NYCLA Officers and Rule of Law Task Force Continue Efforts to Protect the Rule of Law in the Face of New Executive Orders Against Jenner & Block and WilmerHale

The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Officers today issued the following statement:

This week the President imposed far-reaching and potentially crippling sanctions against two law firms, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale. As with the earlier executive actions against Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, and Paul Weiss, the targets’ main “offense” was that certain of their lawyers or former lawyers handled matters adverse to the President. These two firms and Paul Weiss were also sanctioned for engaging in unspecified pro bono activities “undermining bedrock American principles.” These latest executive actions come soon after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced it is reviewing the DEI related-employment practices of 20 major law firms, and the President directed the Attorney General to seek sanctions against lawyers who litigate against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States in a manner that the administration deems “frivolous.”

These executive actions are the latest steps in a full-scale attack on our Constitution and the rule of law. NYCLA’s officers and its Rule of Law Task Force pledge to stand up to this attack and to uphold the principles on which our Constitution rests. 

The preservation of our most basic freedoms under our Constitution requires the rule of law. Central to the rule of law is the right to resist arbitrary assertions of governmental power, with independent lawyers free to advocate against government overreach to an independent judiciary with authority to restrain the government, based on a set of duly enacted rules of general application, in both civil and criminal cases. This administration’s actions aim to constrain that independence by instilling fear. Judges are being subjected to vehement criticism, threats of violence, and calls for impeachment solely because they ruled against the administration. Large law firms are being cowed into silence, unwilling to speak out or to take on clients and causes that the administration may dislike. But unless those clients and causes are defended, there can be no rule of law, and our freedoms can vanish. 

As a bar association, we will continue to speak out to defend our Constitution and the rule of law. To the members of the judiciary, we pledge to support your independence and to do everything we can to protect you from improper threats. To all our fellow lawyers, we urge you to join us in this campaign, and above all, to have the courage to take on clients and cases that may be unpopular with the administration. And to the victims of illegal government actions, we pledge to provide our resources and to help you find legal counsel and redress. Maintaining our freedoms and the rule of law requires nothing less.

About the New York County Lawyers Association
The New York County Lawyers Association (nycla.org) was founded in 1908 as one of the first major bar associations in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion or gender, and has a long history of supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Since its inception, NYCLA has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence. For more information on NYCLA please visit nycla.org.

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