Trump Is Going After the Independence of the Entire Legal Profession, Not Just Big Law
A new presidential memo is meant to instill fear in any firm that dares to represent his political adversaries
On Wednesday, March 26, we published Walter Olson’s eye-popping essay, “Trump Is Going After the Independence of the Entire Legal Profession, Not Just Big Law.”
Here’s how the piece begins:
The Trump administration’s assault on lawyers who represent its perceived adversaries has so far targeted by decree three major firms and caused one of them, the venerable Paul, Weiss, to capitulate. But a new presidential memorandum outlines the White House’s expansion to a more general scheme of penalties against law firms that take legal positions that it regards as baseless, vexatious, or unreasonable across the range of courtroom disputes in which the federal government is a party. Unless stopped—whether by the courts or some other form of pushback coming from civil society—these policies will endanger the health of, and may even constitute an existential threat to, an independent legal profession or bar willing to vigorously stand up to the federal government.
Make sure to read the whole thing:
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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