I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has

The words of Sally Yates, “I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the Constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the President,” resound with the clarity of moral courage and the weight of civic duty. They are not the words of a mere bureaucrat, but of a guardian — one who recognizes that law and conscience stand higher than power or loyalty. In her declaration, Yates speaks to a truth as old as civilization itself: that justice must serve principle, not person; that the servants of the law must remain free in mind and upright in spirit, even when the winds of politics blow against them. Her voice is not only that of a lawyer, but of a sentinel defending the fragile border between authority and integrity.

The origin of this quote lies in one of the most defining moments of Yates’s career — her refusal, as Acting Attorney General in 2017, to defend the executive order restricting travel from several predominantly Muslim nations. In that act of defiance, she stood not as an enemy of the presidency, but as a steward of the Constitution. She believed that obedience to the President does not absolve one from the higher obedience owed to the law itself. And so she chose to follow conscience over command, the Constitution over convenience, and truth over fear. Her decision cost her her position, yet it immortalized her words. For what she articulated was not a partisan cry, but an ancient principle: that the rule of law is sacred only when its defenders are brave enough to stand alone in its name.

Yates’s philosophy is rooted in a lineage that stretches back to the very birth of justice. In the days of Socrates, the philosopher stood before the courts of Athens and refused to recant his teachings, saying that he must obey the higher law of reason, even when the state condemned him for it. Likewise, the Roman senator Cicero, facing the tyranny of Caesar, declared that “we are all servants of the laws in order that we may be free.” Each of these figures, like Yates, understood that the truest loyalty a servant of the state can offer is not to the ruler, but to the republic — to the enduring covenant that binds the governed and the governing alike. When Yates insists that the attorney general must “follow the law and the Constitution,” she is reviving this ancient wisdom: that justice must remain impartial, or it ceases to be justice at all.

Her emphasis on independent legal advice reveals another truth — that even power must be counseled by wisdom, and that wisdom demands honesty. To advise the President is not to flatter him, but to remind him of limits; not to echo his will, but to anchor it in principle. This role is sacred and perilous, for to speak truth to power has always carried risk. The great English jurist Sir Thomas More once faced this same test under King Henry VIII. When ordered to endorse the King’s separation from the Church, More refused, saying that he could not betray his conscience or the law. For his defiance, he was executed — yet his legacy endured. He became the model of the statesman who serves truth above title, who understands that there is no honor in obedience if that obedience leads to injustice. Yates’s words, though spoken centuries later, carry the same moral resonance.

There is also, within her statement, a quiet acknowledgment of responsibility — that every position of authority carries with it not just privilege, but burden. To “follow the law and the Constitution” is not a passive act; it demands vigilance, discernment, and courage. The law, though written in ink, is alive only through those who uphold it. When those entrusted with power distort it for gain, or twist it for ideology, the structure of freedom begins to crumble. Thus, Yates’s reminder is a call to all who serve in government: that the Constitution is not a weapon to be wielded, but a covenant to be honored and guarded, even against the commands of kings or presidents.

Her words also reach beyond the realm of law into the very heart of leadership. In every walk of life — whether one governs a nation, leads a household, or guides a community — the same principle endures: authority without integrity is ruin. The wise leader seeks counsel that challenges, not flatters; guidance that restrains, not indulges. The courage to give “independent advice” is the courage to risk comfort for truth. It is a kind of moral discipline that few possess, yet it is the foundation upon which all enduring institutions are built. For when truth becomes inconvenient, only those anchored in principle can keep justice from drifting into corruption.

Let this teaching, then, be passed to future generations: the highest loyalty is loyalty to truth. To serve one’s nation is to serve its laws, and to serve its laws is to defend its conscience. Those who hold positions of power — be they judges, officers, or counselors — must remember that they are not the masters of the law, but its stewards. And those who advise the powerful must speak not what is safe, but what is right. For, as Sally Yates reminds us, the health of a republic depends not on the will of one, but on the courage of those who refuse to betray the Constitution that sustains it. In the end, justice lives or dies not in the courtroom or the capitol, but in the heart of every person who dares to say, “I will follow the law — even when it costs me everything.”