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| - In December 2021, the publication The Epoch Times credited Alber with writing the letter. However, Alber told Snopes in a May 2022 phone call that he previously worked as a bench officer, not a judge. We have yet to uncover any documentary evidence to verify Alber’s employment as a bench officer.
An online rumor claims a former judge from California named Keith M. Alber penned a letter appearing in a newspaper under the title "Opinion From a Former Judge." Users shared the rumor on Facebook beginning around December 2021.
As of May 2022, one of the more popular Facebook posts featuring the article received at least tens of thousands of shares. That post later disappeared.
The letter read as follows:
Opinion From a Former Judge
I am a student of law whose age is 85. My first year of college was 68 years ago. One class I took was political science. A half-page of my textbook essentially outlined a few steps to overturn a democracy.
1) Divide the nation philosophically.
2) Foment racial strife.
3) Cause distrust of police authority.
4) Swarm the nation's borders indiscriminately and unconstitutionally.
5) Engender the military strength to weaken it.
6) Overburden citizens with more unfair taxation.
7) Encourage civil rioting and discourage accountability for all crime.
8) Control all balloting.
9) Control all media.
What was printed in 1954 as a possible diabolic nightmare has become an emerging reality. I hope that Americans will unite enough to pen a good finish - Go dwelling.
Keith M. Alber, California
In our research, we found evidence of the publication The Epoch Times reprinting the letter with Alber's name in December 2021. However, Alber told Snopes in a May 2022 phone call he served as a bench officer — not as a judge — in the California Superior Court system. We have yet to uncover any documentary evidence to confirm his employment as a bench officer.
The Origins of the Newspaper Article
In our research of the letter credited to Alber, we found a syndicated columnist named Ronald Hart once reprinted it in the Tennessee publication Main Street Maury, on Dec. 15, 2021.
In our phone call with Alber in May 2022, he said he wrote the letter in October 2021 and sent it to The Epoch Times newspaper. We verified the publication of the letter in the newspaper's letter to the editor section "The Reader's Turn" on Dec. 5, 2021 — just ten days before Hart's column. (The Epoch Times has a history of promoting far-right political rhetoric and conspiracy theories.)
Alber told us he couldn't remember the name of the college textbook he referenced in his letter but did recall having the book in 1954 when he attended Napa College, or what is now called Napa Valley College.
Interviewing Alber
During our phone call, Alber said, "At the time I read [the steps to overturn a democracy] back in 1954, I thought, 'That could never happen. That would be a nightmare.' And it would be disastrous for this country if that ever did happen. Years later, when it was happening, the attempt to achieve those goals was a reality. I became very alarmed."
Alber then claimed, "I have pretty much dedicated my life to the justice system and laws. I was a bench officer for 25 years in the Superior Court, and I've been interviewed by many news people. I don't know, I just feel [the current state of the country is] a very sad comment on the public being so dumb."
On the subject of politics, Alber told us, "I don't have any comment about politics. It's not my specialty. And, so I don't say anything about it. I'm like Voltaire. I may not agree with what you say but I will defend your right to say it." (The Quote Investigator website previously looked into this quote and ruled it as misattributed to Voltaire, adding, "The words above reportedly originated with an English author named Evelyn Beatrice Hall in 1906.")
Again, we have yet to find any evidence that might help confirm Alber's employment as a bench officer. We contacted the California Superior Court system and will update this story if we receive any further details.
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