Trump’s War on Lawyers Leaves His Critics Defenseless
When the Law Stands Down
Some stories reveal injustice. Others show how justice itself disappears.
In a March 25, 2025 report published by The Washington Post, journalist Michael Birnbaum reveals that major U.S. law firms are now refusing to represent opponents of President Donald Trump, as the administration escalates retaliatory actions that many legal scholars warn are reshaping the American justice system itself.
Weaponizing the Legal Profession
President Donald Trump is no longer just targeting political adversaries—he’s targeting their lawyers. Through executive orders, punitive sanctions, and quiet threats, the administration is redrawing the boundaries of professional risk. Once-proud firms that challenged Trump’s first-term agenda are retreating, fearing loss of federal access, clients, and economic survival.
“The law firms have to behave themselves,” Trump declared. “They behave very badly, very wrongly.”
His message is clear: resistance has consequences. And America’s legal firewall is starting to crack.
The Chilling Effect in Action
The tactics are surgically coercive. Targeted law firms are barred from federal buildings. Their attorneys stripped of security clearances. Executive orders direct federal agencies to sever all contracts with any business that employs them. The chilling effect is deliberate—and immediate.
Former Biden officials now facing litigation say they can’t find lawyers. One had five firms withdraw, including a pro bono partner who backed out the day after Trump signed an order against Perkins Coie. “The partner was livid,” the former official said, “but said leadership wouldn’t take the risk.”
When the law firms tasked with defending liberty retreat, what remains to defend the Constitution?
Compliance vs. Consequence
The harm is financial, reputational—and constitutional. Perkins Coie estimated losses of 25% of its revenue after the order. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued a restraining order and expressed deep alarm:
“It sends little chills down my spine.”
In response, the Justice Department tried to remove her from the case, accusing her court of bias. Another firm—Paul Weiss—chose compliance over confrontation. After a closed-door meeting at the White House, it agreed to donate $40 million in legal work aligned with Trump’s policy goals. The executive order against it was promptly rescinded.
Resistance brings punishment. Compliance brings reprieve.
Autocracy in Legal Clothing
This isn’t new. It’s just newly American.
Legal scholars like Scott Cummings and Claire Finkelstein say this playbook mirrors Russia, Hungary, and Turkey—where lawyers aren’t arrested, just made irrelevant.
“This is using law to erode the institutions meant to check power,” said Cummings.
“They’re dictating the terms under which lawyers can practice,” added Finkelstein.
If lawyers become instruments of executive favor, then the adversarial system collapses—functionally, if not formally. The Sixth Amendment promises counsel. But when no one dares to provide it, the promise fades into parody.
Fear Replaces Advocacy
Nonprofits working on immigration and civil rights now report that big firms no longer answer their calls. “It used to be—this is wrong, and we’re going to represent it,” one said. “Now, it’s a slower process. People are scared.”
Intimidation works not by swinging a hammer—but by hanging it overhead.
Even Elon Musk has joined the pile-on, tweeting:
“Skadden, this needs to stop now.”
His post followed a complaint from Dinesh D’Souza, whose documentary falsely accused voters of fraud and triggered a defamation suit supported by Skadden lawyers. Musk didn’t defend truth—he defended loyalty.
The Loyalty Test
What was once implied is now enforced. Trump has turned the legal profession into a loyalty test. The courtroom remains open. But justice—
Justice no longer gets a lawyer.
Some firms resist. Williams & Connolly took on Perkins Coie’s defense. But the broader structure is eroding. The scaffolding of justice is being stripped—brick by brick.
Isolation Over Abolition
And the danger grows. Trump’s latest directive empowers the attorney general to sanction lawyers deemed “frivolous”—without court review. If unchecked, the next step could target public defenders, nonprofit statuses, even law professors. Trump doesn’t need to fire judges. He only needs to isolate their courts.
Democracies don’t fall when enemies arrive.
They fall—when defenders stand down.
A Justice System Rewritten
This is not just legal attrition.
It is reprogramming.
A justice system, rewritten.
Not to uphold law—
But to obey power.
