Wyoming
Barrasso, Lummis, Hageman deride concerned Wyoming jurists as ‘biased,’ ‘liberal’ – WyoFile
Amid mounting concerns about White House disregard of court orders, Wyoming’s congressional delegates made clear last week that they continue to support President Donald Trump’s defiance of the federal judiciary.
And they are willing to insult their own constituents in defense of that position.
Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso publicly derided a distinguished swath of the Wyoming Bar while dismissing concerns those constituents raised in a March 26 letter warning that Trump and his allies’ threats could erode the country’s rule of law.
Wyoming’s federal delegation lashed out at the letter’s signees the same week federal judges warned that the Trump administration was striking at the core of the constitutional system that protects Americans from an unruly or oppressive government.
The more than 100 Wyoming jurists who put their name on the letter asking the delegation to protect the rule of law included three former state Supreme Court justices, an ex-governor, two former state attorneys general appointed by governors from both political parties, veteran attorneys and young Wyoming lawyers making their start in the profession.
Among the names were those of Republican and Democrat politicians and the former law partner of Rep. Harriet Hageman’s husband. Though their leanings covered the political spectrum, they shared one thing in common: Mounting concern that the rule of law is under extreme duress.
In response, Lummis, Hageman and Barrasso described the signatories as “biased, misguided” and “liberal,” in a press release issued last week.
The delegation’s response came in two phases — the first was an April 11 letter rebuffing the Wyoming jurists’ concerns. Overreaching judges, not President Donald Trump’s threats, have placed the federal judiciary in the crosshairs, the delegation wrote.
That letter ended with an olive branch. “We look forward to working with each of you to secure a prosperous future for Wyoming and to ensure a return to the non-partisan rule of law,” the delegates wrote.
On April 15, however, after WyoFile reporting made their letter public, the delegation dropped any niceties and issued a press release headlined: “Wyoming Delegation Responds to Biased, Misguided WY Judges and Lawyers.”
The delegate’s letter itself was “extremely dispiriting,” Jackson attorney Bill Schwartz, one of the letter’s signees, told WyoFile on April 17. But he had not yet seen the press release.
“Well, that’s just preposterous,” he said, when a reporter described it to him. “These are very accomplished lawyers, from every part of the state, that went to the same law school as [Lummis and Hageman] did… Many of us know at least one of the delegates. And we know they know better.”
The delegation’s answer has dismayed the letter signers, who saw in it deeply worrying signs for the country’s democratic rule.
“We are, in my judgment, in very dangerous times,” Jackson attorney Bob Schuster wrote in an email to his fellow signees. “My concerns are only heightened by the cynical and unprincipled response from our Congressional delegation,” he added in the email obtained by WyoFile.
The three politicians, for their part, say they’re responding to “liberal former judges and lawyers attempting to publicly pressure the delegation into falsely condemning President Trump and allowing judges to continue blocking the agenda more than 70% of Wyoming residents support,” according to the press release.
In today’s Wyoming politics, “if you have an independent thought sometimes that makes you a liberal,” Gillette attorney Tom Lubnau said. As a Republican politician, Lubnau served in the Wyoming House from 2004 to 2014, rising to become Speaker of the House in his final term.
“I’m going to take every opportunity I have to defend our court system and our constitutional system,” Lubnau told WyoFile. “Do I think the system is perfect? No. Do I think it’s the best system man has devised? Yes.”
Lummis, Hageman and Barrasso did not respond to interview requests from WyoFile.
Lawyers and former judges who signed the letter say that even in the more restrained portion of the delegate’s response, the politicians misstated fundamental tenets of American law. Though disheartening, the delegation’s response has galvanized the letter’s signees to continue speaking up, and has led other Wyoming jurists to reach out and offer support, Schwartz said.
The delegation issued its response during a week of ongoing clashes between the president and federal judges over the rights of migrants detained by the Trump administration and shipped to a prison in El Salvador.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. issued an order suggesting he could soon begin proceedings to hold the Trump administration in contempt of court. Trump had called for that judge, James Boasberg, to be impeached after Boasberg issued an injunction temporarily halting the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to detain people.
Trump invoked the act to justify his administration’s imprisonment of Venezuelans and other Latin Americans in El Salvador, without court hearings. The act was last used during World War II, when it led to the infamous internment of Japanese-Americans, including at Heart Mountain in Wyoming.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation has also called on the delegation to check Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act. “The misuse of the Alien Enemies Act at that time makes us particularly sensitive to any future abuse of the law,” the foundation wrote in an April 1 statement.
The delegates did not respond to that message, though it was delivered to each of them, officials from Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation told WyoFile Monday.
Concern over Trump’s suggestion that Boasberg should be impeached was central to the Wyoming jurists’ letter to the delegation. The signees called on Hageman, Barrasso and Lummis to speak against the idea that a judge could be personally targeted for a ruling the president didn’t like. Trump’s threat also drew a rare rebuke from U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
The George W. Bush appointed chief justice said Trump was challenging two centuries of precedent, and that “impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.”
