Trump Abuses Government Power To Punish Democrats’ Law Firms
Misuse of government power by politicians to punish their enemies is an old story. The Biden administration infamously leaned on social media companies to suppress voices critical of the White House and its policies. New York used explicit threats of regulatory intervention to bully banks and insurance companies into denying services to the NRA and other gun rights advocates. And now President Donald Trump has turned his disputes with left-leaning law firms into an excuse to revoke their security clearances and subject them to investigation. It’s part of a continuing and dangerous pattern of government officials abusing power to penalize opponents’ opinions and activities.
Trump Calls Out Opposing Law Firms
In separate March executive orders, Trump called out multiple law firms who had drawn his wrath: Perkins Coie LLP for, in part, hiring “Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election” and for working with “activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws”; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP for litigation against participants in the January 6 Capitol riot and for efforts “to manufacture a prosecution against me”; Jenner & Block LLP and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, for “obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends” and “the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders.” In addition to partisan activities, the president accused the firms of race-based hiring in violation of civil rights laws.
The current administration arguably has legitimate political grievances. That is, the firms all engaged in partisan litigation and legal shenanigans targeted at Trump and his allies. But in politics, especially in the unhealthy culture of Washington, D.C., that’s business as usual for all players, whatever their ideologies or affiliations. What Trump did next shouldn’t be, though something like it has become too common.
Misusing Government Power for Political Retribution
The president’s orders went on “to suspend any active security clearances” for the law firms and to order all federal agencies to “take appropriate steps to terminate any contract” with the firms. Employ
Article from Reason.com
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