Trump Loses Another Battle in His War Against Elite Law Firms; The New York Times, May 27, 2025

 Zach Montague, The New York Times; Trump Loses Another Battle in His War Against Elite Law Firms

"“The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The founding fathers knew this!” Judge Leon wrote in a 73-page opinion laced with more than two dozen exclamation points.

“Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence,” he wrote. “Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no executive order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights.”

So far, federal judges have steadfastly rejected what they have described as an effort by the White House to subjugate the nation’s top law firms."

We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the U.S.; The New York Times, May 14, 2025

Marci ShoreTimothy Snyder and Jason Stanley

Video by Francesca Trianni and James Robinson

, The New York Times; We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the U.S.

"Legal residents of the United States sent to foreign prisons without due process. Students detained after voicing their opinions. Federal judges threatened with impeachment for ruling against the administration’s priorities.

In the Opinion video above, Marci Shore, Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley, all professors at Yale and experts in authoritarianism, explain why America is especially vulnerable to a democratic backsliding — and why they are leaving the United States to take up positions at the University of Toronto."

Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked About Due Process and Upholding Constitution; The New York Times, May 4, 2025

Jonathan Swan , The New York Times; Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked About Due Process and Upholding Constitution

"President Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday that he did not know whether every person on American soil was entitled to due process, despite constitutional guarantees, and complained that adhering to that principle would result in an unmanageable slowdown of his mass deportation program.

The revealing exchange, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” was prompted by the interviewer Kristen Welker asking Mr. Trump if he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that citizens and noncitizens in the United States were entitled to due process.

“I don’t know,” Mr. Trump replied. “I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”

Ms. Welker reminded the president that the Fifth Amendment says as much.

“I don’t know,” Mr. Trump said again. “It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials.” Left unmentioned was how anyone could be sure these people were undocumented immigrants, let alone criminals, without hearings."

Trump presidential orders target law firms. Here's how some lawyers say that threatens the rule of law.; CBS News, May 4, 2025

Scott Pelley, CBS News; Trump presidential orders target law firms. Here's how some lawyers say that threatens the rule of law.

[Kip Currier: The Trump Executive Orders against select law firms violate the spirit and substance of foundational democratic beliefs and rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. 

The right to legal counsel is a fundamental precept of America's justice system and democracy.  Trump's Executive Orders imperil the right to legal counsel.

It is a conservative principle that finds its roots in the rebellion of the Thirteen Original Colonies against the human rights-starved tyranny of colonial England under King George III (1760-1820).

It is a tenet that has set the U.S. apart from authoritarian regimes.

The right to legal counsel is in jeopardy under the current administration.

The courageous, democratically-principled lawyers, law firms, judges, and legal organizations that are standing up and speaking out against these baseless unconstitutional actions deserve our admiration, support, and gratitude.]

[Excerpt]

"It was nearly impossible to get anyone on camera for this story because of the fear now running through our system of justice. In recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms — orders with the power to destroy them. That matters because lawsuits have been a check on the president's power. Many firms and attorneys have been targeted, among them Marc Elias, a long time opponent of Trump who is the only lawyer the president has named who was willing to appear on 60 Minutes. Elias, and others, are warning that Trump's assault on the legal profession threatens the rule of law itself. Elias says that for him, it began with the president's personal grudge...

In a shock to the legal community, nine major firms went to the White House to make a deal. Some say they were pressured, not by a written order, but by a message from the White House threatening an order...

Marc Elias: It is trying to intimidate them the way in which a mob boss intimidates people in the neighborhood that he is seeking to either exact protection money from or engage in other nefarious conduct. I mean, the fact is that these law firms are being told, "If you don't play ball with us, maybe somethin' really bad will happen to you." 

The nine firms did not admit wrongdoing but, altogether, they agreed to give nearly $1 billion in legal services to causes that the firms and Trump support. 

Donald Ayer: Our whole system of government is at stake.

Attorney Donald Ayer should know. He argued before the Supreme Court for the Reagan administration. He was deputy attorney general for George H. W. Bush. Today, he teaches at Georgetown Law...

