Georgia lawyer Sally Yates—famously fired as acting U.S. attorney general for refusing to enforce President Donald Trump’s travel ban and characteristically quiet until lately—has been speaking out increasingly about her concerns for the future of justice in America.
Yates wrote a Washington Post opinion piece last month—”Making America Scared Again Won’t Make Us Safer.” She took Trump’s pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to task for setting back the clock on criminal justice reform and over use of prison sentences for nonviolent crimes. On Friday, the New York Times published an op-ed piece she wrote going after Trump for trying to influence the investigation into Russian hacking during the presidential election. She followed up Monday with an interview broadcast on National Public Radio calling on listeners to let their elected officials know the president’s attempts to interfere with justice are unacceptable.
