Call to Action: Speak Out Against Federal and Executive Overreach

Regularly and repeatedly, and especially in the last few weeks, President Trump has threatened or exercised executive overreach to the detriment of the American people’s national representation, Constitutional protections, and First Amendment freedoms. Conservative legislators, often critical of executive and federal overreach, have been largely silent. Yet as Tea Party conservative and Republican Senator Mike Lee has said, “Executive overreach — and abdication of Congress’s constitutional powers — is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue; neither a liberal nor a conservative one. It’s an American one.”

We agree that overreach is an American issue, and we expect our members of Congress to understand this as well.

To do: 

Contact your members of Congress to let them know you are concerned about the egregious and expanding occurrences of federal and executive overreach. In less than five minutes, you can submit a letter to all of your elected representatives at once via our website. You have the option to either write your own letter or answer some short prompts to have a personalized letter created for you. Go HERE to submit a letter.

Background: 

In early June, after President Trump declared himself “your president of law and order” and demanded governors deploy National Guard units to “dominate the streets,” federal troops scattered peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square before a Trump photo-op at St. John’s Church. This month, in Portland, federal forces have arrested and removed protesters who are upset with police brutality. The president has suggested unconstitutional policies — in defiance of Supreme Court rulings — regarding the Census count and other procedures. Each of these constitutes an egregious example of executive or federal overreach.

Despite the fact that the U.S. Constitution was written with clear intent to check executive overreach, objection to the president’s behavior has fallen along stark partisan lines. Yet conservatives have a history of opposing federal and executive overreach. As David Graham of The Atlantic noted, “For decades, conservative activists and leaders have warned that ‘jackbooted thugs’ from the federal government were going to come to take away Americans’ civil rights with no due process and no recourse. Now they’re here — but they’re deployed by a staunchly right-wing president with strong conservative support.” 

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is one conservative who has frequently spoken out against such overreach — and at least once in opposition to the nominal head of his party. When President Trump attempted an emergency declaration to siphon funding to his border wall, Senator Lee repeated themes he had championed during the Obama administration, declaring, “Executive overreach — and abdication of Congress’s constitutional powers — is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue; neither a liberal nor a conservative one. It’s an American one.”

The leaders of Mormon Women for Ethical Government agree: Executive overreach is an American issue. We must remind our conservative members of Congress of their traditional opposition to federal overreach, and we must remind their liberal colleagues of the importance of our Constitutional protections and First Amendment freedoms. 

You can learn more about these issues in an op-ed written by Lisa Rampton Halverson, MWEG’s senior director of education, and Heather Sundahl, an MWEG op-ed writing lab advisor. Then write your members of Congress to express your views on the importance of a balanced government and of checks on federal and executive overreach.