Readers, reacting to an Op-Ed by a former Justice Department lawyer about her ethical conflicts, offer both censure and sympathy.
To the Editor:
Re “My Regrets Working for Trump,” by Erica Newland (Op-Ed, Dec. 21):
The participants in the Trump administration are now coming out in droves to salvage or reinvent their careers and image. Erica Newland, a lawyer in the Justice Department, adds her name to that list. Well, at least she did eventually walk out. Perhaps in doing so she deserves a scintilla of forgiveness from those of us whose democratic sensibilities she offended. But democracy does not forgive. It either stands or falls.
Those in the Trump administration who were either active in promoting him or complicit in his abuses will be remembered for their contributions in his attempt to dismantle democracy. Most will try to rewrite their own record for their own legacy’s sake. For their children and grandchildren. But, hopefully, the work of good journalism now, and good historians in the future, will continue to shine a light on this sad period in American history and those who enabled it.
Holly Billeris
Bayville, N.Y.
To the Editor:
I am heartened and heartbroken to read Erica Newland’s Op-Ed. Having served as a deputy attorney general for Colorado, I can’t imagine having to compromise the public trust or my own dignity to work under the conditions she describes. It will be an enormous challenge to rebuild respect in our country’s legal profession. Ms. Newland’s Op-Ed is a start.
I don’t believe we were exclusively an army of pure-minded public lawyers before President Trump took office, but the destruction described by Ms. Newland is a substantial departure and is uniquely horrifying. May we all take responsibility to nourish a healthy legal system free from political pressure. We have an oath to uphold, humans to treat fairly, a legal system to defend and a country to be accountable to.
Thank you, Ms. Newland, for exposing the issues, and please continue to speak from your heart about this ethical dilemma. We need to hear the truth.
Diana E. Black
Denver
To the Editor:
After struggling with ethical conflicts similar to those that Erica Newland faced, I resigned from not one but two public service positions in local government here in New Mexico in less than a year.
In the first position, my Republican boss directed me to violate the very sunshine law I had been enthusiastically hired to enforce. In the second position, I was pressured by elected and appointed Democrats to alter my rendered legal opinions to achieve near-term political goals.
In both cases, I cited an ethical rule that allows an attorney to withdraw from representation where “the client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant or with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.”
Ms. Newland is right that rationalizing the decision to remain in a job where one’s ethical and even moral standards are on the line is a mistake. Lawyers must refuse to take part in local or national government administrations that insist on violating legal or ethical standards. To do anything less is to blur the line between right and wrong, and ultimately to render that distinction meaningless.
Joel M. Young
Bernalillo, N.M.
"Opinion" - Google News
December 29, 2020 at 02:01AM
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Opinion | Wrestling With Complicity in the Trump Administration - The New York Times
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