Before taking office, every president recites an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Likewise, every senator pledges to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
These two commitments are at the heart of the current conflict between the White House, the Department of Justice, Washington’s U.S. senators, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the rightful U.S. Attorney for Western Washington.
It really comes down to whether President Donald Trump or the state’s senior senator, Patty Murray, are on the right side of history and the law.
There is no doubt: Murray is on solid ground.
There is much at stake.
The issue revolves around who should serve as U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, a powerful post that marshals the immense power of federal law enforcement.
Per the Constitution, presidents nominate candidates and the Senate approves. Typically, there are informal conversations between the executive and legislative branches beforehand to ensure a seamless process and a qualified person takes the reins. In Trump’s second term, he never nominated anyone to the post, preferring instead to extend a temporary assignment to a handpicked “sock puppet,” in Murray’s words.
In cases where the president does not nominate a U.S. attorney, the District Court can name a person to do the job.
And that’s what happened here.
Roger Rogoff, appointed by the court on July 15, was fired by the Trump administration in less than hour. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed to fire every U.S. attorney appointed by local judges.
Given the political landscape, Blanche’s move ought to have been expected. In the background, former U.S. Attorneys for Western Washington — nominated by both Democratic and Republican presidents — strategized for months about how they could help end the impasse and bring back the rule of law. That included preparing a lawsuit challenging Blanche’s legal ability to fire Rogoff, which was filed on Tuesday.
“The Senate’s advice and consent role for U.S. attorneys protects us all from political cronyism and unqualified candidates,” former U.S. Attorney John McKay, appointed by President George W. Bush, told the editorial board. “Roger Rogoff’s lawsuit rightly demands President Donald Trump follow the U.S. Constitution and the law reinstating him as the lawful U.S. attorney in Seattle.”
Former U.S. Attorney and Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan said in an interview: “People should care because the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice have an oversized impact on public safety in the whole state. But I would say the bigger ‘why do you care’ is we have a very fragile constitutional system that rests on a principle of balance of power. And in this case, the Constitution is very clear on what the balance of power is between the president and the Senate.”
Murray was unflinching, and appropriately so, said McKay. In a statement, Murray said: “The President needs to understand that DOJ works for the American people — it’s not his personal law firm to enforce his mob-style politics.”
If this nation is founded on the Constitution, that bedrock is cracked and slipping. It will take the courts, individuals like Rogoff, people with experience such as McKay and Durkan, and an informed citizenry to ensure chaos does not become the status quo in these unprecedented times.