Four firms are standing up and fighting in court. Judges protected them with temporary restraining orders. Law professor Donald Ayer says, in his view, Trump's orders violate the constitutional rights to free speech, due process and the right to counsel."

Trump’s Order Targeting Law Firm Perkins Coie Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules; The New York Times, May 2, 2025

Zach Montague , The New York Times; Trump’s Order Targeting Law Firm Perkins Coie Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

"A federal judge ruled on Friday that an executive order President Trump signed in March targeting the law firm Perkins Coie was unconstitutional and directed the government not to enforce its terms, which had threatened to upend the firm’s business.

The ruling was the first time a court had stepped in to permanently bar Mr. Trump from trying to punish a law firm he opposes politically.

Skipping a trial and moving directly to a final ruling, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that attempts to bring the firm to heel under the threat of retaliation amounted to unlawful coercion, and imperiled its lawyers’ ability to freely practice law.

“No American president has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue,” she wrote, adding, “In purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’”"

Trump Says He Could Free Abrego Garcia From El Salvador, but Won’t; The New York Times, April 30, 2025

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, The New York Times; Trump Says He Could Free Abrego Garcia From El Salvador, but Won’t

"President Trump, whose administration has insisted it could not bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador to the United States, said he does have the ability to help return the wrongly deported Maryland man, but is not willing to do so because he believes he is a gang member...

Mr. Trump’s comments not only undermined previous statements by his top aides, but were a blunt sign of his administration’s intention to double down and defy the courts. Before the interview with ABC News, the administration had dug in on its refusal to heed the Supreme Court order to help return Mr. Abrego Garcia, who is a Salvadoran migrant. Trump officials have said that because he was now in a Salvadoran prison, it was up to the Salvadoran government to release him...

During the interview with ABC News, Mr. Trump also argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s tattooed hands were evidence of his gang ties. Mr. Trump has accused him of being a member of MS-13, previously sharing a photograph of the tattoos, altered with the label MS-13 above the symbols.

In the interview, Mr. Trump appeared to conflate the label with the actual tattoos as he argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia was a gang member.

The tattoos themselves appear to be real, but some gang experts have questioned whether they are truly MS-13 symbols."

Exclusive: Most Americans see Trump as "dangerous dictator," poll says; Axios, April 29, 2025

 

• Russell Contreras, Axios; Exclusive: Most Americans see Trump as "dangerous dictator," poll says

"

Share who say they agree that President Trump is a "dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy" 

Survey of 5,025 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 28 to March 20, 2025

A bar chart showing the share of U.S. adults who say they agree that "President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy." Overall, 52% of Americans agree. By party, 87% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans agree. Along racial and ethnic lines, 67% of Black people agree, compared to 45% of white people.

All Americans

52%

Party

Democrats

87

Independents

56

Republicans

17

Race/ethnicity

Black

67

Latino

63

Asian American or
Pacific Islander

58

White

45

Data: PRRI; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals

A majority of Americans say President Trump is a "dangerous dictator" who poses a threat to democracy and believe he's overstepped his authority by actions such as the mass firing of federal employees, a new survey says."

A Road Map of Trump’s Lawless Presidency, According to 35 Legal Scholars; The New York Times, April 28, 2025

New York Times Opinion , The New York Times; A Road Map of Trump’s Lawless Presidency, According to 35 Legal Scholars

"Times Opinion recently reached out to dozens of legal scholars and asked them to identify the most significant unconstitutional or unlawful actions by Mr. Trump and his administration in the first 100 days of his second presidency and to assess the damage. We also asked them to separate actions that might draw legal challenges but are, in fact, within the powers of the president. And we asked them to connect the dots on where they thought Mr. Trump was heading.

We heard back from 35 scholars — a group full of diverse viewpoints and experiences, including liberals like U.C. Berkeley’s Erwin Chemerinsky and Harvard’s Jody Freeman; the conservatives Adrian Vermeule at Harvard and Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals court judge who directs Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center and is a member of the Federalist Society; and the libertarians Ilya Somin at George Mason University and Evan Bernick at Northern Illinois University. Many are among the nation’s most cited scholars by their colleagues in law review articles...

