On
a
Saturday
night
in
October
1973,
President
Richard
Nixon
ordered
Attorney
General
Elliott
Richardson
to
fire
Special
Prosecutor
Archibald
Cox. Richardson
resigned
his
office
rather
than
comply.
Nixon
then
ordered
Deputy
Attorney
General
William
Ruckelshaus
to
fire
Cox. Ruckelshaus
resigned
his
office
rather
than
comply.
The
Princeton
University
Class
of
1979
was
assembled
as
a
group
only
twice
—
once
during
freshman
week
in
1975
and
once
four
years
later
at
graduation. The
freshman
week
assembly
touched
on
several
topics
of
common
interest
to
the
class;
I
remember
only
one. Princeton
students
operate
under
an
honor
code
during
examinations. The
professor
hands
out
exams
and
then
leaves
the
room. Students
take
the
exam,
without
proctors
present,
and
sign
a
statement
at
the
end:
“I
pledge
my
honor
that,
during
this
examination,
I
have
neither
given
nor
received
assistance.”
At
the
freshman
week
assembly,
the
short
talk
on
the
honor
code
was
given
by
former
Deputy
Attorney
General
William
Ruckelshaus,
Princeton
Class
of
1957. Scholars
say
that
there
are
three
ways
to
persuade
listeners: Logos,
or
logical
appeal;
pathos,
or
emotional
appeal;
and
ethos,
or
personal
appeal
(Ralph
Waldo
Emerson
explained
the
final
category:
“What
you
are
speaks
so
loudly
I
cannot
hear
what
you
say”).
In
1975,
Ruckelshaus,
who
had
resigned
his
office
as
a
matter
of
principle
just
two
years
earlier,
walked
onstage
to
talk
about
the
honor
code.
Got
it.
I
don’t
remember
what
he
said. And
I
sure
didn’t
cheat
on
my
exams
during
the
next
four
years.
What
he
was
spoke
so
loudly
I
didn’t
care
what
he
said.
I’m
pretty
confident
that
if
you
asked
me
to
recite
the
names
of
all
former
deputy
attorneys
general
of
the
United
States
whose
names
I
remember,
my
recitation
would
stop
at
one: Ruckelshaus.
That’s
the
emotional
impact
of
a
principled
resignation.
Think
about
the
principled
resignations
that
we’ve
seen
over
the
past
few
weeks:
Danielle
Sassoon,
the
acting
U.S.
attorney
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,
resigned
rather
than
dismiss
the
corruption
charges
pending
against
Mayor
Eric
Adams. Hagan
Scotten,
a
line
prosecutor
in
the
S.D.N.Y.,
did
the
same: “I
expect
you
will
eventually
find
someone
who
is
enough
of
a
fool
or
enough
of
a
coward
to
file
your
motion. But
it
was
never
going
to
be
me.”
Five
high-ranking
officials
in
the
Department
of
Justice’s
Public
Integrity
Unit
also resigned
rather
than
dismiss the
case
against
Adams. Denise
Cheung,
head
of
the
Criminal
Division
of
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
in
the
District
of
Columbia, resigned
rather
than
open an
investigation
into
a
Biden-era
contract
without
sufficient
evidence.
Those
people
are
all
sacrificing
their
jobs
over
a
matter
of
principle. That’s
a
lot
of
guts
—
and
a
lot
of
principles.
Which
got
me
to
thinking: Why
haven’t
we
seen
anyone
in
Congress
willing
even
to
cast
a
hard
vote,
let
alone
resign,
as
a
matter
of
principle?
This
is
not
a
liberal
versus
conservative
thing.
Sassoon
is
a
long-time
member
of
the
conservative
Federalist
Society,
and
she
clerked
for
Justice
Antonin
Scalia. She’s
no
left-leaning
commie. Scotten
said
in
his
resignation
email
that
he
agreed
with
many
of
the
Trump
administration’s
policies,
and
he
had
clerked
for
Chief
Justice
John
Roberts. These
are
not
liberals;
they’re
principled
conservatives.
Why
don’t
we
see
the
same
thing
in
Congress?
Sen.
Joni
Ernst,
a
veteran
who
was
a
survivor
of
sexual
assault,
originally
opposed
Pete
Hegseth’s
nomination
to
be
secretary
of
defense
because,
among
other
reasons,
Hegseth
had
opposed
having
women
serve
in
combat
roles
and
had
been
accused
of
sexual
assault. But
in
the
end,
Ernst
caved
to
pressure
from
the
MAGA
gang
because
she
feared
losing
her
next
election. Principles
be
damned.
Sen.
Thom
Tillis
was
also
“a
hard
no”
on
Hegseth
because
of
the
allegations
of
misconduct
and
Hegseth’s
lack
of
qualifications
for
the
job. But
then
the
MAGA
gang
threatened
to
launch
a
primary
campaign
against
Tillis
and
vote
against
him
in
any
election. Tillis
could
either
cast
a
principled
vote
or
save
his
job. No
principled
casting
of
a
vote
—
let
alone
resignation
—
here. Rather,
another
profile
in
cowardice.
Last
year,
Speaker
of
the
House
Mike
Johnson
pulled
off
a
pretty
remarkable
feat,
causing
the
House
of
Representatives
to
vote
in
favor
of
a
Ukrainian
aid
package. This
year,
Trump
opposes
giving
aid
to
Ukraine. Don’t
expect
Johnson
to
give
any
towering
display
of
principle
here. Just
suck
it
up
and
do
what’s
wrong;
you
have
to
save
your
job.
Former
senator
and
now
Secretary
of
State
Marco
Rubio
used
to
be
a
huge
supporter
of
NATO, co-sponsoring
in
2019 a
bill
to
prevent
the
U.S.
from
withdrawing
from
NATO
without
Congressional
approval. Rubio
supported
Ukraine
in
its
fight
against
Russia. But
now,
Rubio
is
meekly
turning
about-face
on
his
previous
positions
rather
than
say
a
word
about
what
he
presumably
still
believes
—
let
alone
resigning
as
a
matter
of
principle.
Why
do
we
see
such
a
difference
in
action
between
the
noble
prosecutors
and
the
ignoble
legislators?
Is
this
because
Donald
Trump
has
conquered
the
Republican
Party
and
now
causes
all
remaining
party
members
to
kowtow
to
his
will?
Perhaps
people
who
were
willing
to
resist
Trump
—
Jeff
Flake,
Adam
Kinzinger,
Liz
Cheney,
Mitt
Romney,
and
the
like
—
are
all
gone,
and
all
that’s
left
are
bootlicking
sycophants.
Or
maybe
there’s
a
difference
between
those
who
run
for
office
and
those
who
don’t?
Perhaps,
if
you
never
run
for
office,
you’re
never
forced
to
sacrifice
your
principles
to
achieve
your
career
goals.
You
thus
retain
some
inner
core
of
what
matters
to
you
as
a
person.
On
the
other
hand,
if
you
run
for
office,
you’re
forced
to
abandon
your
true
beliefs
so
often
that,
after
a
few
years,
there’s
nothing
left
of
you:
You
freely
change
positions
and
cast
unprincipled
votes
because
that’s
necessary
to
retain
your
job,
which
is,
after
all,
what
matters
most
to
you.
Or
is
it
something
else?
Cowardice
is
running
rampant
through
the
MAGA
ranks.
I
wonder
what
caused
the
epidemic.
Where’s
RFK
Jr.
when
we
could
use
a
vaccine?
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].