The presiigious New York firms Paul Weiss (long time home of my mentor Jerome Cohen); and Skadden Arps (former home of Fordham's revered Dean John Feerick) both folded in the face of Trump demands. The President extradcted commitments to pro bono work on issues presumably agreeable to Trump. Today read that the conservative lawyer and cable TV correspondent Greta Van Susteren is pressing Paul Weiss to take up the ause of a Marine Corps veteran. The hundred of millions of dollars of free services promised to the Godfather will keep those firms on a short leash - reluctant, it seems certain, to challenge the President.
Unofrtunately they could have stood up to the bully, as did Jenner & Block, a 400+ member firm with with offices in Century City, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Jenner's bourage has been rewarded by its victory before D.C. District Judge John Bates. A former associate of Kenneth Starr who hounded Bill Clinton for his peccadillos and dissembling regarding Ms. Lewinsky, Bates declared:
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.
Trump's order obstructing Jenner's ability to do business witht he Unitd States was driven by a Trump personal vendetta. His EO declares:
Jenner was “thrilled” to re-hire the unethical Andrew Weissmann after his time engaging in partisan prosecution as part of Robert Mueller’s entirely unjustified investigation. Andrew Weissmann’s career has been rooted in weaponized government and abuse of power,
This sort of personal vengeance is precisely what Trump on the occasion of hi re-election swore not todo. He swore to "faithfully execute" the laws, as specified in the Constitution of the united States of America, Article I.
The consquences of such conduct are felt no only by the named targets - but by all of us who see in the United States a "shining city on a hill". Unfortunatley the road to recovery will be long, and the outcome not a foregone concluion.
- GWC
No comments:
Post a Comment