More than half of the men and women who worked as clerks for the late appellate judge Frank M. Coffin, a Lewiston native, have signed a letter addressed to members of Congress on the importance of judicial independence and the rule of law.
Coffin died in December 2009 at the age of 90 in Portland. He was appointed to the bench in 1965 by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Before retiring in 2006, Coffin wrote about 2,600 opinions. He also wrote several books about being an effective judge.
The letter was signed by 46 of Coffin’s nearly 65 or so former clerks, five of whom practice in Maine. The one-page letter, dated Feb. 14, was sent Friday to every member of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. It called on Congress to “honor [federal judges’] service as we do, to support them, and to protect their independence and the rule of law that protects us all.”
“The letter is very strictly non-partisan,” Rod Howard of San Francisco, who clerked for Coffin from 1982 to 1983, said Friday in a telephone interview. “It does not refer to any particular thing that has happened or has been said.”
President Donald Trump and White House officials this month have attacked a federal court ruling that blocked Trump’s executive order on immigration as a “judicial usurpation of power.” Sustained criticism of the judiciary from the White House has come amid concern among Democrats and legal scholars over Trump’s view of the constitutional principle of judicial independence as the administration seeks to overcome legal setbacks to its travel ban issued on Jan. 27, according to Reuters.
On Feb. 12, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller sharply criticized the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Feb. 9 that upheld a Seattle federal judge’s suspension of Trump’s executive order. On the Sunday talk shows, Miller accused the San Francisco-based court of having a history of overreaching and of being overturned.
“This is a judicial usurpation of power,” Miller said. “The president’s powers here are beyond question.”
A majority of Coffin’s law clerks disagreed in the letter.
“In ‘ordinary’ cases and in extraordinary cases, our courts protect us all and safeguard rights and liberties for all of us, regardless of our politics,” the letter said. “There are no ‘Republican rights’ or ‘Democratic rights.’ There are only American rights. … When our federal courts protect these rights, and when they give a hearing to the men, women and children we have invited and welcomed to our shores, they protect the rule of law for all of us for all Americans.
“That is precious. Some say it is fragile,” the letter continued. “We like to think that our liberties and institutions are stronger than that. But one thing is certain: the rule of law and judicial independence are not the norm in history or around the world, and cannot be taken for granted.”
Coffin’s clerks have stayed in touch with each other over the years, Howard said. They get together every couple of years in Maine for a reunion.
“News gets around as to what various people are doing,” he said.
The news that went around in late January was that fellow clerk Lee Gelernt, who is an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, was the lead attorney in many of the cases around the country challenging Trump’s travel bans. He was not able to sign the letter because of his involvement in that litigation, Howard said. Neither were former clerks who are now judges or who work as federal prosecutors or in federal agencies.
“But it’s a larger issue than just [the recent criticism],” he said. “There has been at various times in American history attacks on the independence of the courts and the rule of law. It’s not just about today. It’s important for all time, despite whatever may have been the most recent thing.”
Howard said he helped draft the letter, but the final version “was a group effort.”
Kaighn Smith Jr. of Portland, who clerked for Coffin in 1987 and 1988, said in an email Friday that he is “baffled by President Trump’s outspoken disrespect for the judiciary and, therefore, the rule of law.
“Our democracy will not work without mutual respect across our three, co-equal branches,” he said. “I joined in the open letter of my fellow Coffin clerks because it is critical for Congress to stand vigilant in the face of an executive that is putting this essential mutual respect at risk.
“Judge Coffin instilled in his clerks a deep commitment to fairness, a search for the truth, and the rule of law,” Smith said. “It behooves us to speak out when those in power appear willing to discard these essential values.”
To determine whether Judge Coffin would have approved of the letter, the group turned to his immediate family, who still live in Maine.
“The reaction we got from the family was the judge would be very proud, very happy we had done this and also happy his former law clerks were coming together in this way,” Howard said.
U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King issued a joint statement late Friday in reaction to the letter.
“An independent and co-equal judicial branch is a fundamental pillar of our American democracy,” it said. “We appreciate the sentiments expressed in this letter and work every day, to the best of our abilities, to honor, uphold, and protect the rule of law. An independent judiciary is an essential and unique mainstay of American liberty and has set our country apart since its founding.”
U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin said in statement: “The separation of powers among the three distinct branches of our government is one of the cornerstones of our republic. These checks and balances and the independence of each branch — as delineated in our Constitution — should always be protected.”
Efforts to reach U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree late Friday were unsuccessful.