December, 15 2020, 11:00pm EDT
"Permanent Stain On Your Firm's Reputation": Group of Constitutional Lawyers Cautions U.S. Law Firms Against Hiring Legal Alumni of the Trump Administration
Free Speech for People authors letter encouraging u.s. law firms to protect their legal reputations and abstain from hiring lawyers who served in the Trump Administration.
WASHINGTON
Free Speech For People, a nonpartisan group of Constitutional lawyers, issued a letter today encouraging prestigious U.S. law firms to abstain from hiring legal alumni from the Trump Administration seeking employment in private practice following the presidential transition of powers in January.
Free Speech For People argues that, while it is common for attorneys who served in the outgoing presidential administration to seek roles in private practice, the Trump administration's "unprecedented attack[s] against the rule of law itself" should be cause for concern for firms considering welcoming recent White House attorneys into their ranks.
"Over the past four years, the Trump administration has demonstrated a consistent disregard and disdain for a broad range of laws, including laws regulating the conduct and conflicts of
executive branch officials, as well as those affecting ordinary civilians," Free Speech For People wrote in the letter. "Administration attorneys of the bar have been complicit and, in many cases, played essential roles" in these lawless and abusive practices.
The letter details a number of violations carried out by the Trump administration with the cooperation, and often at the direction, of administration attorneys. These include (1) advocating "spurious legal theories" to support forcible separation of small children from families; (2) supporting the deployment of the US military to unlawfully repress peaceful protests; (3) helping orchestrate a years' long pattern of obstruction and resistance to lawful demands of criminal and Congressional investigations; (4) leveraging the DOJ to intimidate political enemies with baseless charges; (5) improperly abandoning or seeking to undermine valid prosecutions in order to benefit Trump and his associates; and (6) pardoning allies who violated laws integral to federal investigations and due process.
Free Speech For People's letter concludes by cautioning law firms from tarnishing their prestige and dishonoring their partners by associating themselves with ex-Trump lawyers. "Acting as a sanctuary for [them] would dishonor your partners, your employees, and your firm's good name."
You can read the full letter here.
Free Speech For People is a national non-partisan non-profit organization founded on the day of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC that works to defend our democracy and our Constitution.
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Supreme Court Signals It Will Uphold 'State-Sanctioned Discrimination' in Transgender Care Case
"We the people means all the people," said the ACLU. "There is no 'transgender' exception to the U.S. Constitution."
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Attorneys who argued against Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming healthcare at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed hope that the court's nine justices will take "the opportunity to affirm the essential freedom and equality of all people before the law," while reports indicated that the right-wing majority is inclined to uphold the ban.
"Every day this law inflicts further pain, injustice, and discrimination on families in Tennessee and prevents them from receiving the medical care they need," said Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee, which represented three families and a physician. "We ask the Supreme Court to commit to upholding the promises of the U.S. Constitution for all people by putting an end to Tennessee's state-sanctioned discrimination against trans youth and their families."
The law, S.B. 1, which was passed in March 2023, bars medical providers from prescribing puberty-delaying medications, other hormonal treatment, and surgical procedures to transgender minors and youths with gender dysphoria.
The Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti, applies only to the ban on puberty blockers and hormonal therapy for minors; a lower court found the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to challenge the surgery ban.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and a law firm were joined by the Biden administration in arguing that Tennessee allows doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and other hormonal treatments for youths with congenital defects, early puberty, diseases, or physical injuries.
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"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives."
The court's three liberal justices—Justices Sonya Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—all indicated they believed Tennessee has tried to classify people according to sex or gender with the law.
"One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to encourage gender conformity and to discourage anything other than gender conformity," said Kagan. "Sounds to me like, 'We want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls,' and that's an important purpose behind the law."
Matthew Rice, the lawyer representing Tennessee in the case, claimed the state simply wants to prevent "regret" among minors, and the court's six conservative justices signaled they were inclined to allow Tennessee to ban the treatments—which are endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other top medical associations.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the nine justices should not overrule the decision made by lawmakers representing Tennessee residents, considering there is debate over the issue, and pointed to changes some European countries have made to their gender-affirming care protocols for minors.
Representing the Biden administration, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar acknowledged that there has been debate about gender-affirming care in the U.S. and abroad, but pointed out that countries including the U.K. and Sweden have not outright banned treatment.
"I think that's because of the recognition that this care can provide critical, sometimes lifesaving benefits for individuals with severe gender dysphoria," she said.
Following the arguments, plaintiff Brian Williams, who has a 16-year-old daughter in need of gender-affirming care, addressed supporters who had assembled outside the Supreme Court.
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Prelogar asked the justices to "think about the real-world consequences of laws like S.B. 1," highlighting the case of a plaintiff identified as Ryan Roe.
Roe had such severe gender dysphoria that "he was throwing up before school every day," said Prelogar. "He thought about going mute because his voice caused him so much distress. And Ryan has told the courts that getting these medications after a careful consultation process with his doctors and his parents, has saved his life."
"But Tennessee has come in and categorically cut off access to Ryan's care," she added. "This law harms Ryan's health and the health of all other transgender adolescents for whom these medications are a necessity."
Tennessee is home to about 3,100 transgender teenagers, and about 110,000 transgender youths between the ages of 13-17 live in the 24 states where gender-affirming care is restricted.
More than 20 states have laws that could be impacted by the court's ruling in United States v. Skrmetti.
"My heart—and the heart of every transgender advocate fighting this fight—is heavy with the weight of what these laws mean for people's everyday lives," said Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project. "But I also know that every out trans person has embraced the unknown in the name of living free from shame or the limits of other people's expectations."
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