A statement to our supporters from Save the Sound President Curt Johnson and Chair of the Board Todd Cort:
The unprecedented events of January 6, 2021 are so fundamentally at odds to the rule of law and our democracy that Save the Sound, a leading non-partisan, regional environmental nonprofit dedicated to enforcing environmental laws, believes they require a strong response.
For over four decades, Save the Sound has protected and enforced our collective legal rights to clean land, air, and water through the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of state and federal government. Our members and communities rely on these branches to act with strength and integrity, employing the rule of law.
We join with leaders of both political parties in observing that state and federal judges have fairly adjudicated over five dozen lawsuits and found baseless, without merit or supporting evidence, claims of extensive voter fraud during our 2020 election.
Confidence in the adjudications performed by our independent judiciary is essential to our democracy and to Save the Sound’s work. Federal and state judges have and continue to fairly adjudicate the scores of cases that Save the Sound has brought to stop raw sewage and toxic chemicals in our waterways, stop dangerous air pollution in environmental justice communities, and to protect precious lands from the bulldozer.
We join past Presidents and Congressional members of both parties in declaring that the events of the afternoon of January 6 at our Capitol constituted a violent insurrection incited by the President of the United States to subvert our democracy, to attack our Congress, and to violently overturn the repeated unanimous decisions by our judiciary that the election was free and fair.
It would be a mistake to ignore the racial overlay of the day’s events. The NY Times reports that white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups were involved in both organizing and invading the Capitol. Where was an adequately robust police or National Guard presence to stop a violent attack that desecrated our Capitol? After gaining control of the Capitol, why were most members of this largely white mob allowed to leave without arrest by police?
The insurrectionists and all who incited them must be held accountable. We call on federal authorities to identify and prosecute these actors to the full extent of the law. We call on the FBI and Department of Justice to pivot resources toward investigating white supremacist extremist hate groups and diligently prosecuting any associated hate crimes. We call on Congress to hold the President accountable. And we call on every elected official who has sworn an oath to the Constitution to declare the election fully legitimate based on multiple full and exhaustive adjudications by our independent judiciary.