Letter Calls on Law Firms to Uphold Core Constitutional Principles in the Face of the Trump Administration’s Attacks 

LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined an open letter to the legal community (PDF) that expresses support for law firms that have fought back against President Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to target law firms for advocacy the Trump Administration disfavors, and expresses the coalition’s profound disappointment that several of the country’s largest law firms have capitulated in the face of these dangerous attacks on the rule of law.

The open letter to the legal community comes as President Trump has issued unconstitutional executive orders targeting several law firms for their advocacy, and as some of the nation’s largest law firms have struck “deals” with the President and his administration that commit the firms to providing free legal services to support the Trump Administration’s priorities.  

“What we have seen from Donald Trump and his administration is a total disregard for the separations of power and the rule of law,” Nessel said. “The legal profession cannot be complicit in this attack on our democracy. I am proud to stand with my colleagues, law firms, and fellow attorneys in defense of the Constitution against these unconstitutional threats, and I have no doubt that history will prove us right for standing up to these abuses of power.” 

In the letter, the coalition of attorneys general explains that President Trump’s executive orders plainly violate the Constitution. The executive orders retaliate against lawyers based on protected speech and association, and they discriminate based on viewpoint. The orders also are inconsistent with the right to effective counsel, offend basic principles of due process, and undermine bedrock rule-of-law principles. The letter points out that these unconstitutional attacks on the legal profession are attacks on the justice system and pave the way towards authoritarianism.

In the letter, the coalition highlights that four law firms – Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey – have filed suit against the Trump Administration for the President’s illegal actions and have succeeded in obtaining court orders temporarily blocking these orders.

The letter calls upon other law firms and lawyers to join the four law firms who have fought back against these unconstitutional executive orders, along with their counsel, current and former general counsel of leading companies, former judges, law professors, and the more than 800 other law firms that have joined amicus briefs in those cases. The letter urges other law firms and lawyers to reject the path taken by the firms that have capitulated to President Trump, and it invites law firms to stand together with the coalition of attorneys general in preserving the integrity of the legal system. 

Joining Attorney General Nessel in signing the open letter were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.