President Trump has expanded his campaign of retaliation against lawyers he dislikes in a new memo that threatens to punish his administration for using government power to unfairly challenge him.
The memorandum directs the head of the Department of Judiciary and Homeland Security to “seek sanctions against lawyers and law firms engaged in frivolous, unjust and troubling litigation against the United States” or to matters that come before the federal government.
Trump issued the order late Friday night after one of America's leading companies, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, signed a contract with the White House, rescuing him from a punitive order issued by Trump the previous week.
Banita Gupta, a civil rights lawyer and former Justice Department official who sued and defended the government in court, said Trump's memo “attacks the foundations of our legal system by threatening and threatening lawsuits that the government aims to be responsible for the law and the constitution.”
In response to criticism of the memo, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said: “President Trump is based on his promise to ensure that the judicial system is no longer weaponized against the American people. President Trump's only retaliation is the success and historic achievements of the American people.”
The president has long accused democratic lawyers and law firms of pursuing what they call “law” in the form of investigations and litigation that claims they are motivated by politics against him and his allies. Since taking office, he has targeted three companies, but the new memo appears to threaten similar punishments against lawyers and companies that cause rage.
After Trump suspended security clearance for Paul Weiss' attorneys and issued an order that significantly restricted employees from entering government buildings and getting government jobs, the company agreed to a series of commitments to cancel the order to the president.
As part of the deal, the company said it would provide $40 million in legal services that caused Trump's defense, including a task force to combat anti-Semitism.
Perkins Koy, another company that Trump targeted, chose another tack. He sued him in federal court and received a temporary restraining order against the president.
The attack on Trump's law firm, and Paul Weiss' decision to cut transactions rather than fight in court, sent shockwaves through the legal community. The drastic nature of the President's latest demands is because he intensified his public attack on judges, and the concept that the courts could tell him what to do.
The administration “should not be afraid or punish those who challenge it, they should not be arbitrators of frivolous things. There is protection to deal with it,” Gupta said. “This moment calls for courage and collective action, not surrender, between lawyers and legal professions.”
Also, in a showdown between a federal judge and the administration in Washington state, he had sent over 100 Venezuelan immigrants who quickly said they were gang members to a large prison complex in El Salvador.
Civil rights activists say deportation violates the law and the administration refused to give a clear answer to the actions.
One law firm that has been suing the administration for policy, said it would not retreat in the face of threats from the White House.
The leaders of Cayker Vannest & Peters, a San Francisco company that sued the Trump administration over the immigrant attacks, known as Trump's latest memorandum, are called “unforgivable despicable.”
“Our freedom depends on the willingness of lawyers to represent unpopular people and causes, including issues that are unfavourable to the federal government,” the company said in a statement. “Our profession is owed to all clients with enthusiastic legal representation, regardless of political affiliation or ability to pay, without fear of retaliation.”
The company also encouraged other lawyers to participate in a national effort to file “friends of the court” briefs in the Perkins COIE case against Trump.
Trump's Friday night memo entitled “Preventing Abuse in the Legal System and Federal Courts,” complains that his lawyers are involved in unethical conduct against him or against deportation. The memo also suggests that the Trump administration will provide disciplinary referrals to lawyers pursuing cases without the merit “particularly in litigation involving homeland security, public safety, or election integrity.”
Trump also used the announcement to attack a particular lawyer, Mark Elias.
Elias previously worked for Perkins Koy and has long represented Democrats. Trump has, among other things, criticised Elias for documents related to unfounded claims about the links with Russia that were investigated by the FBI in 2016 and 2017.
“President Trump's goals are clear. He wants to surrender and cop to his lawyers and law firms until there are no one in court who opposes his administration,” Elias said in writing. He added: “There will not be any negotiations with this White House about the clients we represent or the lawsuits we bring on their behalf.”
