Leftist groups that are suing to block President Donald Trump from fulfilling his promises to the American people can’t take the idea that the administration refuses to roll over and play dead.
Twenty-two leftist pressure groups—sorry, “civil rights organizations”—released a statement warning that Trump’s “dangerous assault on the legal profession and the rule of law” represents a threat to “the viability of our democracy.”
That’s rich.
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It’s particularly rich coming from the side that got lawyers disbarred and prosecuted for merely representing their clients in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Oh, did you think we’d just forget about John Eastman?)
What did Trump do to ostensibly undermine Justice with a capital J, you ask?
He directed the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to pursue sanctions against attorneys and law firms filing “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation” to block his administration’s priorities.
Forget a threat to democracy or to the legal system—it would be a stretch to say this is anything more than humdrum.
“Any litigant, if they think their opponent is making a frivolous argument, can seek sanctions, in any case,” John Malcolm, director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, explained in an interview with The Daily Signal.
“That determination is going to be made by an independent judge as to whether the argument being made is frivolous and whether to award sanctions,” Malcolm noted. Trump’s memo wasn’t “granting any authority to the Department of Justice that it hasn’t always had. He’s just urging them to be more aggressive. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Trump is not doing anything other than telling government officials to actually enforce the law and federal court rules,” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at Heritage and former Justice Department lawyer, told The Daily Signal. “Liberal groups saying this is somehow wrong are themselves completely wrong. They are trying to mislead the public.”
Of course, that’s not how the 22 leftist pressure groups—led by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund—interpreted the memo. They called it “the latest in a rash of statements and actions intended to chill dissent, avoid accountability, and weaponize the government to attack opponents of this administration and its lawless actions.”
Which Groups, Exactly?
One of the groups on the list, the Southern Poverty Law Center, might know a bit about weaponizing the government. The SPLC is notorious for branding mainstream conservative and Christian groups “hate groups,” placing them on a map with the Ku Klux Klan. The SPLC bragged about advising the Biden administration on “domestic terrorism.” The FBI cited its “hate map” in the notorious memo on “radical-traditional Catholics.” Documents suggest SPLC leaders met with the woman who brought charges against pro-lifers for protesting outside abortion clinics.
Other notable signatories to the statement include the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing alleged Tren de Aragua gang members Trump recently deported. As I wrote in my book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” the ACLU also urged the Biden administration to roll out the red carpet for illegal aliens, and helped staff the transition team for President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security.
Lambda Legal, another signatory to the statement, has sued the administration to block its policies on LGBTQ issues. Demos, a left-wing group that once had then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama on its board, effectively wrote Biden’s executive order turning federal agencies into voter registration offices—and helped various bureaucrats implement it.
These groups didn’t exactly shout from the rooftops when lawyers such as John Eastman, who provided Trump advice regarding grounds to challenge the 2020 election results, faced sanctions, disbarment, and prosecution. In fact, the SPLC used the opportunity to highlight Eastman’s history in the “anti-LGBTQ movement,” suggesting that he’s exactly the sort of person who deserves such treatment.
A Much Greater Threat to the Legal Profession
Malcolm, the Heritage scholar, noted that the Left’s efforts to silence lawyers who represented Trump and others in challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election represented a far greater threat to the legal profession than Trump’s memo.
Trump’s memo “is sending a signal,” but the Left’s moves amounted to the threat—“make an argument that we don’t like, and we’ll seek to have you disbarred and criminally prosecuted,” Malcolm noted.
“I understand why they are upset, but these are crocodile tears,” he said.
He said The 65 Project, which sought to punish lawyers who dared represent Trump and others in 2020 election cases, had “a chilling effect on lawyers making arguments on behalf of their clients.”
“If you want to talk about a threat to democracy, that is more a threat to democracy than anything in this” memo, Malcolm concluded.
Sanctions for Law Firms
The leftist groups also condemned Trump for issuing executive orders directing his administration to revoke certain privileges from left-leaning law firms. Trump suspended security clearances for attorneys at four big law firms and terminated federal contracts with them.
“Global law firms have for years played an outsized role in undermining the judicial process and in the destruction of bedrock American principles,” he wrote in an executive order targeting the firm Paul Weiss. “Many have engaged in activities that make our communities less safe, increase burdens on local businesses, limit constitutional freedoms, and degrade the quality of American elections.” He also faulted the firm for engaging in racial discrimination in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Paul Weiss negotiated with Trump, however, pledging political neutrality on client selection and attorney hiring, committing to merit-based hiring instead of DEI, and dedicating the equivalent of $40 million in pro bono legal services to assist veterans, combat antisemitism, and pursue fairness in the justice system. Trump reversed his executive order.
Perkins Coie—the firm that notoriously helped the Hillary Clinton campaign finance the Trump-Russia dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele—responded with a lawsuit.
Trump also suspended security clearances and contracts with Covington & Burling and Jenner & Block.
While the leftist pressure groups condemned these moves as part of Trump’s “ongoing attacks on the judiciary,” von Spakovsky, the former government lawyer, told The Daily Signal that Trump’s actions against the four law firms are legal and appropriate.
“Law firms that file frivolous, meritless cases for political reasons should be punished,” he said. “To the extent that courts do not do so by imposing sanctions, the federal government should not do business with such firms. They should not be receiving taxpayer funds in contracts and their lawyers should not have any government privileges, such as security clearances.”
Trump’s actions here amount to the revocation of privileges, not the denial of rights.
The outrage over this whole saga merely shows that the Left can’t take the smallest amount of its own medicine.
When conservative attorneys represent efforts to contest an election, they’re demonized, sanctioned, and even face criminal charges. When leftist attorneys engage in judge-shopping, bringing targeted lawsuits to block Trump’s policies, and Trump takes the slightest step to hold them accountable, it’s the end of democracy as we know it.
Americans see through this charade. Here’s hoping the courts do, too.
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