John Curtis has properly put the nation on notice. And it may matter a lot.
The newly elected U.S. senator from Utah has pledged to be his own person, to stand up for his own principles and for the beliefs and interests of his constituents.
Utahns should expect no less.
In fact, they insisted on it when they chose Curtis overwhelmingly, first as the Republican nominee over a Donald Trump supporting candidate to replace the retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, then as their new senator.
Already, Curtis’ welcome independence has contributed to the withdrawal of President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice to be the new attorney general — the scandal-mired former Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Curtis later expressed hope that some of the new president’s more troublesome choices may have “resolved themselves” once the time-honored process of vetting nominations moves along.
There is reason to hope that Curtis means it when he says he takes seriously the constitutional role of the U.S. Senate, to give its advice and consent to a president’s choices for Cabinet seats and other key executive branch posts, judicial appointments, treaties and other important decisions.
That he may support Trump (or that Trump may support him) on many issues, such as taxes, regulations and public lands, but that he will never be an automatic vote for any of the once and future president’s plans or actions.
“If you expect me to be like Mitt Romney, you’re going to be disappointed,” Curtis said. “If you expect me to be like Mike Lee, (Utah’s other U.S. senator) you’re also going to be disappointed.”
Curtis, for example, did not support either of the two votes to impeach Trump, while Romney was the only Republican senator to vote to convict on both those motions. So they aren’t the same.
Though Curtis could do worse than emulate Romney, who leaves office with great respect from colleagues on both sides of the aisle and much praise for his principled stands and his willingness to work with anyone to solve our nation’s problems.
Mike Lee, meanwhile, might do well to be like, well, Mike Lee. At least the Mike Lee who used to tell anyone who would listen that it was time for Congress to reassert its constitutional role and stop rolling over for the White House.
Lee called it the Article I Project, named for the first part of the Constitution, which lays out the many powers and duties of Congress and places it at once superior to the executive and judicial branches and closest to the people.
That was back in 2016, when Lee had not yet taken, in his words, “the scenic route” from being a Never Trump Republican to joining MAGA Nation.
Now Utahns are right to be concerned that Lee may be no more than a Trump toady, gleefully backing his bills and confirming his appointments without a care for the constitutional separation of powers he used to hold so dear. Because that’s the kind of support Trump demands.
Senators, including Curtis and Lee, take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, not to support the president.
Their constituents should hold them to that promise.
