I recently realized that I could name all nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. I could even recall their alleged political leanings, which seem to influence their legal decisions and corrupt their court.
Conversely, I could not name a single justice on the Supreme Court of Canada, nor do I know anything about their political views. That realization left me feeling oddly relieved. For all its flaws, I am grateful to live within a judicial system that keeps its impartiality largely intact and out of the spotlight.
I simultaneously began to think about how many other American political names I know right now — the inspiring, the infamous, the incompetent. The current U.S. political stage seems impossible to ignore; it pulls us into its constant drama: part civic theater and part moral barometer.
One of those American names I’m grateful to know is Letitia James. James has been New York’s Attorney General since 2019 — the first African American and first woman to hold the position.
In February 2024, James achieved a landmark victory in the fraud case against President Donald Trump. Judge Arthur Engoron’s 92-page ruling barred Trump from doing business in New York for three years and fined him more than $355 million.
Yet by October 2025, the story had turned. In a seeming act of retribution, James herself was indicted on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. She pleaded not guilty, denouncing the charges as “a blatant perversion of our system of justice” and asserting that
“This is nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”1
James continued in her courageous truth-telling, with words that stirred my own faith and sense of purpose by further declaring:
I’m a proud woman of faith. … Faith and fear cannot share the same space. Today I am not fearful — I am fearless. And as my faith teaches me, ‘No weapon formed against me shall prosper.’2
On the day of her arraignment, Letitia James invoked the Prophet Amos:
“Justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Her words have stayed with me — not only for their boldness and steadfastness, but for what they reveal about courage and the power of telling the truth. In an age when “justice” is often reduced to partisanship or spectacle, Letitia James stood before the storm and refused to bow.
In a world dominated by wastrel billionaires and feckless politicians, the shining light of Letitia James, attorney general of New York, is a light burning bright. Her witness reveals how in a world dominated by lies, courageous truth-telling reveals who we all are.
Photo credit: Letitia James at the NYC “March for our Lives” rally. Central Park South at Columbus Circle. Letitia at the head of the All Woman Identified Drumline FogoAzul NYC. Photographer: “Er-nay”, via Wikipedia. Some rights reserved.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
1 I am grateful for many of these insights to Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, an Assistant Pastor for Special Projects at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the author of If It Wasn’t for the Women: Black Women’s Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community. Her remarks are highlighted at Susan Thistlethwaite’s October 24 2025 Substack No Fear Religion and Politics. “No Fear! Black Women’s Soul Force Power Is Real”:
https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/no-fear-black-womens-soul-force-power
2 See a recording of James’ statement on YouTube and Instagram:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BU92TpoQeQ
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPmozIPj8qj/
Veronica Dunne is a Sister of our Lady of the Missions (RNDM), who has primarily worked as an educator and counsellor in institutional and community based settings in Canada. She has also served with the RNDMs outside of Canada in Senegal, Peru, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
A 2002 Doctor of Ministry graduate from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto, she subsequently served as director of the Doctor of Ministry program at St. Stephen’s College at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Her current research interests are in eco-theology and cosmology, and their intersections with indigenous cosmologies and spiritualties.
She presently serves on the RNDM leadership team in Canada.
What an insightful comment Veronica about knowing the names of the US Supreme Court Justices and not our own and why that has a positive connotation. One of our Justices, now retired, and a woman was recently sent death threats for daring to stand up for human rights. So many of the loudest democratic voices here and in the US and abroad, seem to be women. I believe it has always been so. Bravo my sisters.
Oh Veronica! You are so right! This reflection reveals so well the present light that shines from those who reveal truth! Thank you!
Veronica, your insights shared here remind me how important it is for us to be vigilant always to how the people working in our important institutions are appointed. And, how serious a responsibility it is to vote in our elections too. I was struck yesterday, on Remembrance Day, how many times I heard the statement, “these are dangerous times.”
Thank you, Veronica, for your tribute to the courage and steadfastness of Letitia James. May she receive the strength she needs and a dismissal of her indictment soon!