Trump’s executive orders have big leftist law firms running scared

 In his first term, some of the biggest law firms in America actively worked to destroy the Trump presidency. Now that President Trump is back, he has called out those firms and placed limits on their access to his administration. Suddenly, big leftist law firms aren’t that interested in destroying Trump anymore.

As conservatives know, some of the most aggressive action against Trump in his first term came from lawyers at large, leftist law firms, especially Andrew Weissmann, who worked at Jenner & Block between stints working to destroy Trump, the entire firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (“Paul, Weiss”), and Marc Elias, of the Elias Law Group.

Weissman was a lead figure in the Russia Hoax, acting as the front man for Robert Mueller, who may already have been lapsing into the apparent dementia he showed when he testified before Congress. Marc Elias was involved in creating the faked Steele Dossier that gave rise to the Russia Hoax. And, as the New York Times proudly reported in 2018, Paul, Weiss dedicated itself to undermining Trump’s efforts to stop illegal immigration. These attorneys functioned as Democrat party attack dogs rather than as defenders of the rule of law.

Image by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

And of course, there were prosecutors, both federal and state, who used their power to try to destroy Donald Trump once he left office, most notably Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, and Letitia James. Lawfare was real, and it was lawyers against Trump.

On March 22, Trump issued a memorandum barring several individuals from continued access to classified information. Many were political figures such as Biden and his family, Liz Cheney, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, etc., but it was notable that several were attorneys, both in private practice and working for state and federal governments. Thus, with the stroke of a pen, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Andrew Weissman had their clearance withdrawn and lost the privilege of unescorted access to United States government facilities. This loss of security clearance extended to any clearance the named people might have received by virtue of working for a private contractor with clearance.

Ouch. Some of the named people are able to keep the money flowing precisely because of those now-revoked security clearances. They’re not facing jail but they are possibly losing their livelihoods.

On the same day, Trump issued another memorandum explicitly calling out Marc Elias for his role in the now-admittedly fraudulent Steele dossier, and calling out those law firms that have been gaming the legal system to get illegal immigrants into America and keep them there. Trump properly describes this behavior as both illegal and unethical. Therefore, Trump, called upon the Attorney General to investigate law firm and lawyer abuses and to prosecute those who blatantly violated federal law.  

The WaPo is now reporting with horror that these actions—calling to account law firms that used unethical and illegal means to violate the law—mean that fewer big firms are willing to stick their necks out to defend the activists currently attacking Trump or to engage in the lawfare that characterized Trump’s first term:

President Donald Trump’s crackdown on lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents’ ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions in court, according to people who say they are struggling to find legal representation as a result of his challenges.

Biden-era officials said they’re having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them. The volunteers and small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the legal resistance to Trump administration actions say that the well-resourced law firms that once would have backed them are now steering clear.

[snip]

Trump’s campaign against the law firms could deprive his opponents of top legal talent, weakening their ability to push back on him, analysts say. And individuals and groups that are taking risks by working against the administration’s agenda may also be deeply vulnerable, forcing them to make difficult choices about when to take a stand against him and when to stay silent.

The WaPo, naturally, says this is a threat to the whole constitutional system. You may recall that the WaPo had no such concerns when the Biden administration and its state prosecution allies criminally charged the lawyers who represented Trump during the 2020 election. That means that their tears now are crocodile tears, rather than principled concerns.

The essay also contains this little tidbit about the huge owie Trump inflicted on these firms by denying them security clearance:

The executive order barred the firm’s lawyers from federal buildings and directed the federal government to halt any financial relationship with the firm and its clients. That effectively forced Perkins Coie’s clients to pick between their lawyers or any federal government business they might have.

The move could cost Perkins 25 percent of its revenue, the firm said in a court filing contesting the executive order. It said that several clients have already departed the firm, others have said they are thinking about it, and federal agencies were excluding it from key meetings with its clients.

Trump, the master of the deal, forced a concession from Paul, Weiss in exchange for its maintaining access: the firm will “devote $40 million worth of pro bono work “to support the administration’s initiatives,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, including work for veterans and combating antisemitism.”

By shutting down flow of taxpayer money that came from agencies such as USAID and by making lawyers think twice about the risks of taking on spurious cases, Trump has delivered a one-two bunch undercutting the antidemocratic juggernaut of leftist lawfare.

In a just world, Trump would be the star of an amazing action movie: The hero, beaten badly, retreats to his hideaway, licks his wounds, and contemplates how to beat the bad guy. He emerges renewed and ready to take on the enemy. The audience should be cheering right now. I know that I am.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/03/trump_s_executive_orders_have_big_leftist_law_firms_running_scared.html

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/03/impeach_the_judges.html