Smelling Blood In The Water, Trump Escalates Attacks On Law Firms
INSIDE: Pam Bondi ... James Boasberg ... Elon Musk
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Where Will It Stop?
The Trump administration seized on the capitulation by the Paul Weiss law firm to expand and intensify its attack on the legal profession late Friday. The Trump White House issued a new presidential memoranda – inartfully and misleadingly titled “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court” – that directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after lawyers and law firms that challenge the administration in court.
The escalation of the attacks on lawyers is happening in parallel with Trump’s attacks on individual federal judges and more broadly on the judicial branch’s constitutional powers.
As the White House celebrated its successfully bullying of Paul Weiss and as some of the nation’s leading law firms meekly scrambled to avoid being Trump’s next target, the president upped the ante by demanding that his attorney general seek sanctions and disciplinary actions against lawyers opposing the administration who violate the law or ethical standards. But the real thrust of the memo was to give Trump a mechanism for continuing to undermine, weaken, and intimidate the legal profession.
As The Guardian noted, Trump directed Bondi in the memo to report directly to him any lawyers litigating against the government “who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States,” an arguably loser standard than the one imposed by the cannons of legal ethics:
The memo, as a result, created a formal mechanism for Trump to unilaterally decide whether to impose politically charged sanctions through executive orders that strip lawyers of the security clearances they need to perform their jobs or prevent them from working on federal contracts.
In another clear sign that Trump is looking for payback against lawyers and law firms, he ordered Bondi to review cases against the federal government all the way back to the beginning of his first term to punish anyone “filing frivolous litigation or engaging in fraudulent practices.”
The implication of the Trump memo is that other lawyers and law firms will find themselves in the crosshairs of a retaliatory executive order targeting them the same way he has singled out Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, and Paul Weiss.
Goof Of The Day: A Freudian Slip
In seeking to recuse U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell from hearing Perkins Coie’s case challenging the executive order the law firm is being targeted by, the Trump DOJ made a telling mistake. In a filing Friday, the government wrote: “Fair proceedings free from any suggestion of impartiality are essential to the integrity of our country’s judiciary …”
God knows we don’t want even a “suggestion of impartiality” in our nation’s courts.
It’s NEVER Enough
In a desperate attempt to restore $400 million in federal funding that President Trump is lawlessly withholding, Columbia University agreed to make a number of invasive concessions to how the university is run – and now those concessions that are already being deemed insufficient by a Trump DOJ official.
“I will tell you right now that Columbia has not in my opinion — and the opinion of the Department of Justice — has not cleaned up their act,” said Leo Terrell, a senior Trump DOJ lawyer. “They’re not even close, not even close to having those funds unfrozen.”
A WSJ headline captured the higher education dynamic right now: “Universities Sprint from ‘We Will Not Cower’ to Appeasing Trump.”
The Retribution
Trump has repeatedly floated sending American prisoners to serve prison sentences outside the country.
Trump demands that Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) apologize — or the state will face consequences.
Trump Targets Pro-Palestinian Student Activists
The Trump administration has targeted another pro-Palestinian student activist with the threat of deportation. In the latest case, Momodou Taal, a doctoral candidate at Cornell with a student visa, was ordered to surrender to ICE after he had preemptively filed a lawsuit contesting the Trump’s executive order to “combat antisemitism” and any forthcoming efforts to target him. In a court filing over the weekend, the Trump administration confirmed that the State Department has unilaterally revoked Taal’s student visa under a little under a little-used provision that has suddenly become a giant loophole to avoid due process.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration seems to be trying to sidestep the First Amendment issues in its deportation case against Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil by finding a new basis for his removal. The government now alleges that Khalil wasn’t fully forthcoming in his application last year to become a permanent U.S. resident.
Boasberg Takes Trump DOJ Lawyer To The Woodshed
A reminder that there are two separate elements to the Alien Enemies Act case that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is handling: (i) whether the government violated his order halting AEA deportations, including turning planes around that were already en route to El Salvador; and (ii) whether the AEA deportations are lawful at all. Interwoven in both elements of the case are extreme claims from the Trump administration that the judiciary has little to no jurisdiction or power here.
As to whether the Trump administration violated his order, Boasberg lit into a DOJ lawyer in open court Friday. “I will get to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who ordered this and what the consequences will be,” Boasberg said from the bench. Among the consequences could be a contempt of court finding.
On the substance of the AEA deportations, Boasberg took a lot of time at the hearing, for the public’s benefit, to examine the issues in the case and mull their implications. “The policy ramifications of this are incredibly troublesome and problematic and concerning,” Boasberg said.
