Writing Letters to Create Administrative Friction: To Justice Alito

I guess I'll write letters every week, or maybe every day, to people doing terrible things. I know it won't change their minds because they are unreasonable, unpersuadable, and governed only by opportunism and greed—but I would like to increase friction for people who are doing awful things. Someone has to open their mail. I don't think they can just throw it away (what if it's a cash bribe!). I hope at least their office workers will have the chance to reconsider what they're doing with their lives.

My first one is to Justice Alito. I have zero respect for him. Write your own! Or send several copies of mine! Address below.

April 14, 2025

Supreme Court
1 First Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20543

Justice Alito,

Your partisan behavior and loyalty to Donald Trump is disappointing and despicable. I have been profoundly saddened by the lack of integrity in institutions such as the Supreme Court. I always had a great deal of respect for the law, for lawyers, and–especially–for people who become judges. I am a Management Communications professor at a university. I often encourage my best and brightest students to go to law school. I think it’s a virtuous and important job to serve as a lawyer. And I was once a true believer in the non-partisanship of the Supreme Court. Not anymore–because of people like you. 

It’s shameful that you and your colleagues are weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a volunteer at the Utah State Prison, I helped teach a class on constitutional law and conducted a book club with inmates interested in improving themselves through education. We read and studied the graphic novels of John Lewis. His story resonates powerfully with students. You and your cronies are making a joke out of his legacy through your craven loyalty to Trump. I expected this from Brett Kavanaugh. But I expected better from you because of your background and seniority on the court. I was naive to believe in you. The Civil Rights movement is a rare gem in American history where some progress was made by valiant leaders and you can’t even uphold it. Frankly, it’s disgusting.

I also teach at an adult literacy non-profit. (No longer funded with any federal or state money, of course!) Here too I encounter students hopeful to improve and contribute to society through education. Some have a goal to get a driver's license. Others have a goal to become citizens. We regularly read adapted news stories about current events and policies in the US. I have had to adapt these lesson plans. One of my students from Ukraine is reduced to tears when reading the current administration’s stance towards her country. And it’s difficult for me to explain and help my immigrant students sometimes sound out phonetically the newest policies and current stories about ICE. It is heartbreaking. I want to tell them that I didn’t vote for any of these things. But it doesn’t matter because a slim majority of Americans did, and people like you who have the power to check and balance this ghastly turn of events are doing nothing. I’m teaching these wonderful, hopeful people about the branches of power so they can pass a test to become citizens and you can’t even hold the line on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

I feel ashamed when I explain to my students how the government should work compared to the kinds of things you’re doing now.  In my little realm I am doing everything I can to educate, register voters, and help people make informed choices. I just filled out my taxes and I have made only $9147.29 this year for serving in this way. My paltry salary pays yours and you are absolutely useless. 

The Villainy You Teach Me Will Go Hard

Many of you know my friend Lisa. I love everything about her. One of the things I admire most about her is the way she continues to be a joyful person even after the untimely death of her husband, Chris. In spite of going through a very unfair and painful tragedy, Lisa is still a soft, hopeful, not bitter (for the most part) woman. She has fought for this because she didn't want grief to change the essence of her being. It hasn't—and it's remarkable.

She's a lot better than me. 

I don't love the ways I've changed since the second election of Trump. I'm meaner. I'm madder. I am hopeless. A few years ago I was volunteering at the Utah State federal prison and I met a man who had been a Black Panther in the 70s. I wish I had asked him more about how they worked. I have a thousand times more respect for lawlessness now.  I woke up the day after the 2024 election sympathizing more strongly with Malcolm X than Martin Luther King, like I used to.  Who was more effective? Hard to say since they both got shot.

I was so inspired when Michelle Obama said, "When they go low we go high." I think she's right and that's how I want to be, ideally. But it doesn't work and so we have to fight dirty. Similarly, I know that forgiveness is a good principle with psychological and spiritual benefits both for the forgiver and for the forgivee. However, in spite of what I know is the right thing to do, I will never forgive this country or any of the people who made Trump our president again. 

I am becoming ungovernable and I plan to fight dirty. I choose to break unjust laws and be ungovernable even though I respect and value civics and order. In principle I think it is good to take the high road and not stoop to the level of the opposition. Here we are. 

I was kind of lamenting that my heart is turning dark until my friend Carina told me, "You're not a bad person. You are a just person." She's exactly right. She also said that she's committed to anarchic and disruptive behavior. "They don't want to play by rules," she said,  "Ok. Then neither will I." 

We have to. Because nobody older, richer, or smarter than us has any better ideas about taking care of business. 

I remember waiting for someone to fix the Trump problem and restore order during his first presidency. Jim Comey was so worried about "putting his finger on the scale" that his fat finger cost us our first female president. Mueller spent ages on his "report" that accomplished absolutely nothing. I earnestly asked our beloved Mayor Curtis to please run for Jason Chaffetz's seat in the House of Representatives. But then he didn't even vote to impeach Trump when he had the chance. Mitt Romney seems to be the only one personally rich enough and whose wife had the scruples to say, "hmmmm. . . " until Mitt decided to vote "yes" on impeachment. But then he couldn't bring himself to endorse Kamala Harris in 2024. It is slim pickings out here for heroes or gentlemen among the party who claims to want to "protect women." Seriously, yuck. get away from me. I'll be laying on the horn when you try to get over in front of me from now on. And more.  

There's a well-known speech in The Merchant of Venice about how the quality of mercy is not strained; "it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven." How beautiful. Ideally it would describe our leaders. Sadly, it doesn't. 

Shylock, more relatable, replies, "The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction." That's what he says to explain that the harsh unfairness he has received is exactly the kind of thing he plans to dish out. I love to see it. 

