OAKLAND, CA –California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 20 other state attorneys general this week, according to a press statement issued by the California Department of Justice (DOJ), filed amicus briefs supporting the lawsuits of WilmerHale and Jenner & Block against the Trump Administration’s retaliatory executive orders.
The legal action repudiates Trump’s orders, which Bonta and other AG claim target law firms that choose to represent clients or positions the administration disagrees with, said DOJ.
The AG argues if the orders were allowed to take effect, those the President disfavors would find it harder to maintain legal representation. This interferes with lawyers’ practice of law, hinders free speech in and out of courtrooms, and inhibits the judicial power of the courts, explains the California DOJ,
Bonta asserts “The Trump Administration’s disregard for the First Amendment and disrespect for foundational tenets of American democracy is egregious and alarming.“
Bonta said he applauds some law firms’ “staunch refusal to bow to the President’s unconstitutional demands.”
Bonta urges the court to “grant permanent injunctions and end the President’s latest attempt to undermine our adversarial judicial system and the rule of law.”
The DOJ reports the state attorneys general’s amicus brief supports the motions by WilmerHale and Jenner & Block in favor of “summary judgment to permanently halt the Trump Administration’s retaliatory actions” against them.
The attorneys general argue the orders constitute a violation of the First Amendment, dismisses the right to counsel granted by the First and Sixth Amendments, and sabotages the rule of law, explains DOJ.
The CA DOJ explains this follows several statements by Attorney General Bonta vehemently and repeatedly calling out President Trump’s assault on the rule of law.
In March, after the Trump Administration called for the impeachment of federal judges and retribution against law firms or attorneys who dissent or have dissented from the positions of the Administration, Bonta and 20 other state attorneys general urged the legal community in an open letter to stand together in defense of the rule of law, reports the DOJ.
Bonta has issued a statement espousing the need to “speak up and push back when our democratic norms are violated, our legal system undermined, and our laws broken.”
And 11 days prior, the CA DOJ reports, Bonta filed an amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie, a law firm under assault from President Trump due to its legal representation of Hillary Clinton and its internal diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
In addition to CA AG Bonta, the CA DOJ said he is joined by the attorneys general of Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont in filing the amicus briefs.
