When the new pope and I were American toddlers, Time Magazine’s May 1958 cover story highlighted the American Bar Association and President Dwight Eisenhower’s proclamation that May 1 would become Law Day in America. Eisenhower emphasized that the rule of law was crucial to preventing tyranny.
Ike stated: “Freedom is like the air that we breathe. People take it for granted and are unaware of it — until they are deprived of it. The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened where there is no rule of law. The dread knock on the door in the middle of the night . . .”
Given President Trump’s unprecedented constitutional violations, the Denver Bar Association (DBA) sponsored an extraordinary 2025 Denver Stands for the Rule of Law Day event. As a 44-year member of the DBA and an active attorney, I wanted to renew my constitutional vows.
In the plaza outside the courthouse, Annie Martinez, the 132nd DBA president, inspired us by proclaiming that lawyers have special constitutional responsibilities. Martinez urged the several dozen assembled attorneys to “fight like hell” on behalf of our United States and Colorado constitutions.
We were then invited to Courtroom 201, where U.S. District Court Judge Kato Crews administered our oath. A Pueblo native born in 1975, Judge Crews told us to “steel our spines” as we took our solemn pledge. The jurist cited MLK and told us to get ready to “prove the content of our character.”
President Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting law firms and prohibiting attorneys who dare to challenge him from entering federal buildings. Trump’s presidential memoranda recently threatened every non-MAGA American attorney with professional discipline and monetary sanctions.
This is not just an attack on lawyers; it is a coordinated assault on democracy and the Bill of Rights. Thankfully, the rule of law has been winning in most lower federal courts against MAGA’s constitutional assault.
On the day after Law Day, Senior Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia castigated Trump’s unprecedented assault on the legal profession as she enjoined his anti-law firm executive order. According to Judge Howell, politically targeting lawyers and their clients violates the Constitution’s First, Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
In Colorado, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney, an Englewood native born in 1969, regarded the Trump administration’s claim that it possessed absolute non-reviewable authority as an assertion that staggers. Judge Sweeney vehemently disagreed and ordered a halt to using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans from Colorado.
In March, hundreds of American residents were sent to an El Salvador gulag without due process following Trump’s phony proclamation regarding a Venezuelan war or predatory incursion. U.S. District Court Judges Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. (a Trump appointee) and Alvin Hellerstein also ruled that Trump improperly invoked the Alien Enemies Act.
America’s chief executive confessed on “Meet the Press” that he is unsure if he will follow the Constitution. Attorneys are required to be better than that. New America-born Pope Leo XIV holds a doctorate in canon law, and he has criticized Trump’s treatment of immigrants.
Citizen Trump understands the power of attorneys equipped with subpoenas and lawsuits. Trump has witnessed how American lawyers, through due process and jury trials, held him accountable, revealing him as a fraud and sex offender in both criminal and civil courtrooms.
Adjudicated felon Trump is openly demanding the release of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters. She was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney and convicted by a jury in a Republican-dominated county for criminal acts committed in service of Trump’s 2020 Big Lie about a rigged election.
This is what authoritarianism looks like: a president using his office to overturn jury verdicts and wield the Department of Justice as his private law firm. He wants Trump loyalists to receive immunity, just as he did. Peters and Trump received due process, and their hometown juries convicted them. That’s the American system working as it should, and Trump can’t stand it.
This battle is personal. My grandfather, Harry Silverman, practiced law in Denver during the sad era when the Ku Klux Klan dominated the Denver courthouse. By 1925, former Denver District Court Chief Judge Clarence Morley (a Klan leader) was elected Colorado’s 24th governor. Not long after, the corrupt Morley would be defeated, convicted of fraud in federal court and imprisoned.
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Attorneys and judges serve as the Constitution’s last line of defense. The rule of law is crucial for lawyers and our clients. Citizens must understand that our freedom and democracy are in jeopardy. I recently participated in energized April Hands Off rallies in Lyons, Longmont, Boulder, Lone Tree and Denver.
Let the record reflect that decent Colorado attorneys object to the destruction of our system of justice and democracy. Laws and constitutions are not self-executing; they need champions, not bystanders. Now more than ever, attorneys should fight fiercely against authoritarianism in America.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
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