The right to petition implies a corollary right to a government response on the merits. Otherwise, the right becomes as otiose as shouting at the weather.
This booklet and Ralph Nader’s introduction meticulously document the self-ruinous disdain by Congress and the executive branch for thoughtful citizen input into government policies and practices. Citizen petitions, letters, memoranda, and articles are routinely unacknowledged and universally categorized as unworthy of a substantive response. Even speaking to a live person in a congressional office as opposed to leaving a voice mail has become a herculean test of endurance and patience.
Suppose Rachel Carson today sent to Congress or the Department of Agriculture a copy of her pioneering book Silent Spring documenting the contamination of the environment by pesticides and urging congressional action. Staff who first received the book would probably not recognize Carson’s name and would, in any event, abandon it to a remote bookshelf to gather dust. Political leaders and their courtiers are too uniformed to distinguish between pyrite and gold.
Government dysfunction of this magnitude is not inescapable, like Newton’s laws of motion. One of my daily tasks during my service in the executive branch was to alert members of Congress to executive branch activities in their districts or states to avoid political surprises. Private groups were readily given in-person opportunities to voice their grievances with the attorney general or other cabinet officers. And congressional staff whom I knew reported that non-automated citizen letters received prioritized substantive responses.
Honoring the right to petition by sincere engagement with the citizenry also fortifies popular legitimacy of government. Just as giving litigants a fair day in court to air their legal grievances provides cathartic relief for the losers, so citizens with political grievances are far more likely to accept disappointment in legislative chambers or executive offices if their views and opinions have been received with respect and professionally evaluated.
Justice Louis Brandeis instructed in Whitney v. California (1927) that “the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people. . . .” If there are better ways to induce citizen inertness or resignation than by sending a message through non-responsiveness that their views do not count, they do not readily come to mind.
March 2023
* Bruce Fein was associate deputy attorney general and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission under President Reagan, Research Director for the Minority on the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran, and is author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD by Bruce Fein ………………………………………..9
INTRODUCTION by Ralph Nader ………………………………….. 11
LETTER ON LETTERS …………………………………………… 15
COVID-19
1. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House), Mitch McConnell (Senate Majority Leader),
Kevin McCarthy (House Minority Leader), Chuck Schumer (Senate Minority Leader)
RE: Immediate Joint Congressional Hearings on Corona Virus Response
and Legislation 3/18/2020 ………………………………………………… 19
2. Presidents/Directors of Progressive Citizen Advocacy Groups
RE: Trump & Pence Stepping Aside from Running Covid-19 Response into the Ground.
America Can’t Wait Until January 21, 2021 7/2/20 ………………………………. 21
3. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House), Mitch McConnell (Senate Majority Leader),
Kevin McCarthy (House Minority Leader), Chuck Schumer (Senate Minority Leader)
RE: Legislation to Replace the Trump-Pence criminal incompetence with an independent
COVID-19 Commission to arrest and defeat the pandemic 7/3/2020 …………………24
4. Elizabeth Warren (Senator, D-MA)
RE: A bill to create a COVID-19 Commission 8/19/2020 …………………………..26
IMPEACHMENT/TRUMP CRIMES
5. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
RE: Twelve-Count Article of Impeachment 11/22/2019 …………………………….29
6. Mark Esper (Secretary of Defense)
RE: Duty to Disobey Clearly Illegal Presidential Orders 12/3/2019 ……………………32
7. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
