Legal professionals attending Wyoming conference look to citizens to stand up for safety and independence of judges.
By Rebecca Huntington, WyoFile
Economic and community stability depend on an independent judiciary that fairly applies laws, key legal figures said Friday in Jackson Hole as they called on citizens to defend the rule of law.
“The rule of law is in jeopardy,” said Robert Henry, a former chief judge for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. During a four-day conference at Jackson Lake Lodge, Henry joined a chorus of judges and lawyers describing the peril of undermining the legal system that underpins a functioning society.
When people take out mortgages or save money for college, for example, they’re banking on those long-term decisions being legally enforceable, said Richard Deane, Jr., president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which organized the regional meeting.
The comments come at a time when the judiciary has increasingly come under fire by President Donald Trump and his allies, who have blamed judges for thwarting his policies. In Wyoming, some Republican lawmakers have hurled similar complaints.
In response to those attacks on the courts, the lawyers and judges on Friday’s panel emphasized that defending the rule of law, an independent judiciary and access to justice is a nonpartisan issue.
“So what is the rule of law?” Henry asked.
A former Oklahoma legislator and attorney general, he summed up how scholars answer that question. The law must be spelled out so people know it in advance. The law also must be public, clear, stable and certain, though it can change over time.
“It must be applied equally,” he said. “The government also must follow the law.” And it requires an impartial, independent magistrate, he said.
“This is a fight,” Henry said, noting that he’s joined efforts to defend attorneys, under attack, via amicus briefs. That follows a career of asking attorneys to defend judges.
“Judges have famously neither sword nor purse, but only judgment,” Henry said. “Hamilton said that. He’s a figure on Broadway,” he joked, lightening the mood in the room.
But threats to judges are deadly serious, fellow panelist and former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan said, holding up a photo of a “wanted” poster of judges displayed outside the office of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican.
“The Federal Bar Association wrote a letter to his office protesting this and expressing the concern that everyone in this country should have about the safety and independence of judges and what this kind of conduct does to the rule of law,” Sullivan, a lawyer himself, warned.
As Sullivan sees it, the administration and Congress are ignoring the rule of law, and the U.S. Supreme Court is looking the other way.
“It is the citizens that are going to have to do something if it’s going to be corrected,” Sullivan said. “If we can’t avoid the cliff we’re walking toward.”
Retired Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Golden said he and others in Wyoming’s legal profession are publicly defending the rule of law. Golden and Sullivan were among more than 100 members of Wyoming’s legal community who called on the state’s congressional delegation to condemn attacks on the judiciary.
“Obviously, that’s the best thing that we can do is speak out at every opportunity in our local communities,” Golden said.
But he expressed frustration with Wyoming’s congressional delegation for describing Wyoming jurists as “biased and liberal.”
“How in the world can that be?” he asked, questioning how following the U.S. Constitution could be deemed liberal and biased.
“And how do you respond to that?” Golden asked. “How do you get through to them?”
Sen. John Barrasso isn’t a lawyer, he noted, but Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sen. Cynthia Lummis are both attorneys, required by their profession to take an oath to defend and uphold the state and U.S. constitutions, Golden said. Golden himself has taken that oath as a lawyer, military officer and judge.
“I think in my own life, I take that oath every damn day,” Golden said. “It’s hard for me not to get angry, and I’m sure it is for all of you.”
But he added the anger has to be tempered and directed to the right audience — not congressional representatives, who respond only with form letters.
“All we can do is speak truth to power and do it responsibly,” Golden said. “I’ll continue to do that as long as I’m able.”
“We need to defend all of those who wear the robe.”
Retired Judge William Downes
Former U.S. District Chief Court Judge William Downes of Wyoming echoed Golden’s call to speak out to civic groups and churches and to stand up for judges.
“It is truly a coward who attacks a judge,” Downes said. “Because a judge has to stay in his or her chambers and be silent.” Cases come to the judges; they don’t seek them out, he noted.
Downes also pointed to Judge Esther Salas, who pursued legislation to enhance security for judges nationwide after a gunman killed her only child and wounded her husband in a 2020 attack aimed at her.
“That woman needs to be honored, and we need to defend her,” Downes said. “We need to defend all of those who wear the robe.”
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
