By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Rep. Liz Cheney, who has led her Republican Party to sharply criticize President-elect Donald Trump and some of his allies, was one of 20 people the president honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors . Joe Biden on Thursday.
The order is given to Americans for their service to the country or its citizens, the White House announced.
Biden, speaking in the East Room of the White House, praised the honorees for their courage, leadership, service and empathy.
“I think it’s pretty damn simple: our democracy begins and ends with civic duties,” he said. “Our work continues.”
Presidential medals, which go through a less rigorous approval process than the Medal of Honor or Acts of Pardon, give the president an opportunity to honor people who fought for the causes he championed.
Cheney is a one-time Republican member of Congress who served as vice chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol.
She received a standing ovation at Thursday’s ceremony. In October, she called on Americans to reject Trump’s “depraved cruelty” while campaigning in support of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who later lost to Trump.
Media reports say Biden is considering a preemptive pardon to protect her from retaliation by the next administration. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said last month he supported calling for the FBI to investigate Cheney because of her role in leading the congressional investigation.
Other recipients of the medal included Democratic Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, who served as chairman of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, attorney Mary Bonauto, who argued a landmark marriage equality case before the Supreme Court, women’s rights activists Eleanor Smeal and Evan Wolfson, and leader of the movement for marriage equality.
Veterans, health care advocates and former lawmakers with close, decades-long ties to Biden were also on the list, such as former Democratic senators Ted Kaufman, Chris Dodd and Bill Bradley.
In a separate ceremony, Biden spoke about the 235 judges he has nominated and confirmed, including a record number of women and people of color. This followed the judiciary’s ideological shift to the right during Trump’s first term as president.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the confirmations would be one of Biden’s “most consequential accomplishments.”
“The good news is that these judges will be a barrier against attacks on our democratic institutions,” he said. “These judges will have the first and often decisive influence on cases involving the right to vote in elections and democracy in general.”
