The showdown between the administration of Donald Trump and the justice continues. This time, it is the law firms and the lawyers themselves that the President of the United States tries to muzzle. Friday, March 21, in the evening, the billionaire published a decree making it possible to sanction professionals “pursuing underlying judicial affairs, in particular in cases involving national, interior, public or the integrity of the elections”. According to the New York Times“the memorandum orders the officials of the departments of justice and internal security to request sanctions against those who engage in frivolous, unreasonable and vexatious disputes against the United States”, or in cases subjected to federal agencies.
This directive comes as the Trump administration faces more than 130 legal proceedings contesting measures aimed at dismantling agencies and diversity promotion programs, freezing expenses, dismissing federal employees and to expel immigrants without regular procedure. Legal experts thus fear that this ordinance would allow the administration to bring actions against those who call into question the legality of the measures taken by Donald Trump. “This presidential memorandum attacks the very foundations of our legal system by threatening and intimidating the litigants who seek to oblige our government to respect the law and the constitution,” worries the Washington Post.
In the United States, federal judges can already sanction under foundation legal proceedings. This is how several lawyers from Donald Trump have, for example, accumulated complaints for violation of the ethical code. One of them, Rudy Giuliani, even was suspended his right to exercise in certain states, for having advanced false affirmations during the challenge of the results of the American presidential election of 2020. “But in general, a room for maneuver is granted. Even lawyers who commit bastard arguments are generally not legally prosecuted or assumed to act in bad faith” Washington Post.
Several cabinets in the government’s viewfinder
The announcement comes when Donald Trump’s government is in an showdown with several law firms. “Over the past ten days, [elle] stripped the authorizations and contracts of companies that advised anyone on their list of enemies, “summarizes the Financial Times. Last week, she thus managed to submit one of the largest legal companies in the country: the Cabinet Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, known to be close to the Democrats and have repeatedly denounced the measures of the new administration.
Threatened to be suspended from its security authorizations (which allow access to crucial protected information in certain cases), the firm has finally concluded an agreement to provide tens of millions of dollars in the White House, reports theAssociated Press. “The decision to conclude an agreement rather than fighting before the courts caused a shock wave in the legal community. The radicality of the president’s decision comes when he also intensified his public attacks against the judges and the courts,” comments the New York Times.
“Attack on all his opponents”
Perkins Coie, another cabinet targeted by Donald Trump, chose another strategy: filed a complaint before a federal court in order to obtain a temporary protection order. Because they are not the only ones targeted. Covington and Burling, the cabinet which represents the former special prosecutor Jack Smith – who has instructed procedures against Donald Trump – has lost his security authorizations.
“The objective of President Trump is clear. He wants lawyers and law firms to capitulate and make themselves small until there is no one left to oppose his administration before the courts,” said Marc Elias, one of the lawyers at the origin of the suspicions of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, which had given rise to an FBI investigation. THE Financial Times is worried about “the speed of Donald Trump’s attacks on law: the courts can barely monitor the pace”.