Meanwhile, after a NYT report on the U.S. intel community’s recent assessment of Tren de Aragua’s limited capacity undercut the administration’s position in the case, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Justice Department was opening an investigation into a “selective leak.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears arguments this afternoon on the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn Judge Boasberg’s order blocking any more deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
The Destruction
IRS: In the wake of the DOGE attack of the IRS, government officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, a loss of more than $500 billion in federal revenues
DHS: The Trump administration shut down three DHS watchdog agencies responsible for conducting oversight of President Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown.
USIP: The NYT has a tick-tock on the takeover and shutdown of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
SSA: DOGE’s multi-prong assault on the Social Security Administration is restricting the public’s access to services even as benefits claims boom.
Official Backs Off Threat To Shutdown Social Security
It took TWO letters Friday from U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander of Maryland before Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, backed off his claims that her order keeping DOGE out of people’s personal data would force him to shut the agency down.
IMPORTANT
A few key developments that you might have missed from last week:
IRS: “The Internal Revenue Service is nearing an agreement to allow immigration officials to use tax data to confirm the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, according to four people familiar with the matter, culminating weeks of negotiations over using the tax system to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign,” the WaPo reported.
OPM: “President Trump on Thursday issued a presidential memorandum aiming to expand the power of the Office of Personnel Management to fire federal employees, alarming experts and federal employee groups, Government Executive reported.
DOGE Watch: “Federal agencies must now allow any officials designated by the president or agency leadership to have complete access to unclassified records, data, software systems and IT systems, President Donald Trump declared in an executive order late Thursday night,” FedScoop reported.
The Purges
SBA: The Trump administration plans to cut more than 40% of the workforce at the Small Business Administration.
BLS: The Trump administration has disbanded two expert committees on economic statistics
What Is DOGE?
NYT: Trump says one thing, government lawyers say another.
Elon Musk Watch
Politico: Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest
WSJ: Musk Political Group Takes on Local Races and New Targets
NYT: Musk Is Positioned to Profit Off Billions in New Government Contracts
‘Highly Aggressive’
In his strongest public comments yet, Prime Minister Múte Egede excoriated the Trump White House for dispatching top American officials – including national security national security adviser Michael Waltz and second lady Usha Vance – to visit Greenland this week.
“What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland?” Egede asked. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”
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« God knows we…. »
FYI, yes that’s part of our language, but I substitute Darwin; neither know or cares, but too many people believe rather than think, and if god was of any use, she’d had fixed this mess.
Oh, but then she’s the ultimate oligarch….
Thanks for having the fortitude to keep doing these reports.
With the anticipated thousands [million+?]] of heroic protestors on April 5th (actually any and all days!) here's an updated partial list of those fighting back every day [as of 3-24-25). I'm also adding courageous law firms who haven't caved. Besides upstanding lawyers, and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges (including James Boasberg, chief judge, D.C. District Ct.), here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of Trump/Musk/MAGA/Fox "News" intimidation:
I'll begin (again) with Missouri's own indomitable Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper, then, in no particular order, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Gov. Tim walz, Sarah Inama, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Jasmine Crockett, Ruth Ben-Ghait, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Ali Velshi, Stephanie Miller, Gov. Janet Mills, Gov. Beshear, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin And the Contrarians, Dan Rather, Robert Reich, Steve Brodner, Rachel Cohen, Brian TylerCohen, Jessica Craven, Scott Dworkin, Annne Applebaum, Lucian Truscott IV, Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Snyder, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meiseilas, Rich wilson, Ron Filpkowski, Jeremy Seahill, Thom Hartmann, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Marianne Williamson, Mark Fiore, Jamie Raskin, Rebecca Solnit, Steve Schmidt, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Will Bunch, Jim Hightower, Dan Pfeifer, Dean Obeidallah--
American Bar Association, Indivisible. FiftyFifty one, MoveOn, DemCast, Blue Missouri, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Hands Off, Marc Elias/Democracy Docket, Public Citizen, League of Women Voters Lambda Legal, CREW, CODEPINK, ACLU et al. And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE! (Latest addition h/t , Robert B. Hubbell: Law firms, see below). All suggestions are welcome.
* Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling have resisted Trump, fighting back with the help of other courageous firms like Williams & Connolly. Per The ABA Journal,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, representing fired inspectors general. (Law.com)
Hogan Lovells, seeking to block executive orders to end federal funding for gender-affirming medical care. (Law.com)
Jenner & Block, also seeking to block the orders on cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com, Reuters)
Ropes & Gray, also seeking to block cuts to medical research funding. (Law.com)
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, representing the Amica Center for Immigrants Rights and others seeking to block funding cuts for immigrant legal services. (Law.com)
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.