Dear John,
We are often asked what people should do in response to the daily onslaught of executive edicts that are smashing the norms and principles of democracy and the rule of law. Our answer borrows from the title of a 2022 movie – we all have to be everywhere, do everything, all at once.
That is the urgency of the moment we are facing. Not only are we all in this together, but we will only find our way through it if we feel a shared responsibility to use our voices to call out the constant assaults on democracy.
LDAD is doing everything it can to respond to the shocking pronouncements that seem increasingly unmoored from any understanding of or obligation to follow the law. On Monday, the chair of LDAD’s executive committee, Evan Falchuk, had the opportunity to be a guest on CNN International’s Quest Means Business with host Richard Quest. During their wide-ranging conversation, Evan addressed the need to oppose the President’s revenge-based executive orders against lawyers and law firms who had taken positions against him or on behalf of his past opponents.
Their CNN International conversation can be seen here.
LDAD executive director Lauren Stiller Rikleen joined with Amherst College Professor Austin Sarat to write about the President’s campaign against the legal profession: Trump’s Not Just Attacking Law Firms. He’s Assaulting the Rule of Law.
They described the recent sweeping missive directing the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to, in effect, penalize lawyers for representing clients and causes at odds with the administration. Breathtaking in scope, this memorandum not only would punish lawyers and law firms for future actions, its reach extends back eight years, not coincidentally, to the President’s first term that includes his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. As they wrote in The xxxxxx:
“If President Trump is successful in his campaign of terror against the law, he will turn the justice system into a blunt instrument of autocratic rule, depriving everyone in this country their own constitutional rights.”
We invite you to read and share their article in the xxxxxx.
Thank you for your continued support of our work. Your donations help us expand our reach in these difficult times. To contribute to LDAD, a 501(c)(3) organization, please click here.
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
