Courts said it was unconstitutional. He’s doing it anyway.
Trump issued executive orders targeting four major law firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. The punishment: bar their lawyers from federal buildings, revoke security clearances, terminate government contracts with their clients. The crime: representing clients he didn’t like, running diversity programs, having the wrong political associations.
Lower court judges threw the orders out as unconstitutional. The administration appealed. They’re still fighting to make this stick.
Think about what this means. If your law firm has ever opposed this administration — or represented someone who did — you can be locked out of the federal government. Your clients lose their contracts. Your lawyers lose their clearances. The message to every other firm is unmistakable: stay away from his enemies or become one yourself.
This is how you gut the legal system without touching a single law. You just make it too dangerous to oppose him.
Sources: Reuters — appeals court fight | Reuters — firms’ defense | Reuters — relaunching the orders