New No Dictators Declaration Seeks to Protect Freedoms by Blocking Future Abuse of Presidential Powers

WASHINGTON— U.S House Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and a coalition of groups from across the ideological spectrum today launched the No Dictators Declaration, a national effort focused on protecting American freedoms by closing loopholes that could allow a president to use vast executive powers to violate constitutional rights.

“We’re organizing to protect freedom in America by closing loopholes that a president could use to violate our constitutional rights,” explained Rep. Raskin. “The Supreme Court’s decision granting sweeping legal immunity to presidents who commit crimes under the cloak of their official powers makes it essential for us now to define what the official powers of the presidency are and what they are not.”

Rep. Raskin continued: “That’s why we’re mobilizing on a bipartisan basis to remove any opportunities for the president to assume dictatorial powers, impose a state of siege, force workers to take political loyalty tests, subject the federal civil service to mass ideological purges and weaponize government to pursue political vendettas. It is critical that we join together to safeguard American democracy and freedom.”

The coalition calls on every member of Congress to sign the declaration and, in doing so, commit to safeguards and reforms that keep our freedoms free.

“No president - regardless of party - should be able to operate above the law,” said former Rep. Joe Walsh. “We need to get back to basics—the Constitution and the rule of law -- and the limited government that our Founding Fathers envisioned that helps protect the separation of powers that keeps our republic strong and free.”

The pillars of the No Dictators Declaration include:

• Limiting the president’s ability to declare bogus domestic and foreign emergencies to seize power and bypass Congressional legislative authority.
• Restricting the president’s ability to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military on American soil.
• Preventing the adoption of partisan, personal, and ideological loyalty tests, loyalty oaths, and similar authoritarian measures designed to purge the professional civil service and replace qualified workers with unqualified loyalists.
• Ensuring that presidents who abuse their powers to commit crimes can be prosecuted like all other people.
• Constraining the president’s ability to use investigative and prosecutorial decisions and resources to pursue vendettas against disfavored people and groups.

“The safeguards that protect our freedoms are in peril and with the courts under attack and trust in other institutions at an all time low, we need to take proactive steps now,” said Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.), co-founder of State Democracy Defenders Action. “Congress must use their power and these common-sense options to close loopholes that could allow a president to use their vast executive powers to clamp down on our constitutional rights and freedoms.”

The campaign also seeks to mobilize everyday Americans concerned about the growing threat to our democracy and freedoms to contact their members of Congress and urge them to sign the declaration here: www.nodictators.us.

“In the United States, we elect presidents, not kings,” said Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Relying on unwritten norms to safeguard our civil liberties from executive overreach is grossly insufficient. We need action from Congress — and commitments from candidates — that they will protect our freedoms and hold current and future presidents accountable if they abuse that power."

“This isn’t and shouldn’t be seen as a partisan issue -- everyone should be in favor of closing vulnerabilities in our laws that could be exploited by any president to take away our rights and freedoms,” said Heath Mayo, founder of conservative group Principles First. “This declaration is about creating a government that works for the people and limiting how the government would restrict our freedoms.”

The coalition of groups includes the American Civil Liberties Union, State Democracy Defenders Action and Principles First.

More information on the declaration and these efforts to safeguard our democracy and American freedoms can be found here: www.nodictators.us.