Guest Editorial —
by Matt Nicodemus, Founder & Coordinator, Sworn to Refuse (StR)
Matt Nicodemus, a recent transplant from Boulder to Glendale, is an activist-organizer who works at the intersection of social-environmental responsibility and people’s personal and professional choices.
Imagine you’re a public servant in Colorado government. When you began your employment, you proudly took this required oath of office: “I [name], do [select swear, affirm, or swear by the everliving God] that I will support the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Colorado, and the laws of the state of Colorado, and will faithfully perform the duties of the office of [name of office or position] upon which I am about to enter to the best of my ability.”
One day at the office, you receive from your boss a request or an order to do something which you know, or have good reason to believe, would be illegal. What do you do? If you follow the directive, you’ll be violating the law — which you certainly don’t want or plan to do — and could face investigation, firing, and possibly career-ending indictment and conviction. But if you don’t obey your boss, your job and career in public service could end almost as soon as they began.
When you were sworn in, you took that oath, promising to support and follow the laws of your employer, the state of Colorado, and you’ve kept that promise. Yet here you are, facing the possible end of your career because you’re not willing to break the laws you’ve committed to follow. No public servant should have to struggle with such an impossible choice.
In fact, as increasing numbers of Americans have been learning in recent years, it is very important — often necessary — for public servants to say “no” to bosses who direct them to do things that would violate the law and potentially do great damage to our society, its democracy and rule of law, and, through the world’s interconnectedness, our continued existence.
Most recently, much to his displeasure, Donald Trump learned from six members of Congress who had careers in our nation’s military or intelligence agencies that those organizations have “duty to disobey” requirements: they must refuse any and all illegal orders. The Commander in Chief was enraged that his dictates could — and had to — be disobeyed if they violated the law. He had no knowledge about the origins of that requirement, including the post–World War II Nuremberg Principles and the 1968 war crime known as the My Lai massacre, in which more than 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians were gunned down in and around their village by American GIs.
In 2017, after watching on TV a nationally broadcast public hearing in Washington, D.C., in which leaders of America’s military and intelligence organizations made clear that, in opposition to Donald Trump’s recent suggestions, they would not follow orders that violated the law — including the use of torture on terrorism suspects or taking Iraq’s oil following the downfall of Saddam Hussein “because that would be against the law” — I came up with the core concepts of Sworn to Refuse (StR). This is a nonpartisan project to see enacted nationwide, starting at state and federal levels, “refuser protection” (RP) statutes that would prevent the firing and other retaliatory punishment of conscientious, oath-taking government employees and contracted workers who refuse a superiors’ illegal orders.
Having founded StR, and understanding that RP laws are needed throughout America, I and a small but dedicated and growing group of Denver-area residents began campaigning for the introduction of RP legislation in both the Colorado Statehouse and Congress. Our outreach efforts are having an impact as people recognize how much RP is needed.
In conversations with fellow citizens, we point out how RP fills gaps that whistleblower protection laws leave. When a whistleblower files a report, damage could already be in process or already done. But in the refuser protection context, when a public servant is asked by a boss to do something illegal, their refusal means the law is not broken in the first place. And when that employee’s colleagues see their example of principled public service, they may realize their own responsibility — and ability — to do right by refusing to do wrong.
Sworn to Refuse is now focused on finding supportive Colorado state legislators who are willing to sponsor and co-sponsor refuser protection legislation. We are also preparing to promote RP to federal lawmakers.
We welcome inquiries and support as we move forward in our campaign. For more information, email sworntorefuse.info@gmail.com, and see StR’s Facebook page for additional details.
