Trump Using Another Executive Order to Take Revenge on Law Firms

So much revenge – and no work whatsoever on behalf of the American people. Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of his attacks. Follow up to Perkins Coie Drags Trump Administration Clear To Hell In New Lawsuit and Top Law Firm Capitulated to Trump Demands. “The president issued a new order Tuesday sanctioning yet another law firm, Jenner & Block. And today’s White House Order – Addressing Risks from WilmerHale, March 27, 2025. “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Background.  My Administration is committed to addressing the significant risks associated with law firms, particularly so-called “Big Law” firms, that engage in conduct detrimental to critical American interests.  Many firms take actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles. Moreover, law firms regularly conduct this harmful activity through their powerful pro bono practices, earmarking hundreds of millions of their clients’ dollars for destructive causes, that often directly or indirectly harm their own clients.  Lawyers and law firms that engage in such egregious conduct should not have access to our Nation’s secrets, nor should such conduct be subsidized by Federal taxpayer funds or contracts. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (WilmerHale) is yet another law firm that has abandoned the profession’s highest ideals and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States. For example, WilmerHale engages in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends, supports efforts to discriminate on the basis of race, backs the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders, and furthers the degradation of the quality of American elections, including by supporting efforts designed to enable noncitizens to vote. Moreover, WilmerHale itself discriminates against its employees based on race and other categories prohibited by civil rights laws, including through the use of race-based “targets.” WilmerHale is also bent on employing lawyers who weaponize the prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process and distort justice.  For example, WilmerHale rewarded Robert Mueller and his colleagues — Aaron Zebley, Mueller’s “top aide” and “closest associate,” and James Quarles — by welcoming them to the firm after they wielded the power of the Federal Government to lead one of the most partisan investigations in American history.  Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government, yet WilmerHale claimed he “embodies the highest value of our firm and profession.”  Mueller’s “investigation” upended the lives of public servants in my Administration who were summoned before “prosecutors” with the effect of interfering in their ability to fulfill the mandates of my first term agenda.  This weaponization of the justice system must not be rewarded, let alone condoned.