Casually suing the President

Elysha and I were discussing the recent ruling by a federal judge that Donald Trump “more likely than not” committed felony obstruction in attempting the block the certification of the 2020 election results.

This ruling allows Congress to gain access to emails by John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump and the chief designer of the plan to steal the election from the American people.

Clara and Charlie listened attentively to the conversation, then Clara said, “Is Trump ever going to be punished for any of this? I mean, Dad sued Trump and won, but even that wasn’t much of a punishment.”

Talk about surreal.

Back in 2017, after being blocked by Trump on Twitter for tweeting mean things at him, I joined about two dozen other Americans in the Knight Foundation’s lawsuit against the former President to have our Twitter accounts unblocked. Trump and his press secretary had stated on many occasions that his Twitter feed amounted to his official statements, thereby making it something that all Americans should have access to.

On August 29, 2008, we won that lawsuit in federal court. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, where he also lost.

Less than a week later, my Twitter account was unblocked.

Clara is right. Not much of a punishment, but a great victory for me.

Four years later, sitting at the dinner table, Clara mentioned my part in a successful lawsuit against a United States President as casually as she might ask for someone to pass the salt. I was the member of a lawsuit against the President that went all the way to the Supreme Court, but to Clara, it’s just another thing that her dad once did.

So odd.

But my hope is that her casualness about the lawsuit is an indication that she understands how important it is to challenge authority, speak truth to power, and stand against those you oppose whenever possible, despite their position or station in life.

My hope is that she sees opposition like mine as a normal part of life when the actions of those in power require it.

Either that or she thinks her father is a crazy person, which is also entirely possible.