Department of Justice Drops Defense of Trump’s Orders Punishing Law Firms
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Congressman Jamie Raskin said the US Department of Justice’s decision Monday to abandon its legal cases against law firms that refused to capitulate to President Donald Trump should serve as “a reminder that those who fight back against authoritarianism are winning.”
The DOJ asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to dismiss its cases against law firms including Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey, and Jenner & Block, which won legal challenges they filed last year after Trump issued executive orders saying they should lose government contracts and their employees should be blocked from government buildings.
Those executive orders were signed because the firms represented and employed high-profile Democrats and other opponents of Trump.
Other law firms, including Skadden Arps and Paul Weiss, angered lawyers within their ranks and the larger legal community when they signed deals with Trump; the latter firm agreed to end its internal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and provide $40 million in free legal work for the president and causes he supports.
The Trump administration’s decision on Monday proved, said Raskin (D-Md.), that “there’s no safety in appeasement.”
Trump Threatens Media, Opponents With Legal Action in DOJ Speech
“When the Trump administration tried to bully and silence law firms by banning them from federal buildings, courthouses and contracts, a handful — like Susman Godfrey, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale — fought back,” said Raskin. “Today, those firms forced Trump to back........
