Sally Yates, former Acting Attorney General of the United States, was relieved of her duties on Monday when she directed the Department of Justice not to defend Donald Trump’s not-a-ban immigration ban in court. In a letter, Yates’ said that she was “convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.” In other words, Trump is definitely not following the rules and Yates decided that she would rather be out of a job than in alignment with this Executive Order and she indeed lost her post because of it.
In fairness, Yates was only the holdover from Obama’s administration until Trump’s choice for the post (the incredibly unpalatable for a variety of reasons Jeff Sessions) had the opportunity to be confirmed on Tuesday. So she wasn’t going to have this job for much longer regardless of the decision she made about the ban, but that shouldn’t take away from the courage and bravery of her choice. Twitter was overjoyed with her decision to put loyalty to the Constitution above loyalty for whoever occupies the White House, and now Representative Jackie Speier (CA) has officially nominated her for the JFK Profile In Courage Award, which anybody can do on their own here.
Just told w/ Sally Yates I've nominated her 4 President Kennedy’s Profile in Courage Award 4 standing 4 the public good #ThankYouSallyYates
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) January 31, 2017
Nominations close in February and the award will be announced sometime later this year — that is if the Earth still exists later this year. The award is meant to honor or recognize
“a public official (or officials) at the federal, state or local level whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in the spirit of Profiles in Courage, President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer prize-winning book”
At this point in America’s political life, Sally Yates sounds like a more than worthy candidate for the prestigious honor.
(via The Huffington Post)