RE: New Standards for Impeachment 2/21/2020 ………………………………..34
8. William Barr (Attorney General)
RE: Evidence of President Donald Trump’s violation of the
Hatch Act, 18 U.S.C. 610 4/20/2020 …………………………………………..38
9. Emory Rounds (Director, Oce of Government Ethics)
RE: Presidential Violation of Section 2365.702, Subpart G-Misuse of
Position-e-CFR Title 5, Chapter XVI-Subchapter B-Part 2635 5/6/2020 ………………40
10. William Barr (Attorney General)
RE: Special Counsel to Investigate Violations of the Hatch Act
by President Trump 6/6/2020 ………………………………………………. 41
11. William Barr (Attorney General)
RE: Executive Branch Subpoenas 6/10/2020 ……………………………………43
12. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House), Jerrold Nadler (Chairman, House Judiciary
Committee), Jamie Raskin (Vice Chairman, House Judiciary Subcommittee on the
Constitution)
Subpoena John Bolton and Donald Trump 6/22/2020 ……………………………45
14. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House), Mitch McConell (Senate Majority Leader), Kevin
McCarthy (House Minority Leader), Chuck Schumer (Senate Minority Leader)
RE: Is there any level of misconduct that would move Congress to impeach, convict, and
remove the President from oce? 8/20/2020 …………………………………..47
15. William Barr (Attorney General)
RE: Appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hatch Act violation 9/9/2020 ……..49
16. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Majority Leader)
RE: Immediate Impeachment and Removal of President Donald Trump 12/27/2020 ……..50
17. Mike Pence (Vice President)
RE: Invocation of Amendment 25 1/7/2021 ……………………………………..52
18. Tim Kaine (Senator, D-VA)
RE: Draft Censure Resolution 2/1/2021 ………………………………………..54
19. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
RE: Second Impeachment of Donald Trump 2/13/2021 ……………………………56
20. Monty Wilkenson (Acting AG)
RE: Litigation over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request for Mueller Report 2/23/2021 …………………………………………58
21. Merrick Garland (AG-Designate)
RE: Criminal violations of the Hatch Act, 18 U.S.C. 610 3/8/2021 …………………….59
22. Tim Kaine (Senator, D-VA)
RE: Legislation to Enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment Against Former
President Donald J. Trump Through Declaratory Judgment Action 4/7/2021 ………….. 61
23. Merrick Garland (AG)
RE: Investigating criminal violations of the Hatch Act, 18 U.S.C. 610, and other
federal criminal crimes by Donald J. Trump and his close associates. 5/24/2021 ……….63
24. Merrick Garland (AG)
Re Special Counsel to Prosecute Donald Trump 6/17/2021 …………………………65
25. Merrick Garland (AG)
RE: Acknowledgment of letter dated June 17, 2021 7/18/2021 ………………………67
FOREIGN POLICY AND WAR
26. George W. Bush (President)
Open Letter to George W. Bush on Iraq: Poor Families Sacrifice,
War Corporations Profit 7/28/2005 ………………………………………….. 71
27. James Mattis (Secretary of Defense)
RE: Improving the Department of Defense 3/14/2018 ……………………………..73
28. Donald Trump (President)
RE: Venezuela 5/3/2019 ……………………………………………………77
29. Donald Trump (President)
RE: Assassination of Qassem Soleimani violated Executive Order 12333 1/7/2020 ………78
30. Donald Trump (President)
Lift the Blockade on Gaza 4/30/2020 …………………………………………80
31. Donald Trump (President)
Say No to Israeli Annexation 6/26/2020 ………………………………………83
32. Joe Biden (President)
RE: Mass Starvation in Yemen 4/2/2021 ……………………………………….85
33. Gregory Meeks (Chairman, House Foreign Aairs Committee)
RE: Accountability for Afghanistan Criminal Deceit 8/12/2021 ………………………86
34. Robert Menendez (Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee)
RE: Accountability for Afghanistan Criminal Deceit 8/12/2021 ………………………87
FAILURES OF POLITICIANS
35. All Democratic Women in the House and Senate
Open Letter to the Women in Congress 2/24/2020 ……………………………… 91
36. Jerome Powell (Chairman of the Federal Reserve)
Letter to Jerome Powell 4/7/2020 ……………………………………………95
37. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (Rep. D-NY)
A Plan of Action 7/31/2020 …………………………………………………96
38. Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
