President Trump signed an executive order recently that accuses Seattle, WA, law firm Perkins Coie, of “dishonest and dangerous activity”, seeking to suspend security clearances, prohibit government contractors from working with the firm and prohibit the firm’s staff from entering federal buildings, among other punitive measures.
This action “seeks to punish the firm, in part over its representation of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, and its involvement in commissioning the anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele in 2016, which Trump said was ‘designed to steal an election.’”, according to an article in a publication of Oregon Public Broadcasting. Perkins Coie sued to challenge the order in federal court.
A story published by NPR states that “While the executive order takes aim at Perkins Coie, [US District Judge Beryl] Howell said the “potential adverse impact cannot be understated.” The order “casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportion across the entire legal profession,” she said, warning that it will be understood as “an effort to intimidate” attorneys and prevent them from advocating on behalf of clients and causes at odds with the president.
Indeed, even if this action is dismissed, Perkins Coie stands to lose clients that have government contracts or just don’t want to run afoul of the Trump administration. Other large law firms are looking at this and may refuse to go to court against the administration. This, in turn, may reduce the ability of plaintiffs to seek legal redress from other Trump executive orders and actions.
The result he’s hoping for is law firms will choose not to take these cases and there will be fewer lawyers to bring suits against his executive orders. Nine big law firms have acquiesced and agreed to provide millions in pro bono work for organizations of Trump’s choosing and agree to operational changes. Others have sued the administration.
He’s also attacking specific lawyers who’ve headed up court cases or investigations against him, including Jack Smith – special prosecutor in Jan 6 and Mar-a-Lago document cases – and Andrew Weissman who worked for Special Prosecutor Robert Muller on Russia investigation.
He’s cutting off federal contracts to these firms and to their clients, stripping them of security clearances needed to handle sensitive cases and barring them from federal buildings.
This is extortion, retribution against those Trump has designated as “enemies”. This illegal action is what autocrats do and has no place in a democracy.