Trump stepping up his attack on civil society and rule of law - fight back!
Donald Trump has been going after large law firms who represent clients and causes he doesn’t like. This started with his executive order stripping security clearances from any Covington & Burling lawyers and employees who assisted Special Counsel Jack Smith and directing all federal agencies to review any contracts with Covington and, essentially, to stop doing business with the firm. Several days ago, Trump issued an even more egregious order against Perkins Coie. These orders make it crystal clear that Trump is after any and every civil society institution that can impede his dictatorial ambitions. Over this past weekend, Trump announced his intention to penalize more law firms. As always, believe him when he tells you what he is going to do.
Mike Masnick has written a terrific piece describing and explaining the order menacing Perkins Coie. I encourage you to read “Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers” in its entirety. Here are some key passages:
When a president uses executive power to not just blacklist but effectively destroy a major law firm, solely for representing political opponents, it means he’s given up any pretense that he’s not an authoritarian hellbent on destroying anyone who opposes him through any means necessary. Donald Trump’s executive order targeting Perkins Coie isn’t just an attack on one firm — it’s a blueprint for how authoritarian leaders can grossly abuse government power to chill speech and discourage legal challenges to a vast campaign of abuses of their authority.
This isn’t just about politics — it’s about whether a president can use executive power to cut off legal representation for any entity that opposes him. Today it’s a firm that represented Democrats. Tomorrow it could be lawyers representing tech companies challenging government surveillance, or defending platforms’ content moderation rights, or fighting against political pressure to unmask anonymous users.
The order doesn’t just attack Perkins Coie for representing Democrats — it explicitly attacks them for challenging laws in court. Think about that: the White House is using executive power to punish lawyers for filing legitimate court challenges to potentially unconstitutional laws. That’s not just an attack on free speech — it’s an attack on the very concept of constitutional checks and balances. … The order’s punitive measures are carefully crafted to effectively destroy the firm’s ability to operate. First, it effectively strips security clearances from everyone at Perkins Coie — a move that doesn’t just impact their political work, but devastates their ability to handle cybersecurity matters, represent defense contractors, or work on sensitive tech policy issues. This isn’t collateral damage — it’s a deliberate attempt to cut off the firm’s ability to represent clients in some of their core practice areas.
Even more dangerous is the contractor ban. Any company with a federal contract — which includes most major tech companies and countless smaller ones — must now “disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie.” This creates an impossible choice for these companies: either cut ties with a trusted legal advisor or risk their government contracts. It’s a move straight out of an authoritarian playbook — using government contracts as leverage to force private companies to blacklist political enemies.
But perhaps the most chilling aspect of the order is its attempt to bar Perkins Coie personnel from “federal government buildings.” … Let’s be crystal clear about what this means: federal government buildings include courthouses. This order could be used to physically prevent Perkins Coie lawyers from entering federal courts to represent their clients. It’s a direct assault on the fundamental right to legal representation and due process. … Think about the precedent this sets. A president who doesn’t like how a law firm is defending anyone against government overreach could simply bar that firm from federal buildings. Don’t like how lawyers are challenging surveillance programs? Ban them from the courthouse. Fighting too hard against government attempts to weaken encryption? Sorry, you’re now a “national security threat.”
Really, read the entire piece from Masnick.
No matter how angry and concerned you are about Trump’s ambitions to be a dictator, don’t let anybody tell you that you are overreacting. He and the rest of the Republican Fascist party are totally in favor of this. Authoritarian dictatorship would make it far easier for them to build and maintain a white Christian patriarchy largely in service to the billionaire class - no more having to deal with even the possibility of opposition from Congress or the federal judiciary or civil society. Now is the time to fight Trump, the current Republican-Fascist-controlled Congress, and the corrupt, Trump-friendly U.S. Supreme Court in all ways possible, on all fronts. Here is an individual action anybody resident in the U.S. can and should take right now. Call your Senators and tell them not to vote for any continuing resolution that does not include strong, enforceable guarantees that Elon Musk will be removed from any position of government authority. (In practice, this will mean voting against any continuing resolution advanced by Congressional Republican.) You can call a local office or the one in DC, and you can find phone numbers on your Senators’ websites. The call will take just two or three minutes. A staffer will note your view and probably your zip code. The Senate will be voting as soon as tomorrow, 3/12/25, and certainly by the end of the week. Calls count. Emails and letters are too slow.
We must show as much noncooperation with Republican Fascism as we possibly can. For elected Democrats in Congress this must mean a refusal to fund a Trump administered federal government unless appropriations bills, temporary or permanent, contain guarantees for rule of law and constitutional democracy. For we grassroots defenders of these values, this means writing letters to editors and speaking up online and in person, joining protests (right now, the ones at Tesla dealerships are having important effect), and subscribing and contributing what we can to civil society groups fighting Republican Fascism at both the state and federal levels. I will share a list of such groups in another post.