Civil disobedience in the Legislature
- Rich Moniak
- Mar 20
- 3 min read
By Rich Moniak
During Rep. Nick Begich III’s address to the Legislature last week, Rep. Zach Fields (D-Anchorage) briefly held up a sign that read “Ice out of Alaska.” The minority caucus correctly called it “a clear violation of Uniform Rule 26, Mason’s Manual, and the established customs and traditions of the Alaska Legislature.”
Now I believe in following rules. But it’s hard to take minority members seriously when they’re content letting President Donald Trump make a mockery of the nation’s democratic traditions and institutions.
Sure, I understand state legislators have no direct influence on his behavior. But House Minority Leader DeLena Johnson (R-Palmer) displayed a staggering lack of awareness by complaining that Fields’ showed “a lack of professional maturity,” and by suggesting he was seeking to satisfy his “need for social media attention.”
First, let’s put that second accusation into perspective. Trump has an unquenchable thirst to be the center of attention. Fields didn’t even try to draw attention to himself by interrupting the speech or turning around so everyone could read his sign.
He was also extremely civil compared to the recent testimony U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi gave before the House Judiciary Committee. She went prepared to insult any committee member who dared ask questions she didn’t like.
That’s the same childish behavior Trump deploys against political adversaries, news reporters and anyone else who crosses him.
Acting like he’s above the law is even more offensive.
Before last year’s election, Congress passed a law that required a Chinese company to either sell its stake in the social media app TikTok or lose its access to the American market. It had overwhelming bipartisan support. It was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and took effect just before he returned to the White House.
Conservative legal scholar Jack Goldsmith believes Trump’s refusal to enforce the law amounted “to a claim that the president has authority, at the flick of a pen, to destroy all consequences of a law enacted by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court.”
More recently, the Supreme Court ruled the arbitrary regime of global tariffs Trump imposed last April was an unconstitutional grab of Congress’s power to regulate trade. While defending the tariffs during oral arguments in November, Solicitor General John Sauer danced around a question about Congress abdicating its constitutional responsibilities before finally agreeing they can’t “hand off the power declare war to the president.”
Four months later, Trump not only started a war with Iran without a declaration of war from Congress. He didn’t even bother to notify them until after the bombing began.
He didn’t consult with our allies either. Then after Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, he demanded they send warships to the region to assist keeping the waterway open.
They refused, in part because the NATO pact only obligates members to assist each other when one or more has been attacked. The only time its mutual defense provision has been invoked was after terrorists attacked America on 911. All 30 members sent troops to Afghanistan.
That didn’t stop Trump from whining on Tuesday about NATO being “a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.”
Then, with a petulant flourish, he capped off the post by stating “we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries assistance — WE NEVER DID!”
The entire episode rips a massive hole in Trump’s State of the Union boast that “America is respected again, perhaps like never before.”
It also exposes the fragility of Sen. Dan Sullivan’s about America being “ally rich.”
Johnson and her caucus can’t change the events that led to a war Congress didn’t declare. And they can’t redefine ICE’s detainment methods and deportation objectives that Fields protested.
However, they can help restore the democratic traditions that made America a great nation. First, by stop making believe Trump’s behavior isn’t a problem. Then by telling Begich and Sullivan to hold him accountable for abusing the power of the presidency.
But if they continue to act like nothing is wrong, then I hope other members of the majority will recognize the value of Fields’ protest and periodically disrupt the remainder of the session with their own acts of civil disobedience.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.
