Preparing for a Better and Brighter Future

I’m one month into my role as the new ACS President and I thought this was a good opportunity to reach out to the ACS network.

Going forward, I plan to send a monthly email to the network and also post it here. I’ll update you on my efforts to visit 100 chapters during my first year as President, highlight the contributions of particular ACS members, and share my thoughts on new and emerging legal theories. Some months, I might write about what’s keeping me up at night.

In each of these emails and columns, I’ll ask you to join ACS, if you’re not yet a member, and to support ACS financially, whether you’re a member or not. It’s not my intent to use these messages as an ask for donations, but the reality is this: For ACS to reach its full potential, we need resources.

I will personally draft every one of these emails (without AI assistance, I might add). So whether you love the subject matter or send this instantly to spam, you’ll know that the content comes directly from me.

Today, I want to discuss what we’ve seen unfold over the last month: the good and the bad.

Let’s start with the good:

• We’ve seen ordinary people do extraordinary things. Neighbors uplifting neighbors. Teachers defending students. Residents of cities under siege braving subzero temperatures to demand the legal safeguards that have been promised to all of us by our Constitution.
• We’ve seen our Minnesota Lawyer Chapter stand up for its community and the rule of law and chapters and members across the country respond with support and solidarity.
• We’ve seen state and local elected officials stand shoulder-to-shoulder against illegal and unconstitutional overreach by the federal government, defending democracy knowing they may face retaliation.
• We’ve seen career federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers resign, refusing to be pawns in this administration’s efforts to weaponize the justice system.
• We’ve seen federal judges, appointed by presidents of both political parties, say ‘enough is enough’ as they seek to bolster the rule of law and curb the degradation of due process.
• We’ve seen celebrities and public figures use their voices and influence for good, bringing attention to the ongoing attacks on our civil liberties and our constitutional rights.

But we’ve also seen the bad:

• The administration’s ongoing assault on core American values: Democracy, the rule of law, and freedom.
• Boldfaced lies and the proliferation of propaganda, meant in no small part to divide and distract us.
• A congressional majority content to kneecap itself, eager to transform a coequal branch into a subservient rubberstamp for every whim of this President.
• Apathy and hollow statements from far too many corporate leaders seemingly too short-sighted to recognize that the breakdown of our constitutional order is not only antithetical to who we are as a people, but also bad for business.
• A conservative majority on the Supreme Court that has actively enabled this country’s descent from its prominent place as a beacon of opportunity for those who seek liberty and a better way of life.

When faced with these realities, it’s understandable and all too easy to lose hope. To keep your head down. To check out.

But it’s more important than ever to keep the faith. To show up. To meet this moment. And to prepare for a better and brighter future.

ACS will continue to buoy the rule of law, democracy, and freedom. We will work tirelessly to rebuild due process and restore impartiality to our system of justice. And we will never stop striving to make this nation a more perfect union. I hope you will join us in this fight.