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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