A judge demolishes Trump’s assault on law firms
6 May 2025
This is another great column by Jennifer Rubin of The Contrarian. As a lawyer for 39 years, I take particular offense at Trump’s attacks on the legal profession, judges and the Constitution and his enablers in the Republican U.S. House and Senate who are doing nothing about it.
As lawyers, we are Officers of the Court, not guns for hire. We are commanded to argue zealously on our client's behalf, but we must also honor our oath to support the Constitution. It is difficult, but sometimes we must tell our clients, “No - this action is not allowed by the law or the Constitution - I cannot take this case.” This may cause lawyers representing Trump to be fired, but that is the essence of being a professional - we cannot do everything our clients or patients want - we must abide by professional standards.
I anticipate that grievances will be filed against Trump’s lawyers for bringing frivolous cases against law firms, Harvard’s tax-exempt status and many other cases. These lawyers will then join the long list of lawyers who Trump has persuaded to violate their oaths of office and who have been disciplined.
U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Beryl Howell on Friday wrote an opinion for the ages regarding Donald Trump’s tyrannical attempt to punish the Perkins, Coie law firm. Howell began:
“No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’…. When Shakespeare’s character, a rebel leader intent on becoming king … hears this suggestion, he promptly incorporates this tactic as part of his plan to assume power, leading in the same scene to the rebel leader demanding ‘[a]way with him,’ referring to an educated clerk, who ‘can make obligations and write court hand’… Eliminating lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law removes a major impediment to the path to more power.”
In 102 pages, Howell meticulously analyzed Trump’s unconstitutional and tyrannical edict, striking it down in its entirety. (She even invalidated Trump’s revocation of security clearances, which many experts considered a long shot, given the deference usually afforded to presidents on national security.)
“By its terms, this Order stigmatizes and penalizes a particular law firm and its employees—from its partners to its associate attorneys, secretaries, and mailroom attendants—due to the Firm’s representation, both in the past and currently, of clients pursuing claims and taking positions with which the current President disagrees, as well as the Firm’s own speech,” Howell explained. “In a cringe-worthy twist on the theatrical phrase ‘Let’s kill all the lawyers,’ [Executive Order] 14230 takes the approach of ‘Let’s kill the lawyers I don’t like,’ sending the clear message: lawyers must stick to the party line, or else.”
. . .
The decision powerfully illustrates how far out of constitutional bounds Trump has ventured, how irresponsible, weak (and silly) the firms were that settled, and how critical the courts are in halting a dangerous bully’s quest for dictatorial powers.
. . .
Trump’s gusher of executive decrees cannot conceal that he has been spectacularly inept in effectuating many of his objectives, nor can they mask Congress’s fecklessness. It has passed only 5 bills this year, several of which merely express disapproval of regulations.
We have a do-nothing Congress, a president claiming bizarre, unlimited powers to pursue revenge, but—thank goodness—judges across the country who appear determined to protect our constitutional system from Trump’s predations. If it rediscovers its constitutional responsibilities, Congress might tip the balance in favor of the rule of law. Source
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