Not sure you need to be much of an expert to work this out – it is the thin end of the wedge and the world is about to understand his hatred for the law. All that revenge now coming into play . It is just the beginning of the beginning.
WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump‘s executive orders terminating security clearances and taking other actions against two prominent law firms may violate constitutional protections and represent exceptional acts of retribution against lawyers who have crossed him in the past, according to legal experts.
The two firms targeted by the Republican president have represented Trump adversaries. Perkins Coie represented the campaign of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in his first presidential run. Covington & Burling currently represents Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration who brought criminal charges against Trump in two cases.
Legal experts interviewed by Reuters said the manner in which Trump targeted the firms could run afoul of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech and Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process – a requirement for the government to use a fair legal process.
Trump on Thursday directed Attorney General Pam Bondi, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and all U.S. agency chiefs to restrict access by lawyers at Perkins Coie, a firm founded in Seattle, to federal buildings and end their security clearances.
In his separate executive orders concerning the firms, Trump ordered reviews intended to end contracts they currently hold with various federal agencies. Trump also initiated a review intended to end the government contracts of Perkins Coie clients.
Trump’s February 25 executive order targeting Washington, D.C.-based Covington revoked security clearances for two lawyers who advised Smith rather than the clearances for all the firm’s attorneys.
Security clearances give individuals access to classified information. The U.S. government has broad authority to grant and rescind such clearances and to control federal contracts for reasons of economic policy, according to legal experts.
To comply with the Constitution’s due process mandate, the order against Perkins Coie would have needed to give the firm notice and opportunity to challenge the claims, according to University of Toledo College of Law professor Evan Zoldan.
Trump’s order accused Perkins Coie of “dishonest and dangerous activity.” It said Perkins Coie “racially discriminates” in its hiring – referring to the firm’s efforts toward hiring a diverse workforce in terms of race and other traits. Trump and his allies have portrayed such policies as discriminatory against white people. The order also criticized the firm’s work representing Clinton’s campaign.
In addition, the order called on government officials to investigate more “large, influential or industry leading law firms” over their compliance with laws against racial discrimination, another reference to diversity policies.
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