Equivalent authority

A colleague recently warned me to avoid our state capitol campus this weekend. (Being that we’re many months from cherry-blossom season, this was no hardship.) The reason wasn’t hard to guess.

State houses attract protesters like blossoms attract bees. The decision by the Supreme Court to decline the frivolous lawsuit brought by Texas made many pro-Trump voters unhappy enough to want to go tell someone — anyone — in authority how bad they felt. What they thought our governor or legislature ought to do about it, I can’t imagine.

I rearranged my errands and passed the word on to some friends and neighbors who might also need to drive in that direction. One replied by reflecting on Black Lives Matter protests this past summer, pondering what it would take to “rein in extremists on both sides.” My suggestion we ask 18 state Attorneys General and 126 U. S. Representatives for help was not well received.

Which is a bit of a shame, because I would have liked to explain two things:

1. Why I thought it was reasonable to ask those particular elected officials to help solve aggressive protests from aggrieved Republican voters.

2. Why the note of “bothsiderism” – much catchier than “false equivalence” – really bothered me.

Permissions, blessings, seals of approval

First, the elected officials.

There’s been plenty of research and reporting (and even more opinion) on what elements combine to give people the authority coax or convince others to do as they ask. The question of who has authority to quell violence prompted my snappy reply.

For example, parents of slain children often use their moral authority to ask supporters to protest peacefully in their child’s memory. A mayor can use legal authority to close streets to allow a peaceful march between church and cemetery.

Government officials use the authority invested in their oaths and positions to compel or persuade residents to take certain actions. As another example, look at the way Washington sought to curb the spread of coronavirus. The Democratic governor used actual authority (temporarily imposing limits on building occupancy) as well as moral authority (asking residents not to gather for Thanksgiving) to contain Covid-19. For the most part, such twin approaches to authority worked well.

In other states, things did not go so well. (Leave aside for the moment poor decisions made from ignorance or failures of leadership.) Remember the violence that erupted against some Democratic governors when elected Republican officials used the voice of authority to encourage followers to protest – “armed” if necessary – against rules such as mask-wearing? I certainly do. The resulting uproar undermined public health efforts, and in turn produced faster, higher, rates of infection in those places. I don’t recall hearing that many of those elected Republicans used either legislative or moral authority to fix what they had broken until increased deaths were undeniable.

Furthermore, I believe it is just as dangerous for elected officials to use their legally vested authority to commit an act that undermines voters’ trust in democracy.

“I am the very model of a modern attorney general”

Attorneys general often sign on — either literally or by filing a “friend of the court” brief — to support one another’s fights with the federal government. It’s a little more unusual to have them pile on to support a suit which many legal scholars have described (I paraphrase here) as “baloney” or perhaps tantamount to sedition. Yet 17 state AGs did just that, joining Texas’ petition to the Supreme Court to disenfranchise all voters who cast presidential ballots in four states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Over in the House, 126 Representatives thought this was a swell idea. That is more than 60 percent of all Republican House members. They filed an amicus brief of their own, decrying the accuracy of election results that (wait for it) included their own successful bids for reelection.

By adding their official signatures as Representatives, these people endorsed the Texas AG’s claim that serious electoral malfeasance tainted all ballots cast by voters in those states. To me, that is wielding actual authority. And also surrendering one’s claim to moral authority, since the suit had nothing to stand on.

This message approved by your legislator

Polls show that most Republicans do not believe the election was legitimate, and the participation of members of Congress in the lawsuit reflected their refusal to stand up to Mr. Trump or challenge their constituents’ beliefs, fueled by the president’s claims and amplified in conservative media.

(emphasis added)

And what does the reckless use of authority get us? For one thing, it gets you armed Trumpists marching on state capitols.

So back to my friend and the bothsiderism that bothered me so. Yes, those people who harmed others and their property during some of this past summer’s protests of racial injustice earned the title “extremist.” Yes, those waving their guns threateningly while protesting facemasks or yelling that properly certified election results must be invalidated are “extremist.”

What is not equivalent are the purposes and processes behind these two categories of protests.

