Stand Up or Step Aside—Democracy Is on the Line

I write to you today not just as a citizen—but as a witness to a historic and deeply alarming moment in our Republic. Senator Adam Schiff’s opening statement at this week’s bicameral oversight hearing captured everything we’ve been fearing—and everything too many of you have been ignoring. Let me remind you of the moment he “called this hearing to order”: An immigration attorney at the DOJ told a federal court that he would implore his department to return a man who was wrongfully deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador—against a judge’s order. Instead of correcting this illegal act, the Department punished its own attorney for telling the truth. That’s not law. That’s a cover-up. This isn’t theoretical. This is happening now. The Trump administration is actively subverting the rule of law, led by a DOJ run by his personal defense lawyers. Armed Marshals were prepared to intimidate a witness—Liz Oyer—for daring to speak the truth. That’s not democracy. That’s authoritarianism. Senator Schiff warned us: The rule of law is being attacked from within—by an administration intoxicated by its own power, and enabled by a supine Congress. That’s YOU. If you sit on your hands now, if you stay silent as Trump dismantles every legal pillar of democracy—independent courts, impartial justice, the idea that no one is above the law—then you are complicit. And if you think history will forget your silence, think again. Germany’s “dual state.” Orbán’s Hungary. McCarthy’s America. These are not distant echoes—they are blueprints being followed step by step, right here, right now. Senator Schiff, Ranking Members Raskin and Durbin, and the brave witnesses who spoke out are doing the job the rest of you refuse to. They are standing up when it counts. You should be too. Because law firms, universities, public servants—and yes, Congress—each have a role to play. As Schiff said: A democracy that fails to hold power to account ceases to be a democracy at all. So I ask you plainly: Are you going to lead, or are you going to grovel? Are you going to stand with the Constitution—or let it burn at the altar of political fear? If you can’t act now, when will you? Stand up. Or step aside. The survival of American democracy is on the line—and history is watching.