For weeks, President Trump has been issuing executive orders and memos that levy or threaten sanctions on major law firms.The moves suspend security clearances, cancel government contracts, bar employees from federal buildings — and other actions that threaten their ability to represent their clients.While Trump complains the law firms employed "very dishonest people," legal experts say Trump is retaliating against firms who have represented his political opponents or, in one case, rehired an attorney who had left his position to help prosecute a case against Trump.We hear from Rachel Cohen, who publicly resigned from her law firm in protest.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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For weeks now, President Donald Trump has been issuing memos and executive orders targeting big law firms. Here's how he laid it out on Fox News.
We have a lot of law firms that we're going to be going after because they were very dishonest people. They were very, very dishonest. They could go point after point after point.
Trump's moves suspended firm security clearances, prohibited government contractors from retaining the firms, and even barred their employees from federal buildings. He also issued an executive memo threatening sanctions on any law firms that pursue, quote, frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.
Here's how Professor Timothy Zick at William & Mary Law School describes it all.
This is an effort to target and retaliate against
Each of the firms had fallen afoul of Trump in one way or another. Perkins Coie, for example, represented Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign and had a hand in the creation of the infamous Trump-Russia dossier. With another firm, Paul Weiss, the complaints included the rehiring of an attorney who had left to help prosecute a case against Trump.
In court, the Trump administration has argued that the president has the authority to take action against companies if he believes they can't be trusted with national secrets. University of Pennsylvania law professor Claire Finkelstein says it appears clear the president has a different goal.
I think if you look at the purpose of the executive orders, it's to intimidate professionals, to intimidate the legal profession. from engaging in professional activities that go against Donald Trump and the current administration.
Perkins Coie fought the order targeting it and won a temporary stay. A federal judge said the order likely violates the firm's First, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. One of the firm's targeted poll, Weiss, cut a deal with the White House in order to have an executive order rescinded. Other law firms have stayed silent. And that doesn't sit well with Rachel Cohen.
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