council of America
38. Just Solutions
39. Lawyers for Good Government
40. League of Conservation Voters
41. Military Families for Ethical Leadership
42. Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
43. MomsRising
44. MoveOn
45. National Association of Consumer Advocates
46. National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)
47. National Consumers League
48. National Council of Jewish Women
49. National Employment Law Project
50. National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
51. NBJC
52. NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
53. Newtown Action Alliance
54. NextGen America
55. People For the American Way
56. People Power United
57. People’s Parity Project
58. Popular Democracy
59. Prosperity Works
60. Protect Democracy
61. Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
62. Public Citizen
63. RepresentUs
64. SEIU
65. Stand Up America
66. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
67. The National Vote
68. The Workers Circle
69. UltraViolet Action
70. Walking to Fix Our Democracy
71. We Own It
72. WIN Network

Local Groups

1. Clean Elections Texas
2. Faiths for Safe Water
3. Indivisible Marin
4. Michiganders for Fair and Transparent Elections
5. New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center
6. North Carolina for the People
7. Reproductive Freedom for All California
8. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council
9. Wisconsin Democracy Campaign