Formal notice sent by certified mail to Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd on April 17, 2025.

Formal_Notice_Tillis_Budd_April_2025.md

James E. Scarborough
April 17, 2025

To Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd
Subject: Formal Notice — Active Collapse of Constitutional Order Under Your Watch

I am writing as a citizen of North Carolina—a parent, neighbor, and believer in the republic we still had in December—flawed but governed by law.

This letter constitutes a formal notice, entered into the public record. You are now on documented notice that the President of the United States is dismantling constitutional democracy and exercising unlawful power. The evidence is not theoretical. It is already in the record.

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You are hereby notified of the following:

1. Donald J. Trump engaged in insurrection.
   Anderson v. Griswold (Colo. 2023): The Colorado Supreme Court found Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

   Trump v. Anderson, 601 U.S. 100 (2024): The U.S. Supreme Court did not dispute the Colorado court’s finding. It ruled only that enforcement of the disqualification clause must come from Congress. That responsibility now lies with you.

2. He is defying the Supreme Court.
   Noem v. Abrego Garcia, No. 24A949: The Court ordered the federal government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a lawful U.S. resident unlawfully deported to El Salvador. The administration has refused to comply. Mr. Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in CECOT, a military-run facility condemned for systemic human rights abuses.

3. He is threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve.
   The President has publicly declared that Chair Jerome Powell’s removal “cannot come fast enough.”¹ This is a direct assault on the institutional independence of the Fed and a reckless threat to the financial stability of the United States. It endangers inflation control, global market confidence, and the financial well-being of millions of North Carolinians.

4. He is purging the federal government to install a loyalty regime.
   Through targeted layoffs and reassignments, the administration is dismantling the career civil service and concentrating executive power in ideologically aligned loyalists. This is not policy preference—it is state capture.^{2 3 4}

5. He is a convicted felon currently serving as President.
   People v. Trump, Indictment No. 71543-2023 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.): Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts by a unanimous jury of twelve citizens, following a public trial with full legal representation and judicial oversight. The trial followed due process under state and federal law, despite his repeated attempts to delay or derail it. Despite this, he holds executive power, highlighting the collapse of legal constraints and the corrosion of public trust in democratic institutions.

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These are not warning signs. We are living in the aftermath of breach.

The consequences are no longer hypothetical.

The institutions you serve are being dismantled.

The stability you depend on—legal, economic, civic—is unraveling.

The Constitution no longer functions as designed. Law is no longer applied equally. The President violates court orders, dismantles institutional independence, and governs through fear and reward. And still—he governs.

This is not unprecedented. It is entirely precedented:

• In 1930s Germany, the Reichstag still met under dictatorship.

• In Hungary, Orbán’s regime retained a judiciary on paper long after it lost real power.

• In Turkey, Erdogan consolidated control under the guise of legal reform and national security.

The lie of American exceptionalism is this:
That our collapse would look different. That someone else would stop it. That it would be obvious.

It does not feel different.
It feels like normalization.
It feels like resignation.
It feels like Senators looking away.

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You still have lawful tools available. You could speak. You could object. You could draw a line—publicly, forcefully, and with the moral clarity your office demands. You could call for impeachment proceedings. You could act—not later, but now.

And if you do not:

• The economy will crash—not in theory, but in fact. Confidence will vanish. Markets will collapse. Global trust in the dollar will wither. We have seen this before, in 1929 and 2008. You will be blamed—and rightly so.

• The Constitution will fail—not just in spirit, but in structure. Courts that are defied become irrelevant. Agencies hollowed out become husks. Democracies tested this way do not survive without internal resistance. The Weimar Constitution remained on paper—but it no longer governed.

Your oath requires action in the face of collapse—not commentary from the sidelines.

Act now. Or reap what you have sown.

If you choose silence, let this stand as what it is:
A formal notice. A matter of record. An indictment of complicity.

You have been warned.

I sign this not in protest, but in defense—of the country we were promised, and the oath you have yet to honor.

Patriotically,

James E. Scarborough
Constituent

To do my duty to God and my country.

Footnotes

1. Howard Schneider, “Trump slams Fed’s Powell over rates, saying termination can’t ‘come fast enough.’” Reuters, April 17, 2025. ↩

2. Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative (February 2025): https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-workforce-optimization-initiative/ ↩

3. Executive Order 14151: Creation of the Department of Government Efficiency and restructuring of civil service classifications. ↩

4. “Federal Court Orders Reinstatement of Fired Probationary Employees”, AFGE, March 13, 2025. ↩