During his recent debate with Evan McMullin, Mike Lee repeatedly defended his record as a “constitutionalist.” But as the old adage goes, calling yourself something does not make it so. Lee’s record clearly shows that he only defends the Constitution when politically convenient and that he is willing to subvert the Constitution when his own power is at stake.
Lee is well known for standing up for obscure constitutional issues when Democrats run afoul. But time after time, when his own party openly threatened the Constitution, Lee stayed silent.
For example, in August, 2019, President Donald Trump stated that children of illegal immigrants born in the United States should not be considered U.S. citizens. And Trump proposed stripping these individuals of their citizenship rights. In addition to being overtly racist, Trump’s proposal directly contradicted the 14th Amendment, which states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States ... are citizens of the United States.” The 14th Amendment goes on to state that no government “shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities” of those citizens.
Did Mike Lee defend the 14th Amendment against Trump? No. He made no public comment.
In September 2020, President Trump stated that he should be allowed to serve three terms as President. He argued that he “deserved” it. Trump’s statements were both terrifying and clearly unconstitutional. The 22nd Amendment states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Did Mike Lee defend the 22nd Amendment against Trump? No. He made no public comment.
Again, and again Trump threatened the Constitution. But Mike Lee never criticized him because it was not politically convenient to do so. A constitutionalist by convenience is no constitutionalist at all.
Unfortunately, Mike Lee’s most significant betrayal of the Constitution was not an omission but an overt act. Recent revelations show that Lee helped concoct a plan for Donald Trump to unlawfully take control of the country after he lost the presidential election.
Lee’s involvement in the scheme centers around John Eastman, a Trump campaign lawyer who wrote emails and memos to federal officials outlining how to appoint Trump as president in spite of the election results. The plan was for state legislatures to unlawfully select alternate electors and for Mike Pence to set aside the Electoral College votes, handing Trump the presidency.
When Eastman’s communications became public and investigators started to dig into the details of the illegal plot, Lee was almost immediately implicated. Eastman initially denied that he discussed the plan with Lee. He claimed that he “never had any dealings with Mike Lee about this at all.” Lee backed up this lie and said that he was “surprised” by Eastman’s memos when he received them.
When pressed, however, Eastman later admitted that he discussed the memos with Lee beforehand. And Eastman conceded that some of his conversations with Lee could be incriminating. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked about his communications with Lee surrounding this issue.
Despite claiming to know nothing about Eastman’s memos, Lee advocated for Eastman’s plan to Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff at the time. Lee proposed to Meadows that “there could be a path” for Trump to take power if state legislatures could “appoint alternative slates and delegates” — Eastman’s exact plot.
Lee later bragged to Meadows that he was working around the clock calling “state legislators” about appointing alternate electors.
The evidence is clear that Lee brainstormed with Eastman about how to overthrow the presidential election and then took steps to move the plan forward–a stunning betrayal of both the Constitution and democratic principles.
In the conclusion of his 2016 book “Our Lost Constitution,” Mike Lee states:
“In the United States the people always ultimately have the power to rein in, redirect, or kick out their elected representatives. ... Only we can force our government officials to obey their oaths to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.”
Lee is not a constitutionalist. And he does not deserve another term in office. As Lee points out, only the “people … ultimately have the power” to kick him out of office. On November 8, they should vote to do so.
Kimball Dean Parker
Kimball Dean Parker is the founder and CEO of SixFifty, a legal automation company, and the founder of LawX, the legal design lab at Brigham Young University Law School.
