{"id":117621,"date":"2025-05-03T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T19:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/03\/law-day-demonstrations-highlight-lawyers-growing-fears-about-rule-of-law\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T11:05:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T19:05:26","slug":"law-day-demonstrations-highlight-lawyers-growing-fears-about-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/05\/03\/law-day-demonstrations-highlight-lawyers-growing-fears-about-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Day Demonstrations Highlight Lawyers\u2019 Growing Fears About Rule Of Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Image via Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday, Donald Trump signed an executive proclamation in commemoration of Law Day. Though, in ominous fashion, Trump\u2019s statement leaned into the event as \u201cLoyalty Day,\u201d<\/a> invoking the event\u2019s 1950s Red Scare origins even though the actual holiday set forth in P.L. 87-20 is \u201cLaw Day.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United\u00a0States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2025, as Loyalty Day, and in accordance with Public Law 87\u201320, as amended, as Law Day, U.S.A.,\u201d the president wrote without a hint of irony, asserting the power to declare a separate holiday on top of the one authorized by statute to celebrate the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Despite the president\u2019s perfunctory platitudes about the rule of law, lawyers and other legally minded people flocked to demonstrations around the country yesterday mostly to call out his administration\u2019s ongoing assault on the bedrock principle from making up fake Supreme Court quotes<\/a> to justify accidentally deporting people to foreign slave camps to arresting judges in their courthouses<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Above the Law O.G. and current Original Jurisdiction<\/a> author David Lat went to the New York rally sponsored by the New York City Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. Between 1,500 and 2,000 folks gathered for the NY event. As Lat said of the rally, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a protest with this many people in suits<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denouncing Trump\u2019s legal misadventures has become a bipartisan project lately<\/a>, a development reflected in Lat\u2019s account of the NY rally:<\/p>\n

\n

Stuart Gerson<\/a>\u2014a former acting U.S. attorney general, currently of counsel at\u00a0Epstein Becker & Green<\/a>\u2014spoke about the importance of an independent, nonpartisan judicial branch. He expressed \u201ca great deal of faith in the judiciary\u201d\u2014including, he noted, a number of appointees from Donald Trump\u2019s first term who have ruled against the administration in his second.<\/p>\n

Gerson led the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President George H.W. Bush, and President Bill Clinton asked Gerson to serve as acting AG at the start of his administration. When Gerson asked Bush if he should accept, Bush said yes, telling him that \u201cthis is about country, not party\u201d\u2014words that accurately describe the current rule-of-law crisis, according to Gerson.\u00a0(Gerson might be familiar to some of you as a board member of the\u00a0Society for the Rule of Law<\/a>\u2014a group of conservative lawyers committed to democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law\u2014which I\u2019ve\u00a0written about previously<\/a>\u00a0in these pages.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Original Jurisdiction piece provides a speaker-by-speaker account of the demonstration, which included lawyers who\u2019ve left firms swearing fealty to Trump<\/a> and current and past bar association leaders. Lat also spotted a familiar logo in the crowd, flagging a repurposed Above the Law t-shirt in the background of one of his pictures. Thankfully we got a closer look, in this picture of Janet\u00a0Falk, Public Relations consultant with Adrienne B. Koch, Partner at Katsky Korins and President of the New York County Lawyers Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Good to see the classic shirts make an appearance!<\/p>\n

Anyway, for the many, many lawyers, judges, and support staff out there\u2026 we hope you had a Happy Law Day! And for the firms who\u2019ve signed pro bono deals with Trump: Happy Loyalty Day, I guess.<\/p>\n

Lawyers Rally For The Rule Of Law: A Photo Essay<\/a> [Original Jurisdiction]<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Law Day Demonstrations Highlight Lawyers\u2019 Growing Fears About Rule Of Law<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Image via Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday, Donald Trump signed an executive proclamation in commemoration of Law Day. Though, in ominous fashion, Trump\u2019s statement leaned into the event as \u201cLoyalty Day,\u201d<\/a> invoking the event\u2019s 1950s Red Scare origins even though the actual holiday set forth in P.L. 87-20 is \u201cLaw Day.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United\u00a0States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2025, as Loyalty Day, and in accordance with Public Law 87\u201320, as amended, as Law Day, U.S.A.,\u201d the president wrote without a hint of irony, asserting the power to declare a separate holiday on top of the one authorized by statute to celebrate the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Despite the president\u2019s perfunctory platitudes about the rule of law, lawyers and other legally minded people flocked to demonstrations around the country yesterday mostly to call out his administration\u2019s ongoing assault on the bedrock principle from making up fake Supreme Court quotes<\/a> to justify accidentally deporting people to foreign slave camps to arresting judges in their courthouses<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Above the Law O.G. and current Original Jurisdiction<\/a> author David Lat went to the New York rally sponsored by the New York City Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. Between 1,500 and 2,000 folks gathered for the NY event. As Lat said of the rally, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a protest with this many people in suits<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denouncing Trump\u2019s legal misadventures has become a bipartisan project lately<\/a>, a development reflected in Lat\u2019s account of the NY rally:<\/p>\n

\n

Stuart Gerson<\/a>\u2014a former acting U.S. attorney general, currently of counsel at\u00a0Epstein Becker & Green<\/a>\u2014spoke about the importance of an independent, nonpartisan judicial branch. He expressed \u201ca great deal of faith in the judiciary\u201d\u2014including, he noted, a number of appointees from Donald Trump\u2019s first term who have ruled against the administration in his second.<\/p>\n

Gerson led the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice under President George H.W. Bush, and President Bill Clinton asked Gerson to serve as acting AG at the start of his administration. When Gerson asked Bush if he should accept, Bush said yes, telling him that \u201cthis is about country, not party\u201d\u2014words that accurately describe the current rule-of-law crisis, according to Gerson.\u00a0(Gerson might be familiar to some of you as a board member of the\u00a0Society for the Rule of Law<\/a>\u2014a group of conservative lawyers committed to democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law\u2014which I\u2019ve\u00a0written about previously<\/a>\u00a0in these pages.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Original Jurisdiction piece provides a speaker-by-speaker account of the demonstration, which included lawyers who\u2019ve left firms swearing fealty to Trump<\/a> and current and past bar association leaders. Lat also spotted a familiar logo in the crowd, flagging a repurposed Above the Law t-shirt in the background of one of his pictures. Thankfully we got a closer look, in this picture of Janet\u00a0Falk, Public Relations consultant with Adrienne B. Koch, Partner at Katsky Korins and President of the New York County Lawyers Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Good to see the classic shirts make an appearance!<\/p>\n

Anyway, for the many, many lawyers, judges, and support staff out there\u2026 we hope you had a Happy Law Day! And for the firms who\u2019ve signed pro bono deals with Trump: Happy Loyalty Day, I guess.<\/p>\n

Lawyers Rally For The Rule Of Law: A Photo Essay<\/a> [Original Jurisdiction]<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Law Day Demonstrations Highlight Lawyers\u2019 Growing Fears About Rule Of Law<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Image via Getty) Yesterday, Donald Trump signed an executive proclamation in commemoration of Law Day. Though, in ominous fashion, Trump\u2019s statement leaned into the event as \u201cLoyalty Day,\u201d invoking the event\u2019s 1950s Red Scare origins even though the actual holiday set forth in P.L. 87-20 is \u201cLaw Day.\u201d \u201cNOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":117569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Headshot-300x200-Mcv30H.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}