After Donald Trump launched an unprecedented offensive against prominent law firms, most of the president’s targets chose to appease the White House and succumb to pressure. Four, however, chose to fight back.
There was some risk to that strategy, but with each passing court victory, the strategy keeps looking smarter. The New York Times reported:
A federal judge in Washington ruled on Friday that an executive order President Trump signed imposing penalties against the law firm Susman Godfrey was unconstitutional, permanently barring the government from enforcing its terms. The decision by Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia effectively ended, at least for now, the president’s campaign to subjugate several of the nation’s top law firms.
“The order was one in a series attacking firms that had taken positions with which President Trump disagreed,” the judge wrote in her ruling. “In the ensuing months, every court to have considered a challenge to one of these orders has found grave constitutional violations and permanently enjoined enforcement of the order in full.”
Susman Godfrey responded to the ruling with a written statement that read in part, “The court’s ruling is a resounding victory for the rule of law and the right of every American to be represented by legal counsel without fear of retaliation. We applaud the court for declaring the administration’s order unconstitutional.”
In terms of the overall record, the four firms that challenged Trump’s executive orders have now gone undefeated, racking up four decisive victories. That might sound familiar, but some of the earlier wins were temporary injunctions blocking enforcement of the president’s directives. Now, the orders that have been challenged have been permanently rejected by federal judges.
As for the firms that went with appeasement, the fallout continues. Politico reported over the weekend on developments at Paul Weiss — the first to negotiate a deal with Team Trump — which has lost at least 10 partners, as well as notable clients. Other firms that caved to the Republican administration are facing related challenges.
What’s more, some of these same firms are also starting to realize that their deals with the president are worse than they first realized.
The entire strategy has backfired spectacularly. From the firms’ perspective, appeasement was supposed to guarantee relative tranquility and client satisfaction. Instead, these firms are losing clients, partners, associates and credibility within the industry. Indeed, the firms that tried to placate and pacify the president must be kicking themselves right about now: All they had to do was defend themselves, their profession, the law and the integrity of the system itself, and they could’ve avoided all kinds of problems. But to reiterate a point from our earlier coverage, it’s not necessarily too late for the firms that gave in to reverse course. I keep waiting for at least one of these firms to declare, “Upon further reflection, we’ve decided to fight back against the White House offensive and abandon the earlier deal that was reached under unjust circumstances. The president asked too much while threatening too much, and we’ve decided to take our chances in court.” Will any of the affected firms step up? If one does, will others follow? Watch this space. Update: After this post was published, the White House appealed one of its earlier defeats against one of the firms that fought and won in court.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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