Acting U.S. Attorney General Fired
Published in Asian Journal on
Asian Americans Advancing Justice defended Yates’s comments and commended her for standing up for the Justice Department and “the rule of law."
Acting United States Attorney General Sally Yates announced on Monday, January 30, she ordered the Justice Department not to defend President Donald Trump’s widely criticized immigration order.
Reacting just hours later, the newly sworn-in president fired and replaced her.
Before she was fired, Yates — who boasts a 27-year career at the Justice Department — released a statement detailing her reasons for not supporting Trump’s controversial executive order, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”, which temporarily banned entrance into the U.S. for citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.
“At the present, I am not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the Executive Order is lawful,” wrote Yates.
She added that, “for as long as I am Acting Attorney General, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.”
Yates’s comments prompted the administration to terminate her service, citing her “betrayal” from the Justice Department.