I am a registered Republican and a former Republican precinct chair here in Utah. I'm also a Never-Trumper. After graduating from Duke Law School, my first job was at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in 2007. Yes, that Giuliani. The firm was previously known as Bracewell & Patterson. In 2005, the managing partner of Bracewell & Patterson, Pat Oxford, was a major player in the Texas Republican party and a close confidant of George W. Bush. Bracewell & Patterson wanted to open a New York City office, and Giuliani wanted access to the Texas Republican elite. So that year Bracewell & Patterson became Bracewell & Giuliani.
During my first week at Bracewell, Senior partner Kelly Frels met with all the new associates. Mr. Frels had recently been the President of the Texas Bar Association. He spoke to us about a line from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, which reads “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” The speaker, a killer named Dick the Butcher, was planning to overthrow the King of England. Mr. Frels explained that many commentators have noted that for good or ill, lawyers protect the government. Bad lawyers protect bad government and good lawyers protect good government. He went on to teach us of the importance of the judicial branch of our government and of the role of attorneys and judges to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. He explained that judges are an important check on both the executive and legislative branches and implored us as new attorneys to commit to truth and justice. He said that justice begins with attorneys, and is not only the responsibility of judges. Frankly, his words were inspiring, and also completely at odds with the behavior exhibited by Rudy Giuliani in the last several months. Incidentally, Giuliani and the firm parted ways in 2016.
It has been almost fourteen years since my early days at Bracewell, and over eight since I have run my own practice. But the lesson I learned from Kelly Frels has stuck with me. It is why I have watched with great sadness as Trump has defied the entire judicial branch in the past few weeks. Trump is not just defying random judges, but the very judges he himself appointed. No president has appointed more federal judges since Jimmy Carter. According to Wikipedia, “As of January 3, 2021, the United States Senate has confirmed 234 Article III judges nominated by Trump: three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade.”
Among those 54 appellate judges is a friend of mine from law school, Allison Jones Rushing. Allison was an exemplary student and wonderful, Christian friend. I should not have to mention she is Christian, but it is wrong that "Christian" should equate "Trump supporter" and indeed it does not and must not. If Allison's goodness and legal acumen is representative of the judges appointed by Trump, we have no reason to doubt that the Trump appointed judges are both honest and knowledgeable defenders of democracy, no matter their religion. Yet Trump has ignored not just his own appointed judges, but the entire judicial branch of government. Repeatedly, these judges have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the election.
Many argue the judges turned away these cases on procedural grounds, but that is inaccurate. As a friend of mine wrote, “It is false to say that dismissals for lack of evidence or failure to state a cognizable claim are not tried on the merits. It means that Trump’s legal counsel was unable or unwilling (perjury is a felony) to meet the bare minimum evidentiary burden [necessary to obtain] relief in the court system.” All of these legal challenges were filed seeking emergency relief, time is of the essence when challenging an election and courts move such challenges to the front of the line. All the evidence is made available right from the start, as shown by the now famous C-Span footage of Giuliani sitting next to the aspiring adult actress. That case was not thrown out on procedural grounds, the witnesses were heard. As in the vast majority of the cases brought by Trump, all the evidence was submitted, and members of the judicial branch found it unpersuasive. Frequently, they found the evidence baseless and even frivolous. These same judges take election fraud as seriously as you and I. They know that fair elections are one of America’s greatest inventions and exports. They also know there is nothing more American than a peaceful transfer of power.
So who are we to believe? Trump or the judges he appointed? Trump or the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, half of whom he nominated himself? A choice to respect our judicial branch is not a rejection of conservative principles or an endorsement of Biden. Instead, it is a choice for democracy and a commitment to live and fight another day. Just as Trump won a fair election after eight years of President Obama, I am confident that another Republican can win a fair election after Biden. The purpose of this post is to persuade others not to place all their trust in one man, but rather to trust the hundreds in our judicial branch. I encourage all of us to vote for Republicans who will not ignore the rule of law, who will not ignore his or her own judges, who will not ignore an entire branch of our government.
The day may come that the entire judicial branch of our government cannot be trusted, but today is not that day. So, no, Trump didn't say to kill all the lawyers, only to ignore them.
