The ABA and “President Trump’s Law Firm Intimidation Policy”

This morning, the American Bar Association filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and what it terms “President Trump’s Law Firm Intimidation Policy.” In its suit (complaint here), the ABA, a nonprofit voluntary association of attorneys, argues that Trump’s attacks on law firms not only hurt those firms, but jeopardize the legal profession and the rule of law itself. The ABA’s mission impels it to act and the utterly unprecedented nature of the threat–“Never before has there been as urgent a need for the ABA to defend its members, their profession, and the rule of law itself”–leads to the similarly unprecedented need for this suit.

Given the existential threat the Trump policies impose on the rule of law and the ability of the judiciary to check Executive overreach, the nonprofit ABA has chosen to interpose itself, representing law firms that have not yet been targeted.

Ultimately, the ABA says, Trump’s Law Firm Intimidation Policy violates the First Amendment in at least five ways, and also violates the separation of powers. It requests a declaration that the various acts outlined in the Policy are unconstitutional and an injunction against those policies.

Samuel D. Brunson