President Trump and his administration through its policies and executive orders enacted in its first 100 days represent an unprecedented assault against the rule of law, an open attack on the foundational concept of an independent judiciary, resulting in hemorrhage of our constitutional system by seeking to disembowel a co-equal branch of our constitutional republic--the judiciary-by reducing or eliminating due process and equal protection. Recent Trump administration executive orders, policies and pronouncements have resulted in xenophobia against judges who may rule against the administration policies, and against lawyers who represent unfavorable clients, resulting in making all of us less free and therefore less safe. For example, recently the Trump Administration sought to impeach a judge because of an unfavorable ruling rather than seeking the normative remedy of appeal, resulting in a rare and pointed rebuke by Chief Justice John Roberts of President Trump. The Trump administration has expanded its attacks on the rule of law by also seeking to intimidate law firms and attorneys and chill advocacy of clients unpopular with the administration contrary to First and Sixth Amendment rights to freedom of speech and right to counsel, respectively. The Trump Administration even arrested a state court judge in Wisconsin charged with obstruction of justice in connection with an ICE effort to deport a party appearing in an unrelated court matter.

The public must be informed of the administration’s authoritarian tilt, and educated that judges must follow the law, not public opinion or political preference. Representation by counsel of choice with due process are constitutional bedrocks of our constitutional system for the past 249 years. The United States is not any country; it is a beacon of light to all the peoples of the Earth as the one place where the rule of law, due process and equal protection apply to all its residents, citizens or not. In direct conflict with these inalienable rights, please consider the following partial summary of President Trump’s recent executive orders:
• Seek mass deportations and use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to detain and deport
immigrants without due process, including extrajudicial rendition of 238 persons in the
U.S., of Venezuelan descent to an El Salvadoran prison in defiance of a federal court order.
• Deploy the military for border security in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878,
which generally prevents the President from using the military as a domestic police force.
• Prohibit K-12 schools from teaching materials deemed anti-American or promoting gender ideology. Directs law enforcement to prosecute educators facilitating gender transitions for minors.
• Revoke affirmative action and all DEI programs, and openly use the Justice Department
to attack any and all businesses, educational organizations and people who do not comply.
• Withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change.
• Declare a national emergency to prioritize production of fossil fuels.
• Create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
• Withdraw from the World Health Organization.
• Implement a federal hiring freeze.
My effort here is not to politicize these issues, as President Trump fairly won the 2024 election and similarly fairly lost the 2020 election, but rather for our bar members to decide for themselves if a policy enacted by Executive Order supports the rule of law and/or attacks an independent judiciary, and whether the executive orders and policies are constitutional. We have a duty as officers of the court to speak up, speak out, and speak with zealous advocacy on these issues which do not conform with the Constitution, the rule of law, which cannot stand with an independent judiciary having the ability to interpret the law.

In the next few months, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a number of key cases on these very issues of dire constitutional import. These cases include: A challenge to Executive Order 14160, which seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants; Deportation of Venezuelan immigrants to a Salvadoran prison without due process; Elimination of collective bargaining rights for federal employees; Dismissal of FTC commissioners in violation of US Supreme Court precedent and bipartisan structure mandated by law; Whether President Trump is immune from prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results; Review of a law enacted as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, making it a felony to corruptly obstruct, influence or impede an official proceeding, as it may apply against defendants associated with the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack for attempting to obstruct that year’s Electoral College vote count, as well as it may apply to President Donald Trump for alleged activities to obstruct that election.

Never in the history of our country has so much depended in large measure on our Chief Justice to fulfill his constitutional mandate to support the rule of law, and lead the third branch of government, the judiciary, to perform its fundamental core function to interpret policies and executive orders promulgated almost daily by the Trump Administration. We note, there is not a single piece of legislation that President Trump has managed to pass, but rather, our country faces an onslaught of executive orders, reflecting the whims of a single person, not the collective judgment of two branches of government, legislative and executive, which appear to be literally under the control of President Trump. Our country desperately needs the Judicial Branch to fulfill its constitutional duty to interpret the law without undue interference. Our judiciary cannot do that without the support of members of the bar; it is our duty for the sake of our constitutional democracy to stand shoulder to shoulder with the bench in support of the rule of law and an independent judiciary unafraid to interpret the law.

Action Steps Available to Every Member of the Bar:

Public Advocacy. As stated at a recent conference of U.S. District Judges, “silence on the
part of the bar means acquiescence.” National, state and local bar associations have released public statements rejecting federal governmental action that punishes lawyers and law firms who represent certain unfavorable clients or punish judges who rule in certain ways. The ABA publicly rebuked the Trump administration for stating judges can be impeached over unfavorable rulings. Members of the bar have the training, knowledge and skill to educate the public that an existential threat to democracy has been unleashed by the Trump administration in its first 100 days with more than 1300 days remaining in President Trump’s term. Speak up and make yourselves heard at every level of government and public discourse that our 249-year-old constitutional democracy and its norms of three equal co-branches of government supporting the rule of law, due process, equal protection, and an independent judiciary to protect those precious rights.
Write letters to local newspapers.
Author op-ed articles.
Post on social media.
Communicate with family, friends, and neighbors.
Write open letters to your clients.
Write letters to your elected representatives at the local, state, and federal levels.
Support amicus curiae brief writing efforts by various non-profits seeking to protect the
rule of law.
Support and join peaceful protests at the local, state, and national levels.
Participate in a one-day strike in the United States, “A day without lawyers,” who strike
in support of an independent judiciary and the rule of law.

Litigation Strategies
Challenge illegal executive orders.
Provide pro bono legal services for all adversely affected by unconstitutional Trump
administration policies.

Actions through professional organizations
Actively support bar leadership at the local, state and national levels by volunteering your
time and talent.

Legislative efforts
Contact and write letters to local, state and federal representatives so our elected leaders
hear the immutable and irrefutable objection by the bar to Trump administration policies that attack the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and our fundamental constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.

In conclusion, we are at an inflection point in history. In the 1930’s in the middle of the
Great Depression, President Roosevelt in his first 100 days passed 15 pieces legislation that
became the New Deal, led us out of what had been the worst economic downturn in our Country’s history, to victory in World War II, and resulted in 80 years of prosperity, peace and economic growth unrivaled in the history of the world. Now in just a few short months, the world order as we have known it as Americans, is changing, and it is not changing for the better. We cherish our Constitution, as appropriately amended over time because it provides the fundamental framework for our inherent freedoms as reflected in the Bill of Rights. Members of the bar, stand up and be counted, your written and advocacy skills have rarely been needed as much as they are now to support the rule of law and an independent judiciary to weather the storm of the current administration.