RE: Your Authority to Fund the Defunded Oce of Technology Assessment (OTA)
Constructive Leverage! 8/3/2020 ……………………………………………101
39. Senate Judiciary Committee
Letter on the Nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court 10/13/2020 ……..106
40. Rep. Maxine Waters (Chairwoman, House Financial Services Committee)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (Chairman, Senate Banking Committee)
Letter on Public Banking 4/27/2021 ………………………………………….107
41. Amy Klobuchar (Senator, D-MN) and David Cicilline (Rep., D-RI)
RE: Antitrust Reform 6/7/2021 ………………………………………………109
FAILURES OF CIVIL SOCIETY
42. John F. Manning (Dean, Harvard Law School)
Letter on Our Bicentennial Crisis 10/31/2018 ……………………………………113
43. Engineering Deans at Major Universities
Letter on Ethics, Politics, and Whistleblowing in Engineering 1/2/2019 ………………..114
44. Board of Directors (Boeing)
Letter on Boeing 737 Max 4/25/2019 …………………………………………116
45. Dennis A. Muilenburg (CEO, Boeing)
Resign in Disgrace 4/26/2019 ……………………………………………….118
46. Mark Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook)
Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Prof. Robert Fellmeth 8/25/2019 ……………..122
47. Judy Perry Martinez (President, ABA)
RE: Impeachment and Executive Power 12/3/2019 ………………………………124
48. Board of Governors (ABA)
RE: ABA Task Force on Impeachment and Arresting Limitless
Executive Power 1/8/2020 …………………………………………………126
49. Judy Perry Martinez (President, ABA)
RE: Defending the independence of the federal judiciary
from presidential assault 3/11/2020 ………………………………………….128
50. Judy Perry Martinez (President, ABA)
The ABA Must Respond to Hatch Act Violations 5/4/2020 ……………………….. 130
51. Editors in Chief of Major Law Reviews
RE: Government by Waiver 6/3/2020 …………………………………………131
52. Patricia Lee Rufo (President, ABA)
RE: The ABA’s Response to President Trump’s seditious conspiracy
and incitements to crime 1/8/2021 …………………………………………..132
53. Editors in Chief of Major Law Reviews
RE: Government by Waiver 3/19/2021 ………………………………………..133
54. David Rubenstein (Co-Founder and Managing Director, Carlyle Group)
Letter on Funding Civic Advocacy 3/31/2021 …………………………………..135
55. John O’Brien (Editor and Publisher, American Bar Association Journal)
RE: Censorship 5/24/2021 ………………………………………………… 137
56. Katie Benner (New York Times Reporter covering DOJ)
RE: July 10, 2021, article, “Garland Settles In but Trump Era Still Shadows the Justice
Department.” 7/13/2021 …………………………………………………..139
57. John F. Manning (Dean, Harvard Law School)
The Moral Failures of Harvard Law School 7/29/2021 …………………………….141
58. Alice Richmond (Chair, ABA Journal Board of Editors)
Letter on the Responsibilities of Lawyers to the Constitution 8/20/2021 ……………..143
59. Tim Cook (CEO, Apple)
Letter on the Environmental Impact of Apple Products 12/17/2021 ………………….146
60. John F. Manning (Dean, Harvard Law School)
RE: Instruction in congressional constitutional authorities and history 3/7/2022 ………. 147
61. A.G. Sulzberger (Publisher, New York Times)
Accumulated Observations about the Times 10/20/2022 ………………………….151
LEAGUE OF FANS
62. Randy Levine and Brian Cashman (Yankees President and General Manager)
Open Letter to Yankees Brass, Nader Decries In-Game Ads on
Radio Broadcasts 6/8/2012 ……………………………………………….. 157
63. Adam Silver (Commissioner, National Basketball Association)
Ralph Nader & League of Fans letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver
opposing plan to put ads on uniforms 5/13/2016 ……………………………….159
64. Dr. Christopher Ahmad (Head Team Physician, Yankees)
RE: Epidemic of Baseball Injuries 8/15/2016 ……………………………………162
65. Robert D. Manfred (Commissioner, Major League Baseball)
Open letter to MLB commissioner regarding the Astros scandal 3/19/2020 …………..166
OH FOR THE GOOD OLD DAYS
66. Henry Ford II (Chairman of the Board, Ford Motor Company)
Response Letter to Ralph Nader …………………………………………….171
THE MAGISTERIAL NEW YORK TIMES TAKES NOTICE
67. Peter Baker (New York Times)
Article on Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama re: Letters ………………. 175
CONCLUSION ………………………………………………..179