Introduction

I have written these essays in hope of alerting the citizenry to the existential importance of the 2020 elections to our Constitutional government, our freedom, and our precious liberties that are threatened by an administration and political party that has turned its back on our heritage.

By way of background, I served my country for 45 years as a federal prosecutor and U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Diego, California and Eugene, Oregon until my retirement in 2016. I have served under both Republican and Democrat administrations during all those years in non-partisan fashion, with no allegiance whatsoever to either faction, but only to my country.

After retiring from the bench, I was watching a telecast of Donald Trump at a campaign rally during the presidential election race.  To my utter astonishment, I heard him say if he lost the election, there was nothing his supporters could do except perhaps “2nd Amendment solutions.” I was frozen in disbelief to hear a candidate for the office of president insert the notion of assassination into the mix of our political environment.

Then he became the president and I began noting his words and actions, becoming increasingly alarmed by what I was observing.  That spurred me to begin writing these articles to warn the American people how endangered our democracy was by the placement of this person in the highest office of the nation—the Presidency of the United States.

My essays are not “partisan.” The Constitution is not a partisan document. The Rule of Law and Democracy are not partisan principles.  Our heritage is not a political question, and authoritarianism or tyranny is not a legitimate political option.  I took an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, “foreign and domestic”; I am fulfilling that oath with these humble offerings, on behalf of my country, my children, my grandchildren, and all Americans. It is the least I can do to uphold what has been handed down to me. Indeed, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in his annual report to the Nation, exhorted all Americans, especially those affiliated with the Judicial branch, to defend democracy and preserve it for future generations. Although I found his words ironic, and even wrote an article about how the Supreme Court itself has eroded our democracy with recent rulings in the 21st Century (The Beam in the Eye of John Roberts), I am accepting his challenge through these writings.

Most of the essays are ordered in chronological fashion, tracing the progression of the administration’s incremental erosion of our foundational principles. The most emotional one to write for me was the account of the administration’s family separation policy at our border, given my personal experience as the Chief of the Criminal Division in the Southern District of California where I prosecuted cases that involved abuses of refugees at our border. One such case involved the rape and murder of an 18-year-old seeking to cross the border who was brutally victimized by a federal officer. In working with the FBI to investigate that crime I was treated to the hospitality of her family in their impoverished shack in Tijuana. My heart has been with them and all those in such desperate situations ever since.

I hope these essays stir you to action.  2020 looms as a point of no return for our country.  

Tom Coffin

February,  2020