The protests for racial justice did not arise from bellicose tweets posted by mayors or governors or Representatives. Elected officials used their moral authority to endorse calls for justice and acknowledge the presence or purpose of peaceful protests. However, none used their positions to call for ever-more marches.

On the contrary, the latter have been given cover, enthusiastically or tacitly, by elected Republican officials. All these protests, armed or simply noisy, are backed by the actual and moral authority signaled by Republican party leadership, from the president on down.

A final note about false equivalence

The protests against racial injustice were based in millions of people’s lived reality. The discrimination they face daily is not a fiction. The remedy sought was an awakening of their neighbors’ consciences and an overhaul of criminal justice systems.

The protests against the election results are not based in any reality you care to name. Although the president’s “lawyers” brought case after case, they were careful not to allege fraud or serious malfeasance before the bench because they could not demonstrate it existed. The angry Trump-voters are basing their attacks on air. No remedy exists for what ails them, except perhaps four years of calm, sane presidential leadership.

Oh, and these 144 elected officials using their actual and moral authority to reassure their constituents that Joe Biden has really, truly won the election.

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The lists of those endorsing invalidation of the voters’ will

Courtesy The San Jose Mercury-News.

I forgot to mention. A lawyer practicing in Pahrump, Nevada, sent in an amicus brief claiming he represented “New California” and “New Nevada.” I believe these states of mind exist only in Trumplandia.

The 18 state Attorneys General: Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

The 126 House Republicans (note those names in bold agreed with the Texas suit to toss the results of their own reelections):

Alabama: Robert B. Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Bradley Byrne, Gary Palmer, Mike D. Rogers

Arizona: Andy Biggs, Debbie Lesko

Arkansas: Rick Crawford

California: Ken Calvert, Doug LaMalfa, Kevin McCarthy, Tom McClintock

Colorado: Ken Buck, Doug Lamborn

Florida: Gus Bilirakis, Mario Diaz-Balart, Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Ross Spano, Greg Steube, Michael Waltz, Daniel Webster, Ted Yoho

Georgia: Rick Allen, Buddy Carter, Doug Collins, A. Drew Ferguson, Jody Hice, Barry Loudermilk, Austin Scott

Idaho: Russ Fulcher, Mike Simpson

Illinois: Mike Bost, Darin M. LaHood

Indiana: James Baird, Jim Banks, Trey Hollingsworth, Greg Pence, Jackie Walorski

Iowa: Steve King

Kansas: Ron Estes, Roger Marshall

Louisiana: Ralph Abraham, Clay Higgins, Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise

Maryland: Andy Harris

Michigan: Jack Bergman, Bill Huizenga, John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg

Minnesota: Tom Emmer, Jim Hagedorn, Pete Stauber

Mississippi: Michael Guest, Trent Kelly, Steven Palazzo

Missouri: Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, Billy Long, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Jason Smith, Ann Wagner

Montana: Greg Gianforte

Nebraska: Jeff Fortenberry, Adrian Smith

New Jersey: Jefferson Van Drew

New York: Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin

North Carolina: Dan Bishop, Ted Budd, Virginia Foxx, Richard Hudson, Greg Murphy, David Rouzer, Mark Walker

Ohio: Bob Gibbs, Bill Johnson, Jim Jordan, Robert E. Latta, Brad Wenstrup

Oklahoma: Kevin Hern, Markwayne Mullin

Pennsylvania: John Joyce, Fred Keller, Mike Kelly, Daniel Meuser, Scott Perry, Guy Reschenthaler, Glenn Thompson

South Carolina: Jeffrey Duncan, Ralph Norman, Tom Rice, William Timmons, Joe Wilson

Tennessee: Tim Burchett, Scott DesJarlais, Chuck Fleischmann, Mike Green, David Kustoff, John Rose

Texas: Jodey Arrington, Brian Babin, Kevin Brady, Michael C. Burgess, Michael Cloud, K. Michael Conaway, Dan Crenshaw, Bill Flores, Louie Gohmert, Lance Gooden, Kenny Marchant, Randy Weber, Roger Williams, Ron Wright

Virginia: Ben Cline, Morgan Griffith, Robert J. Wittman

Washington: Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Dan Newhouse

West Virginia: Carol Miller, Alex Mooney

Wisconsin: Tom Tiffany

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