Many citizens — hitherto blithely unaware of anything outside of bread and the Circus of Their Choice — have suddenly become interested in What’s Going On in Washington. Motivation to express personal opinions is strong — and so are the opinions, and so, sometimes, is the language. Etiquetteer has some guidelines about official correspondence for those ready to express themselves.
Justices of the US Supreme Court do not provide a mechanism to receive email from fellow citizens, so you will have to utilize your good old-fashioned letter-writing skills. Greeting cards and fold-over notecards are not best for official correspondence such as this. Use standard size 8.5x11 stationery; in fact, the White House prefers it for snailmail. (Unlike the Court, the White House accepts email.)
Contact information for the Supreme Court may be found on their website here. If you are writing to the Chief Justice, address your letter to “The Chief Justice of the United States,” because there’s only one. If you are writing to another Justice, address your letter to “Justice [Name of Justice].”
The other branches of government are more tech savvy. Contact information for members of both houses of the United States Congress may be found on their website here. You will need your nine-digit ZIP code, which you may look up here. The Protocol School of Washington has a very helpful web pages on how to address a member of Congress and a Senator.
Contact information for the White House may be found here. You’d think writing “The White House, Washington, DC,” on an envelope (and a stamp) would be enough for the Post Office, but the White House requests that you write the full address “to make sure your letter gets to us as quickly and directly as possible.” If you are writing to the President, address your letter to “The President” (like the Chief Justice, there’s only one). Correspondence to the Vice President is likewise addressed to “The Vice President.”
It should not be necessary to state this, but when writing to any of these government officials — to anyone at all, really, no matter who — threats of death and/or physical violence are completely out of place. Haven’t we had enough of this? Aside from their repugnance, they will probably only serve to get you put on some sort of government watch list, which must be the last thing anyone wants. Please restrain yourself if you find your thoughts drifting in that direction.
Legal Beagle has some wonderful advice on how to write to the Supreme Court, but in general Etiquetteer would advise you to speak from your heart, briefly, simply (without a lot of big words), and without veering off topic. Etiquetteer forgets who said that a letter longer than four pages indicated an unstable mind*, but it’s good advice. Profanity, while tempting in part because it’s so ubiquitous, will probably obscure your message.
A television comic recently joked that a sign of old age was thinking “you can still get things done with a letter.” Etiquetteer prefers the term “in my prime,” thank you, and will ask you to cover your mouth when you scoff. Etiquetteer wishes you a brisk thoughts, swift action, and positive change.
*Alas, these days it often indicates that it is a fund-raising letter.