What’s at stake is far broader than the rights of those now imprisoned in El Salvador under Trump’s invocation of wartime powers, according to the signees of the letter to Wyoming’s delegation.
Schwartz, the Jackson attorney, and others pointed to a Thursday ruling and admonition penned by conservative, Ronald Reagan appointed judge Harvie Wilkinson, as an example of their concerns.
“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” Wilkinson wrote. “This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
“If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?” he continued.
Lummis on Thursday labeled Boasberg’s injunction pausing the deportations to, and imprisonments in, El Salvador as “one of the most shocking examples” of judicial overreach during the Trump administration.
“Boasberg ordered planes full of dangerous illegal aliens and alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to turn around mid-flight and return to the United States,” Lummis wrote in an opinion column published by Cowboy State Daily.
In the first three months of Trump’s presidency, judges have issued 15 nationwide injunctions on federal policies, Lummis wrote, one more than they did throughout the entirety of President Joe Biden’s term. “We must remember that judges are not policymakers – and they have not been elected by the American people to legislate. The people of Wyoming deserve a government where their elected representatives make the laws,” she wrote.
Her fellow Wyoming Bar members say she’s being disingenuous at best.
“You would think that any reasoned response to our letter might have paused to consider one of the first cases any of us read in our Constitutional Law course — Marbury v. Madison,” Schuster, the Jackson attorney, wrote in his email to colleagues.
That 1803 case established that the courts can find that laws passed by Congress and executive actions are unconstitutional. The delegation, Schuster continued, is arguing that “the Court really did not mean what they said and that its 222 years of lasting precedent … is vaporous.”
JACKSON, Wyo. – Jackson Hole Public Art (JHPA) is proud to announce the
public installation of 250 Portraits, a community art project featuring self-portraits created and submitted by Wyoming residents from across the state. Launched in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the project invited Wyomingites of all ages and backgrounds to submit portraits of themselves or other Wyoming residents, resulting in a vibrant and deeply personal collection of artwork.
Portraits were submitted by artists ranging in age from 5 to over 80, representing residents from 16 of Wyoming’s 23 counties. Participants included individuals, families, school groups, and educators who worked with their students to take part. The result is a wide-ranging snapshot of the people who call Wyoming home, from young children just beginning to express themselves through art to lifelong residents reflecting on decades of experience and identity.
The portraits are now on display in five large-scale grid installations located throughout downtown Jackson. They can be found at the Center for the Arts, JH Book Trader, the Antler Inn, the alley at Pinky G’s, and the Jackson Hole Elks Lodge. The exhibition will remain on view throughout the summer, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to take in the full collection at their own pace.
The exhibit, 250 Portraits, was designed to highlight both individual identity and collective belonging, weaving together faces from communities large and small into a single, statewide visual portrait of Wyoming’s people. By placing the work in accessible, high-traffic locations in downtown Jackson, JHPA hopes to spark conversation among residents and visitors about what it means to be part of a community that spans such a wide and varied landscape.
A self-guided walking map is available to help visitors navigate between the five sites and experience other public art projects throughout Jackson. For more information and to access the 2026 Public Art Map, visit https://www.jhpublicart.org/art/2026map.
Pair your portrait with an audio story! Please consider adding your voice to another state-wide project celebrating the stories of everyday Wyomingites: Re-Storying the West.
All over Wyoming, there are little free libraries in neighborhoods for those who are looking for a new book. The process is simple. Take a book and leave one for others to experience.
READ MORE: Wyoming’s Little Libraries
We also have neighborhood food pantries for families in a pinch who need a little help. Again, the process is easy. Take a meal, and when you’re able, leave one for another family in need.
READ MORE: A New Local Neighborhood Food Pantry System in Wyoming
Several of the North Platte River’s access points have loaner life jackets. Once again, it’s simple. If you need a life jacket, take one, then return it to another access point for others who need it.
READ MORE: Return The Loaner Life Jackets After You Use Them
These are fantastic programs across the state that show how much communities care about others. I found another program that I think would really fly here, and it’s already going strong in some places around the country, like Montana.
The process, just like these other programs, is simple but very effective. With Wyoming fisheries being so popular, these could help make it an even bigger global sensation.
Flybrary – Take a fly, leave a fly.
I saw this article on FlyLordsMag.com and thought it was fantastic.
Montana artist Brandi Massey is passionate about fly fishing, and she used her own experience of leaving her fly box at home when leaving for a fly fishing trip. After that experience, she remembered seeing a “Flybrary” on her social media timeline and decided to jump into action and do her own version of the “Flybrary” to ensure other fly fishing trips don’t get ruined because of not having any flies.
She had her dad build the box, got her permits, and put up her first “Flybrary” on the Blackfoot River, and has more in the works.
In the article, Brandi explained why she decided to do it.
I’ve been fly fishing since I could hold a fly pole in my hand. Always trying to catch more fish than my dad. I love the fly fishing community and this is a great way to stay connected to the community. I’m an artist and this is an amazing way to show a piece of myself to the world.
Have you ever seen a “Flybrary” out in the wild? LET ME KNOW HERE
The 22 Top Game Fish Of Wyoming
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