Due process dates back to Magna Carta; it is the essence of liberty. Without it, America is not a democracy as freedom itself is at the arbitrary whims of a malevolent ruler.
— Kim Wehle, professor, University of Baltimore School of Law...

Universities, law firms, public schools, et cetera, are being attacked because of their political views: their opposition to the president, their adoption of D.E.I. policies, their liberalism more generally. These moves flout the cardinal rule of the First Amendment, which is that the government can’t punish people because of their political speech. — Nicholas Stephanopoulos, professor, Harvard Law School

Appeals court won’t lift order to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s return in blistering opinion; The Hill, April 17, 2025

ZACH SCHONFELD  , The Hill; Appeals court won’t lift order to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s return in blistering opinion

"The 4th Circuit declined to put Xinis’s ruling on hold just one day after the administration filed the appeal, a swift order that came without waiting for Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to file their response.

“The relief the government is requesting is both extraordinary and premature. While we fully respect the Executive’s robust assertion of its Article II powers, we shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel... 

The Trump administration has acknowledged he was mistakenly deported due to an “administrative error” but contends the courts are powerless to intervene because the man is no longer in U.S. custody...

“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all,” Wilkinson wrote.

“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” he continued. “Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” 

Wilkinson, an appointee of former President Reagan, was joined on the panel by U.S. Circuit Judge Robert King, who is an appointee of former President Clinton, and U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, who is an appointee of former President Obama."

Judge blocks most of Trump order against Susman Godfrey, laments law firms 'capitulating'; Reuters, April 15, 2025

Mike Scarcella and David Thomas, Reuters; Judge blocks most of Trump order against Susman Godfrey, laments law firms 'capitulating'

"A federal judge on Tuesday blocked most of Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firm Susman Godfrey, part of the Republican U.S. president's campaign against the legal industry, and lamented that other firms have been "capitulating" to what she called his coercion and abuse of power.

Washington-based U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued a temporary restraining order halting provisions of Trump's directive that threatened to cancel federal contracts held by Susman Godfrey's clients and restricted access by its lawyers to government buildings and officials.

"The government is purely trying to control what private lawyers may do, which I do not think will withstand constitutional scrutiny," the judge said at a hearing.\

Susman Godfrey sued the administration on Friday, arguing that Trump's order violated the firm's rights to free speech, due process and other protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Nine firms, including Paul Weiss, Skadden Arps and Simpson Thacher, have cut deals with the White House since Trump began targeting law firms he disfavors in February. Four firms have filed lawsuits challenging Trump."

Bring. Him. Home.; The Bulwark, April 15, 2025

JONATHAN V. LAST, The Bulwark; Bring. Him. Home.

"Five Questions

We’re going to give elected leaders in the Democratic party a charge and then talk about how the public can rally. But first, I have some questions to consider.

(1) What are the terms of the U.S. government’s contract with El Salvador for imprisonment of individuals rendered?

(2) Where in the U.S. government do the funds paid to El Salvador originate from? And who, exactly, is the payee?

(3) What are the terms of the services being contracted for? How many meals per day for the prisoners? What are the healthcare arrangements? How are these provisions itemized and invoiced? What governmental body is monitoring the contractor (and who is the contractor?) for compliance?

(4) What rules or laws govern the “corrections officers” who work at CECOT?

But most important:

(5) What are the terms of the sentences for those incarcerated at CECOT? When will they be paroled or released?

Do you believe that anyone from America who goes into CECOT will ever come out?

I do not.

This is not incarceration; it is liquidation.

Incarceration is a penal act. It is controlled by laws. There are well-understood mechanisms governing the length of terms, applications for parole, processes for release.

Liquidation is a political act. It is arbitrary, opaque, and unappealable. There are no controlling laws or processes. There is only power.

