Lawyers must rebuke Trump’s vote attacks

Late last week, a group of former United States Attorneys, all appointed by Republican presidents, spoke out against Donald Trump’s groundless attacks on our electoral process. As the former president of the Republican Law Student Association at South Texas College of Law, someone who helped lead the effort to re-found its Federalist Society student group, and a Texas civil rights attorney, I want to join their voices.

The First Amendment recognizes our right to speak truth. The truth is this. Trump has betrayed our country. Multiple lawsuits have been filed by him and his party. One filed in Houston sought to invalidate our votes. We Houstonians legally voted by mail and drive-thru voting during a pandemic to protect, among others, our immuno-compromised neighbors. We completed our ballots, sealed and signed them, showed valid licenses, signed a registration sheet and dropped them off at a designated site. This was done with guidance from lawfully elected officials. As a lawyer who sues the government to enforce civil rights, I can assure every American that voting by mail is not unconstitutional, illegal or fraudulent. These lawsuits are a baseless attempt to undermine our elections.

Trump’s Nov. 5 speech bragged about these frivolous lawsuits and made spurious claims of voter fraud. The distortions have continued this week unabated. This is the latest chapter in a long story. Trump owed the American people his undivided allegiance. Instead, he abused the office of the president. He enriched his family at the expense of taxpayers and the Secret Service. He used American diplomats to try to get dirt on a political opponent. . A Senate report confirmed findings that his campaign held meetings with Russian officials. He commuted the sentence of a political ally. These actions have hurt America’s standing in the world. Make no mistake; this is not good for anyone who wants to live free.

For almost 250 years, America has aspired to do the right thing. Like every country that tries, we don’t always get it right. Sometimes we get it really wrong. But we try nonetheless. Both good and bad people have always existed in America. Unlike darker places in our world, here the bad people have lost ground to the good ones. That is the core of what makes America great.

But that cannot guarantee future success. We are at a point of transition. We must continue to speak the truth and do the right thing. Because at the end of the day, unless we are a morally good society with decent people, we’re doomed.

Fortunately, there are still many people like that in America. I’ve met them. We are both conservative and liberal. We have different skin colors, faiths, sexes, genders, disabilities, jobs, histories, friends and families. But we are all the same where it counts. We are good people who, at the end of the day, could not live with ourselves if we allow evil to win. We don’t start fights, we finish them.

We must all stand firm against Trump. We cannot allow him to use our country to help our enemies. We cannot allow him to use our country for his and his family’s personal gain. There can be no scenario where he escapes. If that includes him and his bootlickers facing justice in court, so be it. Trump’s false claims are a first step to the rigged elections we see in Russia and other countries with rampant corruption.

To every person of good conscience in America: You are not alone. A line in the sand must be drawn. It is up to all of us to draw that line. We can stand together and end this. We can stop not only Trump, but every politician, would-be petty despot or would-be strongwoman in our world. The future is coming regardless. Who do you want to shape it? North Korea, China, Russia, Trump? As for me, I choose America.