American Bar Association Files Suit to Halt Government Intimidation of Lawyers and Law Firms
The American Bar Association today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, asking a federal court to declare unconstitutional the Trump administration's ongoing unlawful policy of intimidation against lawyers and law firms.
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Since taking office earlier this year, President Donald Trump and his administration have used the vast powers of the executive branch to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes and policy positions the president does not like, the lawsuit asserts. The Trump administration has carried out this policy through a series of executive orders, letters, memos and public statements designed to damage certain law firms and intimidate others. These relentless attacks have produced a chilling effect across the legal profession — including on many members of the American Bar Association — causing harm to the justice system at large and limiting access to representation for individuals and organizations whose positions the administration disfavors.
The ABA stands for the rule of law and access to justice for all. Today, the American legal profession and the members of the American Bar Association face an unprecedented challenge. As the nation's largest voluntary association of lawyers, the ABA is compelled to take action and seek meaningful relief through the courts on behalf of its members and in support of the American bar.
Attacks on the legal profession are uniquely destructive because of the critical role that lawyers fulfill in the constitutional system of our country, the lawsuit notes. Without skilled lawyers to bring and argue cases, the judiciary cannot function as a meaningful check on the executive branch.
The ABA's lawsuit details how President Trump and his administration have adopted and implemented this Law Firm Intimidation Policy on an ongoing basis. The administration has targeted firms who have engaged in disfavored conduct. It has issued sanctions designed to cripple their businesses and limit their ability to freely represent clients. Tactics include terminating security clearances, severing government contracts of law firms and their clients, limiting access to federal buildings and refraining from hiring employees of certain firms for jobs in the federal government.
As detailed in the filing, some firms have contested the orders in court while many others have entered into deals with the administration to avoid becoming the target of future executive orders. The result of the Law Firm Intimidation Policy has been a pervasive fear within the legal community and the justice system at large. Many attorneys are no longer willing to take on representations that would require suing the federal government because doing so poses a serious risk of becoming the next target of the administration's devastating sanctions. This blizzard-like chill on the profession has continued even after firms challenging their own executive orders have won repeated court victories. Those victories only protect those firms. The ABA has filed this action to protect all its members, representing a far broader section of the legal profession.
The administration has demonstrated that it intends to continue the Law Firm Intimidation Policy in order to intimidate lawyers and law firms from taking on cases adverse to the president's interests. These attacks are clear violations of First Amendment rights, including prohibitions on government coercion to suppress free speech, discrimination based on viewpoints held by lawyers and law firms, and the right of citizens to assemble freely and to petition the government.
'This is the time to stand up, speak out and seek relief from our courts,' said William R. Bay, president of the American Bar Association. 'There has never been a more urgent time for the ABA to defend its members, our profession and the rule of law itself.'
The case, American Bar Association v. Executive Office of the President, et al., has been filed in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia.
Read the filing here.
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