There is Only One Plot: These People are Horrible

I saw an early showing of the documentary Banned Together at the Provo Library. I hope you'll be able to catch a screening of it.  The movie is definitely worth seeing, even though I found parts of it discouraging. Like, people are banning books in 2025? 

They sure are. You won't believe how bad things are in terms of right-wing infiltration of school boards. Moms for Liberty, in particular, is horrible. They're totally funded by pacs supporting DeSantis and the like. I think it's so gross. Normal people should run for school board and get involved with book selection committees and library boards. If you are a normal person and are inclined to do anything like that at all, you should.  This podcast is one of my favorites and tells stories about the kinds of things that are getting done (appalling things) on school boards at local levels: firings, book banning, school closings, curriculum overhauls, etc. Gag. I can't believe it. 

At any rate, something poignant stood out to me from the documentary. The progressive people who don't want books, generally, to be banned are prepared and competent. They follow the rules at the public meetings. They plan what they're going to say and are articulate with good reasons to support their claims. 

The people on the other side of the argument are none of these things. They break the rules for civil engagement at the public forums, they rant, they go over time, they make only unfounded emotional appeals, they haven't "done their homework," they haven't read the books they want banned, generally. 

We are responsible for what we are persuaded by and it's a moral failing to be persuaded by these people. It's a moral failing to be persuaded by Trump's grievance rhetoric. It's actually quite dumb to believe this stuff and to give weight to these unfounded claims.  

oooooh it just makes me so mad! 

It's simply not true that "both sides" have good points and blah blah. They don't. One side is against competence, expertise, and clear thinking. 

I have an old red Moleskine notebook where I have jotted down blogging ideas for the past 20 years. In it I wrote, "There is only one plot: Things are not what they seem." It's by Jim Thompson, a writer I don't know. I can't remember what I was going to write about it. Who knows! Those were carefree times. 

Since Trump became president I've become humorless and single minded. Do you like it? I don't. I'm a drag.

But it's not my fault. Since Trump was elected there is only one plot: These people are horrible. 

Using Christianity to Defend Nativism is BS

JD Vance said that it's a Christian concept called ordo amoris (rightly ordered love) that taught him to care about his family first, then neighbors, then community, and
after all of that one can focus on the rest of the world—it's his rational for being mean to refugees from other countries and he accuses the "far left" of inverting the ordo amoris by "hating citizens of their own country and caring more about people outside their own borders."

Using Christianity to defend nativism is bs. There are practical reasons you might take care of those close to you before taking care of people in other countries, but it's not Christian doctrine. 

Pope Francis thinks so too. He sees the U.S.'s mass deportations as a major crisis and replied to Vance, 

"Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. . . The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan, that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all without exception."

Christianity is not an argument for putting family and America first. You're supposed to love everyone without exception. It's easy to love the people you like best. Howard Thurman offers a more expansive view of Christianity in Jesus and the Disinherited. 

Endure the Terrible Pressures of the Dominating World Without Losing Your Humanity

I first read Jesus and the Disinherited in 2022. It fuelled my feelings for being part of the "resistance" post-Trump. Vincent Harding wrote the forward and mentioned that this book could be mistaken for "liberation theology," which is doctrine that justifies action against oppression. That is exactly how I read it in 2022 when Biden was in office and I thought we were on an upswing after Trump's horrible low—but hopefully singular—point in American history. I just read it again after the inauguration in January. 

I felt so different reading it recently, like a downhearted loser. I understood better that Thurman sees Christianity as "liberating spirituality," which is a survival strategy for the oppressed. Thurman said he wrote for the poor, the dispossessed, the disinherited. He is examining what the teachings of Jesus might offer to help the oppressed to "endure the terrible pressures of the dominating world without losing their humanity." 

The teachings of Jesus offer a survival plan to the oppressed. He encourages us to refuse to give in to fear, hypocrisy, and hatred, because they are ultimately bad for us. He says to be humble, not for the sake of subservience, but because the balm for humiliation is humility. When your life is horrible (as Jesus's was; as enslaved peoples' were; as immigrants' fearing deportation are; as the LGBTQ community's under Trump will be, you have to establish another basis for well being. This basis is that you are God's child. He loves you. There is an afterlife. The kingdom of God is within. Jesus says, don't see yourselves as your oppressor sees you.

A Minority with Majority Privileges

This is all such good advice, and helpful. But Paul's words, "Slaves, be obedient to your masters," have always given me pause. How is this helpful advice to the disinherited and marginalized? Paul gives the sanction of religion to slavery. It's clearly problematic (as is a lot of the bible, honestly). But Thurman explains something constructive about this. Paul was the most privileged apostle. He was Jewish, but he was a Roman citizen. He was a minority with majority privileges. He has no idea what it's really like to be Jesus and this bit of scripture shows it. Thurman says, unless one actually lives day by day without a sense of security he cannot understand what worlds separated Jesus from Paul. 

I need to make sure I don't make this mistake. Yes, I'm a woman and things are bad for women under this administration, but I am safe. I live day by day with a sense of security and I need to remember that. I'm barely different from the oppressors. I should differentiate myself as much as I can from them and be clear eyed about my position in all of this. I need to make sure I'm helping people instead of being a brooding, sanctimonious grump, which I am inclined to be. :)

I know many of you feel alone or crazy because so many people in power lack your values and see the world so differently from you. They're doing abhorrent things and no one is stopping them. Carl Jung explained that loneliness does not come from "having no people about one, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to oneself, or from holding certain views which others find inadmissible." So I hope you will write or sing or paint or post or tell me what you're thinking because it might help you feel less alone.