{"id":123146,"date":"2025-06-16T17:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T01:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/trump-sued-by-aba-over-gestures-at-months-of-lawlessness\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T01:02:32","slug":"trump-sued-by-aba-over-gestures-at-months-of-lawlessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/06\/16\/trump-sued-by-aba-over-gestures-at-months-of-lawlessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Sued By ABA Over\u2026 *Gestures At Months Of Lawlessness*"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Bar Association appears to have found the backbone that the Surrender Firms couldn\u2019t locate<\/a>. Today, the national professional guild filed suit against Trump<\/a> \u2014 and eight more pages of caption \u2014 over the administration\u2019s threats against law firms to agree to give him diversity concessions and dedicated pro bono work for causes he believes in \u2014 or that he dictates<\/a>, depending on who you ask. <\/p>\n

Some law firms already sued the administration over these threats and won easily. The others just sat back and watched partners<\/a> and business<\/a> walk out the door while giving the media their best impression<\/a> of the \u2018this is fine\u2019 dog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Susman Godfrey, who you might remember as one of the law firms Trump tried to mess with<\/a> but they decided to mercilessly kick his ass<\/a> in court instead, represents the ABA.<\/p>\n

The ABA had already sued the administration<\/a> over cuts to numerous programs that would be arbitrary and capricious were they not so retaliatory. Now it\u2019s taking action on behalf of lawyers who haven\u2019t been able to stand up for themselves.<\/p>\n

Citing ABA members whose firms fit the standard that Trump has set for punitive executive orders who reasonable expect retaliation from the White House, as well as harm to the ABA itself as an entity that relies on pro bono representation. The ABA alleges that these efforts have already resulted in a firm saying they would no longer represent the organization in light of Trump\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n

Because everyone in the legal industry is concerned that they\u2019re going to be the next one that has to drag Trump into court as while he\u2019s wildly throwing around his executive authority like a Dumb John Wick if \u201ckilling his dog\u201d was \u201chiring lawyers who prosecuted guys for rubbing feces outside Nancy Pelosi\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges multiple theories of First Amendment violation based on the idea that governments punishing lawyers for representing clients is\u2026 we don\u2019t need to elaborate, right? I mean, we all get how governments can\u2019t punish people for opinions. It also asserts a separation of powers claim, the sort of issue the Supreme Court is designed to adjudicate but won\u2019t because that would require a much different Court than the one we\u2019re working with. Separation of powers is a subject this Court will rail about at length when it bears little connection to the case, but will run away like they\u2019re Paul Weiss faced with minor temporary adversity if actually asked to make a ruling on it. <\/p>\n

For that matter, this is exactly the Supreme Court that\u2019s going to use this as a springboard to strike down associational standing except for astroturfed religious organizations trying to declare gay people illegal in Amarillo<\/a>. But, hey, it\u2019s the thought and basic commitment to rule of law that counts, ABA!<\/p>\n

(Complaint on the next page\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump Sued Over \u2018Intimidation\u2019 Campaign Against Law Firms<\/a> [Bloomberg Law News]<\/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<\/p>\n

The post Trump Sued By ABA Over\u2026 *Gestures At Months Of Lawlessness*<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Bar Association appears to have found the backbone that the Surrender Firms couldn\u2019t locate<\/a>. Today, the national professional guild filed suit against Trump<\/a> \u2014 and eight more pages of caption \u2014 over the administration\u2019s threats against law firms to agree to give him diversity concessions and dedicated pro bono work for causes he believes in \u2014 or that he dictates<\/a>, depending on who you ask. <\/p>\n

Some law firms already sued the administration over these threats and won easily. The others just sat back and watched partners<\/a> and business<\/a> walk out the door while giving the media their best impression<\/a> of the \u2018this is fine\u2019 dog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Susman Godfrey, who you might remember as one of the law firms Trump tried to mess with<\/a> but they decided to mercilessly kick his ass<\/a> in court instead, represents the ABA.<\/p>\n

The ABA had already sued the administration<\/a> over cuts to numerous programs that would be arbitrary and capricious were they not so retaliatory. Now it\u2019s taking action on behalf of lawyers who haven\u2019t been able to stand up for themselves.<\/p>\n

Citing ABA members whose firms fit the standard that Trump has set for punitive executive orders who reasonable expect retaliation from the White House, as well as harm to the ABA itself as an entity that relies on pro bono representation. The ABA alleges that these efforts have already resulted in a firm saying they would no longer represent the organization in light of Trump\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n

Because everyone in the legal industry is concerned that they\u2019re going to be the next one that has to drag Trump into court as while he\u2019s wildly throwing around his executive authority like a Dumb John Wick if \u201ckilling his dog\u201d was \u201chiring lawyers who prosecuted guys for rubbing feces outside Nancy Pelosi\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges multiple theories of First Amendment violation based on the idea that governments punishing lawyers for representing clients is\u2026 we don\u2019t need to elaborate, right? I mean, we all get how governments can\u2019t punish people for opinions. It also asserts a separation of powers claim, the sort of issue the Supreme Court is designed to adjudicate but won\u2019t because that would require a much different Court than the one we\u2019re working with. Separation of powers is a subject this Court will rail about at length when it bears little connection to the case, but will run away like they\u2019re Paul Weiss faced with minor temporary adversity if actually asked to make a ruling on it. <\/p>\n

For that matter, this is exactly the Supreme Court that\u2019s going to use this as a springboard to strike down associational standing except for astroturfed religious organizations trying to declare gay people illegal in Amarillo<\/a>. But, hey, it\u2019s the thought and basic commitment to rule of law that counts, ABA!<\/p>\n

(Complaint on the next page\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump Sued Over \u2018Intimidation\u2019 Campaign Against Law Firms<\/a> [Bloomberg Law News]<\/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

1<\/strong> 2<\/a>Next \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images) The American Bar Association appears to have found the backbone that the Surrender Firms couldn\u2019t locate. Today, the national professional guild filed suit against Trump \u2014 and eight more pages of caption \u2014 over the administration\u2019s threats against law firms to agree to give him diversity concessions and dedicated pro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123141,"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-123146","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\/06\/Headshot-300x200-jsuKbV.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123146","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=123146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}