WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has directed the Justice Department to investigate “frivolous” lawsuits against the administration, but some lawyers say he’s trying to intimidate them and attack the rule of law.
Trump cited “rampant fraud and meritless claim” in immigration cases in a memo Friday to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. And he specifically criticized lawyer Marc Elias for representing his rival Hillary Clinton in 2016, when a dossier of derogatory information was gathered about Trump.
Trump directed Bondi to seek sanctions against lawyers “who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.” And if she identifies misconduct by lawyers, Trump said, he could terminate their security clearances and government contracts.
“I just think the law firms have to behave themselves,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “They’ve behaved very badly and very wrongly.”
Several lawyers, including Elias, responded Saturday that they wouldn’t be intimidated from fighting for democracy.
“President Trump is attempting to dismantle the Constitution and attack the rule of law in his obsessive pursuit of retribution against his political opponents,” Elias said. “President Trump’s goal is clear. He wants lawyers and law firms to capitulate and cower until there is no one left to oppose his Administration in court.”
Trump escalates fight with law firms opposing the administration
The clash is the latest legal dispute between Trump and legal forces he contends are arrayed against him.
Trump suspended the security clearances of firms that worked against him in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have called for the impeachment of judges who have blocked his latest policies.
In an unusual step last week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked their call for impeachments.
In other actions, Trump revoked the security clearances of staffers at the law firm Perkins Coie for working with Clinton. The firm is fighting in court to preserve lawyers’ access to federal buildings.
And the law firm of Paul Weiss agreed to perform $40 million in free legal work on “mutually agreed projects” in exchange for Trump withdrawing an executive order targeting the law firm’s contracts and employee security clearances.
Trump: Ethics rules call for sanctions of unethical lawyers
Trump said “grossly unethical misconduct are far too common,” accusing Elias of trying to alter the outcome of the 2016 election through fraud. Elias often represents Democratic interests in challenging Republican election rules and policies he contends are aimed at discouraging turnout.
Trump argued that Clinton and others disseminated false and harmful information about him during the 2016 campaign. He cited a dossier assembled by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, which contained salacious and unconfirmed allegations that Trump colluded with Russia to win that election.
Steele had been hired by Fusion GPS, a private investigations company, which was paid by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Investigations about the dossier discredited many of central allegations and the credibility of of Steele’s sources.
Trump also accused immigration lawyers of coaching clients to “lie about their circumstances when asserting asylum claims.” The president has made strict enforcement of immigration laws a keystone of his administration.
Trump cited court rules that prohibit lawyers from engaging in unethical conduct or filing arguments that harass or cause unnecessary delays in litigation.
“When these commands are violated, opposing parties are authorized to file a motion for sanctions,” Trump said.
Trump memo called ‘despicable’
Damon Hewitt, president of the nonprofit Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement Saturday that weaponizing the legal system to intimidate and silence lawyers is “a dangerous manipulation of the rule of law and a subversion of democracy.”
Lawyers “should not be targets of political witch hunts and political retribution,” Hewitt said. “They should not be punished for doing their jobs. And the advocates among us should not be punished for winning.”
Ryan Barack of the firm Kwall Barack Nadeau issued a statement called Trump’s memo “targeting attorneys who dare to challenge unlawful actions is a direct threat to the rule of law.”
“It is meant to intimidate law firms like ours and to discourage the kind of advocacy we have practiced for years: principled, fearless and rooted in justice,” Barack said.
The law firm Keker, Van Nest and Peters recently sued the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol on behalf of United Farm Workers and residents of Kern County, California. The lawsuit accuses the administration of unlawfully deporting more than 40 clients to Mexico.
Lawyers John Keker, Robert Van Nest, Elliot Peters and Laurie Carr Mims issued a joint statement saying the president and attorney general don’t understand the country’s “Constitution and bedrock values.”
“An attack on lawyers who perform this work is inexcusable and despicable,” the statement said. “Our profession owes every client zealous legal representation without fear of retribution, regardless of their political affiliation or ability to pay.”
