By Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
On the fourth anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, we came together for an organizing call on how faith communities can take action to ensure that all Cabinet nominees are highly qualified to perform their duties and are committed to upholding our Constitution. We grounded ourselves spiritually to prepare for activism in the coming years. The call was sponsored by six organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people of faith of diverse ideological and political backgrounds: Sojourners, Interfaith Alliance, Faithful America, Faith in Democracy, Freedom Road and the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice.
You can watch a recording of the webinar here.
During the webinar, we launched a new petition calling on the senate to ensure that all Cabinet nominees are highly qualified to serve and they commit to upholding our Constitution.
“We are alarmed by positions and statements made by several of Trump’s nominees, particularly their pledge to seek retribution against political enemies,” the petition states.
That these nominees lack the usual experience required for these jobs and have sided with the president over and against the rule of law suggests that their appointment is solely a bid to remove democratic checks and balances, which would allow the president unprecedented power to function as a king or autocrat. This is contrary to the will of our nation’s founders, who established checks and balances, having chosen not to establish a monarchy.”
The petition lists specific concerns with FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, and Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi.
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is the Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at Interfaith Alliance.