On a Saturday night in October 1973, President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson resigned his office rather than comply.
Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus resigned his office rather than comply.
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The Princeton University Class of 1979 was assembled as a group only twice — once during freshman week in 1975 and once four years later at graduation. The freshman week assembly touched on several topics of common interest to the class; I remember only one. Princeton students operate under an honor code during examinations. The professor hands out exams and then leaves the room. Students take the exam, without proctors present, and sign a statement at the end: “I pledge my honor that, during this examination, I have neither given nor received assistance.”
At the freshman week assembly, the short talk on the honor code was given by former Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, Princeton Class of 1957. Scholars say that there are three ways to persuade listeners: Logos, or logical appeal; pathos, or emotional appeal; and ethos, or personal appeal (Ralph Waldo Emerson explained the final category: “What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say”).
In 1975, Ruckelshaus, who had resigned his office as a matter of principle just two years earlier, walked onstage to talk about the honor code. Got it. I don’t remember what he said. And I sure didn’t cheat on my exams during the next four years. What he was spoke so loudly I didn’t care what he said.
I’m pretty confident that if you asked me to recite the names of all former deputy attorneys general of the United States whose names I remember, my recitation would stop at one: Ruckelshaus.
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That’s the emotional impact of a principled resignation.
Think about the principled resignations that we’ve seen over the past few weeks: Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned rather than dismiss the corruption charges pending against Mayor Eric Adams. Hagan Scotten, a line prosecutor in the S.D.N.Y., did the same: “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
Five high-ranking officials in the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Unit also resigned rather than dismiss the case against Adams. Denise Cheung, head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia, resigned rather than open an investigation into a Biden-era contract without sufficient evidence.
Those people are all sacrificing their jobs over a matter of principle. That’s a lot of guts — and a lot of principles.
Which got me to thinking: Why haven’t we seen anyone in Congress willing even to cast a hard vote, let alone resign, as a matter of principle?
This is not a liberal versus conservative thing. Sassoon is a long-time member of the conservative Federalist Society, and she clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. She’s no left-leaning commie. Scotten said in his resignation email that he agreed with many of the Trump administration’s policies, and he had clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts. These are not liberals; they’re principled conservatives.
Why don’t we see the same thing in Congress?
Sen. Joni Ernst, a veteran who was a survivor of sexual assault, originally opposed Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be secretary of defense because, among other reasons, Hegseth had opposed having women serve in combat roles and had been accused of sexual assault. But in the end, Ernst caved to pressure from the MAGA gang because she feared losing her next election. Principles be damned.
Sen. Thom Tillis was also “a hard no” on Hegseth because of the allegations of misconduct and Hegseth’s lack of qualifications for the job. But then the MAGA gang threatened to launch a primary campaign against Tillis and vote against him in any election. Tillis could either cast a principled vote or save his job. No principled casting of a vote — let alone resignation — here. Rather, another profile in cowardice.
Last year, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson pulled off a pretty remarkable feat, causing the House of Representatives to vote in favor of a Ukrainian aid package. This year, Trump opposes giving aid to Ukraine. Don’t expect Johnson to give any towering display of principle here. Just suck it up and do what’s wrong; you have to save your job.
Former senator and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio used to be a huge supporter of NATO, co-sponsoring in 2019 a bill to prevent the U.S. from withdrawing from NATO without Congressional approval. Rubio supported Ukraine in its fight against Russia. But now, Rubio is meekly turning about-face on his previous positions rather than say a word about what he presumably still believes — let alone resigning as a matter of principle.
Why do we see such a difference in action between the noble prosecutors and the ignoble legislators?
Is this because Donald Trump has conquered the Republican Party and now causes all remaining party members to kowtow to his will? Perhaps people who were willing to resist Trump — Jeff Flake, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, and the like — are all gone, and all that’s left are bootlicking sycophants.
Or maybe there’s a difference between those who run for office and those who don’t? Perhaps, if you never run for office, you’re never forced to sacrifice your principles to achieve your career goals. You thus retain some inner core of what matters to you as a person. On the other hand, if you run for office, you’re forced to abandon your true beliefs so often that, after a few years, there’s nothing left of you: You freely change positions and cast unprincipled votes because that’s necessary to retain your job, which is, after all, what matters most to you.
Or is it something else?
Cowardice is running rampant through the MAGA ranks. I wonder what caused the epidemic. Where’s RFK Jr. when we could use a vaccine?
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].