Connecticut Democratic legislators are calling for bipartisan support in Hartford to condemn the Trump administration’s policies.
They gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday to speak out against what State Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox says is a threat to the functioning of an independent judiciary system.
Gadkar-Wilcox, a Democrat who represents Bridgeport, Monroe and Trumbull, said some of her Republican colleagues need to publicly share the criticisms they have of the Trump administration that they’ve been telling her privately.
“I know of Republicans inside and outside of this building who quietly disagree with what's happening at the federal executive or not speaking up,” Gadkar-Wilcox said. “So in that sense, I would say you're complicit in the actions of the federal executive when you remain silent.”
There were no Republican legislators present at the event.
Other Connecticut officials and politicians, nearly all of them attorneys, criticized the administration’s defiance of federal court rulings.
Gadkar-Wilcox said she’s partly counting on the impact of Trump’s tariff policies to influence more legislators to come forward with complaints.
“The public is seeing a series of actions that are one, harming them financially, harming them economically, making people more vulnerable, not looking out for healthcare,” she said.
Ben Proto, chair of Connecticut’s Republican party, spoke to Connecticut Public in early April. Proto criticized Democratic messaging about the "rule of law" as Democrats and others criticized recent policies by Trump on immigration, tariffs and mass firings of federal employees.
Many of them are facing legal challenges, although the Supreme Court has sided with Trump on several matters, including resuming deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
Proto defended the Trump administration’s policies, saying many of them are there to find efficiencies and minimize waste, nearly all of which have been contested by Democrats. Various media outlets have challenged those findings, including NPR.
Proto criticized the use of the term "rule of law", citing the continued functioning of the federal court system.
“I think that's just a buzzword that a group of progressive organizers have thrown out there for people to say, and if you ask them what they mean by it, they probably couldn't answer the question,” Proto said.
Gadkar-Wilcox said in response the threats to the rule of law are real, citing mass layoffs of federal employees and arrests of student activists now facing deportation over public speech.
“The difference is there are more people that are unaffiliated, Republican and Democratic in the communities that are alarmed by the series of actions that are being taken, whether they’re losing their job, because they’re a federal employee, whether they’ve seen a student literally being pulled off the street,” Gadkar-Wilcox said.
State Rep. Melissa Osborne, a Democrat who represents Simsbury, said she was disheartened at the lack of Republican participation during the conference.
“It should not be a partisan issue and I am disappointed not to see some of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle who are excellent attorneys, who I am — more often than not — honored to serve with,” Osborne said.
