Prime Democrats on the Home and Senate judiciary committees despatched letters to 2 legislation corporations that struck offers with President Donald Trump to keep away from being punished for hiring or representing individuals who Trump considers enemies.
In response to the Washington Submit, Democrats Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut despatched letters to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, each of which agreed to spend tens of tens of millions of {dollars} on pro-bono authorized work for Trump’s pet causes to get again in his good graces.
Wilkie Farr, which hadn’t even gotten hit with a retaliatory govt order but, lower a preemptive deal with Trump out of concern that he would punish the agency for hiring Doug Emhoff, husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
As Every day Kos authorized professional Lisa Needham wrote final month: “What these firms have in common is the extreme crime of having represented Democrats.”
Within the letters, Raskin and Blumenthal stated that Trump’s use of govt orders to extract concessions from legislation corporations quantities to “an unlawful shakedown of the authorized career.” In addition they demanded that the corporations hand over communications discussing the offers they lower.
In addition they requested for info on how these legislation corporations had been chosen for punishment, a listing of different corporations going through potential sanctions, and whether or not the White Home counsel’s workplace or the Division of Justice weighed in on the legality of the latest agreements.
“These orders do more than just take revenge against particular lawyers who have crossed Donald Trump. They are meant to send the message that it is dangerous to oppose him in court, that you are apt to suffer not just yourself, but also law firms that you’re associated with will suffer sweeping penalties that can threaten their very ability to go on existing,” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, advised CBS Information.
Equally, professors David Cole from Georgetown Regulation and Amrit Singh from Stanford Regulation College echoed these sentiments in an op-ed for The Guardian.
“Donald Trump, who has launched his second term with a blizzard of blatantly illegal actions, many of which have been suspended by the courts, has decided to address the problem at its root. He’s targeting lawyers, punishing them for doing nothing more than filing lawsuits he opposes, or hiring lawyers he does not like. He has issued unprecedented executive orders penalizing five of the nation’s major law firms, and more are likely to come,” they wrote.
The 2 professors continued to name out Trump’s actions as an assault on “the rule of law.”
“These tactics, blatantly illegal, are designed with one goal in mind: to chill lawyers’ willingness to challenge his illegal actions. They are a fundamental attack on the foundation of the rule of law. And they are achieving their purpose, not because they are legal–they obviously are not–but because too many law firms are surrendering to Trump’s illegal demands,” they wrote.
And his efforts are having Trump’s desired impact.
In response to the Washington Submit, Biden-era officers stated they’re having hassle discovering attorneys who’re keen to defend them, because the well-resourced legislation corporations that when would have backed them are actually steering clear.
And Trump has been bragging about how his efforts are working.
“They’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir, thank you very much.’ Law firms are just saying, ‘Where do I sign? Where do I sign?’” he stated.
Trump promised to be a dictator on Day 1, and he’s succeeding.
