Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thomas Cool
Headline: Navy veteran conducts protest fast at Supreme Court
Subheadline: One Citizen’s Dissent against Trump vs. US decision
City, State, Date – 1 First Street NE, Washington, DC, Mon 29 – Wed 31 July 2024, 9AM – 3PM
There’s another Lone Sailor in the federal district. CDR Thomas Cool, USN (ret.) is conducting a protest fast against the 1 July 2024 Supreme Court decision in the Trump vs. US case. In company with Supreme Court Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson, as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris, and millions of Americans, Cool is concerned that the decision will embolden future Presidents to act with disdain for the rule of law.
“This extremely dangerous ruling could effectively place that President above the law and beyond all checks and balances. As long as the President – any future President, not just this one or the next one – can count on support from a third of the Senate or half of the Supreme Court, he or she will never be impeached successfully. In those cases, the effective criminal immunity conveyed by this ruling could encourage a rogue President with the character of, say, Nixon, to erode or even demolish our freedoms and our system of government.”
Cool is conducting his protest fast on the sidewalk of 1 First Street NE, in front of the entrance to the Supreme Court building, 9 AM to 3 PM, Monday 29 July to Wednesday 31 July. When asked why he isn’t eating anything for three days, he said, “Three days without food is nothing. I’m doing the fast in memory of all the sacrifices that Americans have made for hundreds of years while fighting for our freedoms, such as the hunger our forefathers endured in Valley Forge.”
This citizen’s protest is not affiliated with any local, regional or national organizations, although Cool says that he feels duty-bound to do something in fulfillment of his 1979 Navy oath of office, which obligated him to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic.”
“I will never offer violence against a fellow American over a difference of political opinion,” Cool said. “But my oath requires me to do something. This is something. At least, I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I did something, regardless of whatever happens in 2025 or in the years to come.”
Thomas Cool swears his Oath of Office, 18 May 1979