Liz Cheney, a top-level Republican Congresswoman from 2017-2023, visited Boston College eight days before the 2024 presidential election—admittedly, a very different political moment from today. The Council for Women of Boston College sponsored the conversation, and asked BC Law Dean Odette Lienau to moderate. Among the issues Cheney spoke about were growing up as the daughter of former Congressman and Vice President Dick Cheney, her perspective on Constitutional education, working across difference, and the future of unity in the country.
OL: Everyone is intensely focused on politics right now. You grew up in a political family. How did that shape your perspective?
LC: We were involved in political campaigns for as long as I can remember. I first worked for President Ford as a volunteer in 1976—though worked is a bit of a stretch: I was sealing envelopes. I loved the campaign. I loved the parades. I was very enthusiastic. When my dad was first running for Congress in 1978, my family had a motor home that my grandfather drove all across Wyoming to campaign. My job was to hand out campaign buttons, and any chance I got, I would jump out of the RV and hand out buttons.
I didn’t always plan to go into politics, but I wanted to be involved in policy. Though I remember as a student thinking it is all so big, how could anybody have an impact? What I know now—from what I’ve seen and where I sit—is the only thing that ever makes a difference is people who are engaged and advocate for the causes that they care about, people who are willing to make their communities and our country and the world better. If you fail, you have learned from that. Don’t think you have to wait for the perfect opportunity to dive in.
OL: How do you consider the intersection of law and politics, and how the Constitution fits into your work?
LC: We need to make sure that more people understand our Constitution and the institutions that undergird it. It isn’t just civics education in school, although that’s hugely important. When you are elected to Congress, people make an effort to say, today we’re going to teach you about the appropriations process, and then today we’re going to teach you about the rules committee; we do these boot camps.
One of the most bipartisan and important things we could do would be to have a Constitution boot camp for members of Congress. I once heard a member stand on the House floor and say, ‘We don’t have to let the courts tell us what to do.’ To that, you have to say, ‘Yes, you do. You’re in Congress. You can try to change the law, but we actually do abide by the rulings of the courts.’ We need to make sure members are educated.
“Let’s be principled. Let’s defend what we know is right, but in a way that reflects that we’re a good nation in addition to being a great nation.”
Former congresswoman Liz Cheney
OL: At BC Law, we pride ourselves on encouraging students to work across difference. Naturally, there is a tension between pragmatic compromise and standing on principle, and determining where your final line is. How do you think about that?
LC: That depends on the issue. When you and your constituents don’t agree on a matter at the level of, say, impeachment, what’s of fundamental importance is fidelity to the Constitution above everything else.
The reality of legislating is coming to agreement, though. Absolutely, there are certain issues where you can say, I’m not willing to negotiate beyond this point, but that implies a first step of being willing to have a discussion. Those who say they’re not willing to negotiate at all are the members who don’t get anything done. Again, I think it depends upon the individual and the issue and having done the work to understand the issue; that helps you know where your lines are and where you’re willing to negotiate.
OL: There is such a lack of unity in the country and so much anger. Is there a way to recover from all that we’ve seen so far?
LC: I absolutely think there is. One of the most effective exhibits I’ve ever seen is at the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois, and the museum there. They have an exhibit where you walk down a hallway and they’re projecting holograms of people from the 19th century, and they are yelling horrible things at you—things that people wrote in letters to Abraham Lincoln. That’s a very effective way to understand how awful politics have been; that was at the worst moment in our history. So, we can come back together, but it requires everybody to remember that none of us can be bystanders. We can’t sit by and think somebody else is going to fix all of this, somebody else is going to unify us.Let’s be principled. Let’s defend what we know is right, but in a way that reflects that we’re a good nation in addition to being a great nation. Let’s demand that our elected officials conduct themselves that way too. I believe—I know—the vast majority of Americans want to live in that country.