This is why Donald Trump cannot allow Kilmar Abrego Garcia to return to the United States.

And it is why the democratic opposition must go to the mattresses to bring him home."

Ethics Column: When to Recuse or Disclose?; American Bar Association (ABA), December 30, 2024

Hon. W. Kearse McGill , American Bar Association (ABA); Ethics Column: When to Recuse or Disclose?

"When judicial recusal should occur is a perilous topic to discuss these days; in fact, to describe it as perilous may even be an understatement given recent public attention on this topic.  As judges, most of us will become quite anxious if we are hearing a case where our impartiality could be questioned.  What should we consider when this issue presents itself?

As a starting point, we can consider the ethical concept that underpins the issue of recusal or disqualification (while recusal is a judge’s sua sponte withdrawal from a case and disqualification is removal based on a party’s motion or required by statute, both terms are often used interchangeably).  A judge’s ethical duty to recuse arises from the duty to act impartially, which is based in our understanding of procedural due process as a constitutional principle." 

How to Get Voters the Facts They Need Without a Trump Jan. 6 Trial; The New York Times, July 1, 2024

Andrew Weissmann, The New York Times ; How to Get Voters the Facts They Need Without a Trump Jan. 6 Trial

"The benefit of an evidentiary hearing would be enormous, giving the public at least some information it needs before going to the polls in November. The hearing would permit the airing, in an adversarial proceeding with full due process for Mr. Trump, evidence that goes to the heart of the most profound indictment in this nation’s history."

University of Texas can’t take away student’s PhD; C & En, Chemical & engineering News, February 22, 2019

Bethany Halford, C & En, Chemical & engineering News; University of Texas can’t take away student’s PhD

"The University of Texas at Austin does not have the authority to revoke a student’s degree, according to a Feb. 11 ruling by Judge Karin Crump in Travis County, Texas district court. The judgment is the latest turn in the university’s years-long effort to strip Suvi Orr of her doctorate in chemistry. 

Orr began her graduate studies in organic synthesis in Stephen Martin’s lab in 2003. In 2008 she successfully defended her thesis. But six years later, UT Austin sent a certified letter to Orr saying the school was invalidating her thesis based on research misconduct. The university cited a 2011 Organic Letters paper that was retracted in 2012 (DOI: 10.1021/ol302236g) because two steps in the synthesis could not be reproduced.

Orr, now a senior principal scientist at Pfizer, denies any wrongdoing."

If Trump is cornered, the judges he disdains may finally bring him down; The Guardian, November 24, 2018

Walter Shapiro, The Guardian; If Trump is cornered, the judges he disdains may finally bring him down

"Concepts like democracy, a free press, due process, an independent judiciary and the rule of law are lost on Trump. As far as his understanding goes, the constitution might just as well be carved in cuneiform characters on stone tablets."

Make America Hate Again; New York Times, 7/22/16

Timothy Egan, New York times; Make America Hate Again:

"Starting on night one, when Republicans chose to manipulate the grief-deranged mother of a terrorist victim, the build-up to the hanging of Hillary Clinton was never subtle. Imagine if one party had exploited a widow of one of the 241 service members killed in the 1983 suicide bombing of Americans in Beirut — the deadliest single attack on marines since World War II — as a stick against Ronald Reagan, whose administrative negligence was much to blame.

You can’t imagine. Because nothing about this Republican Party, whose leader now stands ready to repudiate nearly 70 years of security for our European allies under an “America First” banner, even remotely resembles the Grand Old Party of before. You could not find a City on a Hill, a single Point of Light, no Morning in America. Only doom, dystopia, dread, darkness — and a bumper-sticker solution to restoring greatness.

The man who couldn’t manage his own convention, the creator of a “university” built on fraud, bet his shot at the top job in the world on a panicked public and collective amnesia of his serial misdeeds. “I will restore law and order to our country, believe me, believe me,” he said.

And the instigator of four corporate bankruptcies, the man who stiffed plumbers and carpenters, the failed casino owner, promised to use his dark arts to “make our country rich again.”"