Misuse of government power by politicians to punish their enemies is an old story. The Biden administration infamously leaned on social media companies to suppress voices critical of the White House and its policies. New York used explicit threats of regulatory intervention to bully banks and insurance companies into denying services to the NRA and other gun rights advocates. And now President Donald Trump has turned his disputes with left-leaning law firms into an excuse to revoke their security clearances and subject them to investigation. It's part of a continuing and dangerous pattern of government officials abusing power to penalize opponents' opinions and activities.
Trump Calls Out Opposing Law Firms
In separate March executive orders, Trump called out multiple law firms who had drawn his wrath: Perkins Coie LLP for, in part, hiring "Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false 'dossier' designed to steal an election" and for working with "activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws"; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP for litigation against participants in the January 6 Capitol riot and for efforts "to manufacture a prosecution against me"; Jenner & Block LLP and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, for "obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends" and "the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders." In addition to partisan activities, the president accused the firms of race-based hiring in violation of civil rights laws.
