Judges block Trump orders targeting law firms
By: CBS News, Scott McFarland
Who does not see this as an abuse of power? Since when does the PotUS target specific businesses and threaten them with security revocations, etc. if they do not conform to his demands?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Transcript:
Well, in back-to-back rulings Friday night, two federal judges temporarily blocked President Trump's executive orders targeting specific high-profile law firms. The orders, signed this week, restrict the firms from working with federal agencies the firms have represented and employed—President Trump's political opponents.
Meanwhile, two other law firms have entered into agreements with the White House to avoid sanctions. CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland has more from Washington.
A flurry of activity in the courts late into the night Friday night—some of the largest and most name-brand law firms in America fighting to stay alive, to stay in business. They accused the Trump administration of targeting them with executive orders that would be a basic death sentence for firms like Wilmer Hale, firms like Perkins Coie. And they've been in court challenging the executive orders that have put them in dire straits.
The Trump administration has threatened to strip the attorneys at those firms of their security clearances or of their ability to do business in government buildings or with government workers. And on Friday, the president said another firm who's been on the radar—Skadden—has agreed to a settlement. They will not be subject to an executive order, but they've agreed to do a hundred million in pro bono work for causes or organizations the president does not object to.
There's concerns this is a chilling effect on law firms nationwide. There will be fewer firms and fewer lawyers willing to take cases challenging the administration—for people who need help with a veterans benefit or a Social Security check, federal worker who's lost his or her job or has a back pay issue.
These lawsuits will continue in the courts, but in the meantime, the Trump administration continues to exert its influence over America's major law firms from coast to coast.
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Trump is abusing his power weekly. Now he is trying to force law firms to stop engaging in cases in which he does not approve. This is extortion, is it not? But, the SCotUS has given Trump immunity for this.
And Trump supporters keep giving him the thumbs up.
If he has the legal power to do this, then it isn't abuse. It's certainly not extortion.
Having the legal power to do something does not mean it is not abuse.
Since when does a PotUS threaten private organizations unless they do his bidding?
Is there nothing that Trump does that you will acknowledge as wrong? (rhetorical)
OK. How about I take all your future income and sequester it unless you agree to pay me some yet to be arrived at amount of money?
Don't like it. Well that's tough unless we can make a deal.
That is what the President is doing to the Law Firms.
As a lawyer, I'm just shaking my head in disbelief. I never thought I would ever see ''Selling one's soul to the devil' actually happen.
I’m disappointed in the settlements, too, but I assume the firms calculated it was simply cheaper to go this route. Trump has unlimited resources to litigate the matter and they don’t. In the meantime, while they fight the order, they’d still have the restrictions on them, unless they could get a TRO.
In this situation any Judge who would not impose a TRO (LOL I had to look up what the acronym stood for) would have to be a biased for Trump Judge.
It does seem extreme, almost like a Bill of Attainder, except from the President instead of Congress.
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Prompt: Is there any precedent for the President of the United States to specifically call out individual firms for treatment by executive order Prior to the Trump Presidency?
ChatGPT said:
Yes, there are a few precedents for U.S. presidents calling out or targeting individual firms through executive action prior to the Trump presidency, though such instances were relatively rare and often more nuanced or indirect in approach. Some notable examples include:
1. Harry Truman and the Steel Mills (1952)
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt and War Production (WWII)
3. John F. Kennedy and the Steel Industry (1962)
4. Richard Nixon and Wage/Price Controls (1971)
Summary:
While presidents before Trump did exercise executive power affecting individual firms, it was usually under the guise of broad policy (e.g., national security, wartime economy, labor disputes), and public targeting of companies by name—especially via Twitter or in a combative tone—was not a standard practice until the Trump era. The style and frequency of this direct engagement with private firms marked a significant shift.