The American Bar Association is suing the Trump administration over what it calls its “Law Firm Intimidation Policy.”
The suit, filed in Washington, D.C., claims that the Trump administration’s executive orders restricting the capacity of firms he has a grudge against to conduct business has caused a “pervasive fear” within the legal community.
“[M]any attorneys are no longer willing to take on representations that would require suing the federal government,” it states, because “certain kinds of expressions and representations pose a serious risk of making a firm the next target of the President’s unconstitutional Law Firm Orders.”
The suit cites one organization that “had to forgo litigation against the Administration” because lawyers removed themselves from the case amid the president’s executive orders.
“The President’s attacks on law firms through the Law Firm Orders are thus not isolated events, but one component of a broader, deliberate policy designed to intimidate and coerce law firms and lawyers to refrain from challenging the President or his Administration in court,” the suit states.
In response to executive orders revoking security clearances and preventing attorneys from entering federal buildings, some firms have opted to make agreements to do work for the administration, usually to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
Others have decided to fight the orders in court.
Maryland congresswoman and ABA member April Delaney commended the organization for “standing up to the Trump administration’s unlawful attempts to intimidate attorneys and their clients.”
“The Constitution is unequivocal: every individual has the right to legal representation,” she said in a statement. “The President’s executive orders and backroom agreements with law firms directly threaten that fundamental right.”
The White House claims the ABA’s suit is “clearly frivolous.”
“The President has always had discretion over which contracts the government enters into and who receives security clearances,” spokesperson Harrison Fields told The Hill in a statement. “His exercise of these core executive functions cannot be dictated by the ABA, a private organization, or the courts. The Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.”
The ABA and the Trump administration previously butted heads last month when the Justice Department said it would restrict the legal organization’s access to its judicial nominees, citing alleged bias in the review process.
The ABA denied that claim.
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