Trump Abuses Government Power To Punish Democrats' Law Firms

The president is politically targeting those he says politically targeted him.

Misuse of government power by politicians to punish their enemies is an old story. The Biden administration infamously leaned on social media companies to suppress voices critical of the White House and its policies. New York used explicit threats of regulatory intervention to bully banks and insurance companies into denying services to the NRA and other gun rights advocates. And now President Donald Trump has turned his disputes with left-leaning law firms into an excuse to revoke their security clearances and subject them to investigation. It's part of a continuing and dangerous pattern of government officials abusing power to penalize opponents' opinions and activities.

Trump Calls Out Opposing Law Firms

In separate March executive orders, Trump called out multiple law firms who had drawn his wrath: Perkins Coie LLP for, in part, hiring "Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false 'dossier' designed to steal an election" and for working with "activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws"; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP for litigation against participants in the January 6 Capitol riot and for efforts "to manufacture a prosecution against me"; Jenner & Block LLP and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, for "obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends" and "the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders." In addition to partisan activities, the president accused the firms of race-based hiring in violation of civil rights laws.

The current administration arguably has legitimate political grievances. That is, the firms all engaged in partisan litigation and legal shenanigans targeted at Trump and his allies. But in politics, especially in the unhealthy culture of Washington, D.C., that's business as usual for all players, whatever their ideologies or affiliations. What Trump did next shouldn't be, though something like it has become too common.

Misusing Government Power for Political Retribution

The president's orders went on "to suspend any active security clearances" for the law firms and to order all federal agencies to "take appropriate steps to terminate any contract" with the firms. Employees of the law firms were barred from federal government buildings "when such access would threaten the national security of or otherwise be inconsistent with the interests of the United States" and federal employees were directed to avoid contact with those firms' personnel. The president also directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the hiring practices of "representative large, influential, or industry leading law firms."

The executive orders were very obviously intended to weaponize access to government business as well as the power of the regulatory state against Trump's political enemies. But it was also perceived as part of a larger effort to cripple pillars of the political opposition to the current administration.

"Mr. Trump and his allies are aggressively attacking the players and machinery that power the left, taking a series of highly partisan official actions that, if successful, will threaten to hobble Democrats' ability to compete in elections for years to come," Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher wrote for The New York Times.

Broader Threats to Civil Liberties

But the president's actions don't just hobble Democrats and "the left" in some political power play—they use government authority to punish political speech and activity. That's a threat to free speech and a violation of civil liberties.

"The President's Order is a self-declared act of retribution that targets a law firm for representing clients and causes the President disfavors," hundreds of law professors argue in an amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie in a lawsuit against the government seeking a permanent injunction against the orders. "In inflicting this retribution, the Order contradicts centuries of precedent safeguarding free speech, the right of association, and the right to petition."

Signers of the petition include Eugene Volokh, of the Reason-hosted Volokh Conspiracy.

Critics of the presidential actions point out that, while many people object to the law firms' conduct in opposing Trump, his supporters, and his causes, that doesn't justify using the power of the state to punish the firms. Doing so sends a message that opposing whoever is in office at the moment might bring down the full—and entirely too dangerous—attention of regulators and government investigators.

"You don't need to feel sympathy for large law firms—or support the clients or causes they represent—to see the danger in a president abusing his authority to bend the legal system to his will," argues Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). "Trump isn't just punishing these firms—he's chilling legitimate advocacy and eroding the core principle that everyone has a right to legal representation. That's bad news for the rule of law and protection of individual rights."

In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union raised exactly this point when it supported the National Rifle Association's lawsuit against New York state's government. The ACLU is generally in opposition to the NRA's overall mission, but it recognized that officials shouldn't be able to abuse the coercive power of the state to punish those who disagree with them.

"The ACLU made the decision to represent the NRA in this case because we are deeply concerned that if regulators can threaten the NRA for their political views in New York state, they can come after the ACLU and allied organizations in places where our agendas are unpopular," ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero commented.

We're Overdue To Break the Cycle

New York officials threaten banks to get them to deny services to self-defense advocates, the Biden administration leans on social media companies to muzzle conservatives and critics of pandemic lockdowns, the Trump administration cuts off contracts and threatens investigations of Democratic law firms—we can include seemingly politically motivated prosecutions of Trump and go back further to Operation Choke Point and other perversions of government power. It's an easy cycle to get going, but very difficult to stop once it's in motion and everybody is screaming "they started it!"

"The fallout from these assaults on the bar may not be limited to lawyers who represent clients or causes that are perceived as hostile to President Trump; the precedent created here could be used by future presidents, of either party, to chill advocacy hostile to their policies or executive branch officials," warns another amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie filed by groups including the ACLU, FIRE, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

We've had enough of politicians punishing their political opponents. Let them fight their own battles in the political arena and leave our civil liberties out of it.