Trump vs. the Law Firms
To the Editor:
Re 'An Uncomfortable Lesson From Trump's Tactics,' by Robert S. Smith, a former partner at the Paul, Weiss law firm and a retired judge on the New York State Court of Appeals (Opinion guest essay, April 3):
Mr. Smith begins his essay by quoting Bertolt Brecht — 'Unhappy is the land that needs a hero' — but spends most of the remainder of his essay excusing Columbia University and Paul, Weiss for capitulating without a fight. He describes rich universities being pressured and wealthy law firms being extorted, yet does not call for these powerful institutions to defend themselves and us, but suggests that 'the only real answer' is for individual Americans to consider long-term structural reforms.
Ultimately, Mr. Smith misses the true peril we face when law firms capitulate to government coercion and fear to defend disfavored clients, or even themselves: We lose access to justice. The legal profession is what gives us access to the courts. Undermine that profession, and you don't need to dismantle the courts directly. You simply make them inaccessible.
If Big Law, with its armies of litigators and immense institutional privilege, won't stand up to government overreach and use the structural protections we already have, who will? The tools exist; the failure is in the will to use them.
Yes, unhappy is the land that needs heroes. But the land where the strongest among us collapse on cue is not merely unhappy.
It is crumbling.
Herb Sutter
Beavercreek, Ore.
To the Editor:
Robert S. Smith attempts to make the case that President Trump's attack on his own personal enemies list is enabled by the Democrats who created a too large federal government. If only we had smaller government, he implies, President Trump would not be taking out his vengeance on his enemies.
Yet the author seems to have missed the fact that a lot of the federal government is devoted to ensuring that the rule of law applies to the behavior of government officials. President Trump is disregarding all of that and doing whatever he pleases.
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