To watch the floor speech, click here

The full transcript of the speech can be found here

WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Angus King today spoke on the Senate floor to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of former U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s (R-ME) ‘Declaration of Conscience’ speech. The speech, delivered on June 1, 1950, would be the defining moment in which a Republican stood up to her own party in defense of American democracy.

More specifically, King called on his colleagues in both parties to remember her legacy and “…stop thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and start thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques – techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”

Early in the speech, King highlighted the importance of Constitutional boundaries.

King began, “And again, this is not about observing the boundaries prescribed by the Constitution just to check the appropriate boxes; this is about observing those boundaries to protect ourselves from the abuse that inevitably—inevitably—flows from the unbridled concentration of power. To those who like the policies of the President and are therefore willing to ignore the unconstitutional means of effectuating them, I (and history) can only say, watch out: Today, the target may be the undocumented or federal workers, but tomorrow (perhaps under a different King-President), it could be you.”

King then reminded his colleagues and the American people that the President’s unorthodox maneuvers are against the law.

“Echoing Senator Smith, today’s crisis should not be viewed as a partisan issue; this is not about Democrats or Republicans, or immigration or tax policy, or even the next set of elections; today’s crisis threatens the idea of America and the system of government that has sustained us for more than two centuries,” King said later in the speech. “Again, this is not about the President’s agenda (and yes, I disagree with most of it), it’s about the manner in which he is pursuing it—which includes ignoring the Constitution and the rule of law—and it’s this roughshod non-process that endangers all of us, his detractors and supporters alike.”

King concluded the speech by alluding to Smith as his inspiration for standing up to power, even when the moment may be difficult to face.

“So, with thanks to Margaret Chase Smith for her example and inspiration, this is my ‘Declaration of Conscience.’ I don’t relish this moment, but feel I have no choice but call out the clear implications—and dangers—of what is happening; to do otherwise, to keep silent, would be to compromise what I have believed about our country since my first civics class in high school and, at about the same time, when I watched my dad risk his career to fight for justice and the rule of law. And so, here I stand,” King concluded.

Senator King has been consistently sounding the alarm on President Donald Trump’s existential threat to the Constitution. He previously gave a speech on the Senate floor sharing that this administration is doing ‘exactly what the Framers [of the Constitution] most feared” and a speech where he shared his growing concerns over the Trump Administration’s usurpation of Congressional authority. Senator King also previously declared that the proposal to halt all federal grant and loan disbursement was illegal and a direct assault on the Constitution. More recently, he joined 36 Senators in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sharing the detrimental effects of  the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He also joined fellow Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) colleagues in writing a letter to the White House about the risks to national security by allowing unvetted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff and representatives to access classified and sensitive government materials.

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