1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to take immediate action to restore the independence of the Department of Justice and defend the post-Watergate reforms that have protected our justice system from political corruption for nearly five decades. After Watergate, when Attorney General John Mitchell and other senior officials went to prison for corruption, President Gerald Ford appointed Edward Levi to rebuild the Department of Justice. Levi implemented structural reforms creating guardrails between the White House and federal prosecutors, establishing that the Attorney General serves as the people's lawyer, not the president's personal lawyer. These reforms emphasized evidence over vendetta and law over loyalty, and they held across both Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. Those safeguards are now being systematically dismantled. The current administration has targeted numerous critics for investigation, including Mark Kelly, Adam Schiff, Leticia James, Don Lemon, James Comey, and John Bolton. These are critics, investigators, and former officials who have crossed the president publicly or institutionally. This represents the criminalization of dissent and transforms the DOJ from an independent institution into an instrument of personal retribution. Attorney General Pam Bondi has functioned as a conduit rather than a buffer between politics and prosecution, reducing the office Levi envisioned as a stabilizing force into an amplifier of presidential grievance. The president has even hung his own portrait inside the DOJ building, treating it as a personal fiefdom rather than an institution that must stand above partisan politics. This creates a chilling effect across our society. Journalists may fear that investigative reporting will trigger federal scrutiny. Lawmakers may question whether dissent invites indictment. Former officials may consider silence safer than truth. I urge you to publicly defend DOJ independence, support legislation that codifies the Levi reforms into law, and oppose any use of federal law enforcement as a weapon against political critics. Winning an election does not erase constitutional boundaries or convert critics into criminals. The law must stand above any one person.