1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

Dear Senator, Early this morning, in a 50-49 vote held before dawn, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal criminal defense lawyer, as Attorney General of the United States. He thanked you for “staying late.” That is the problem. When a vote to hand one man control of a 100,000-person Justice Department has to be run in the dark, it is usually because it could not survive daylight. This is a pattern, not an accident. The unpopular things get moved at 2 a.m., when the cameras are off and constituents are asleep, the way people sneak around when they know a deal would not hold up in the open. You are a public servant. You are in session fewer days a year than a teacher works, and you are paid more than double the average teacher’s salary. The least you owe us in return is to do the people’s business in the light. And this was not a routine confirmation. Two members of your own majority, Senators Collins and Murkowski, voted no, citing the Epstein files and a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund built to reward the administration’s targets. A Justice Department run by the president’s own attorney is not the people’s law firm. It is his. I am asking you to: • End overnight votes. No final passage and no confirmation votes between roughly 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. • Require advance public notice, at least 24 hours, before any final vote on a nomination or a bill. • Publish your vote and a written reason on the record, every time. • Support oversight that keeps the Justice Department independent of the president who appointed its leader. Do it in daylight, or explain to us why you cannot. Sincerely, A Voting Constituent