Patterns of behavior can be very telling of a person’s mind-set. A few months ago, we published an article addressing the president’s scathing attack on the judiciary, and in particular his shout-out that “Crooked Judges ... [who have enjoined some of his executive orders] should be impeached.” President Donald Trump has signed a wave of EOs in a broad-based effort to end or change a vast array of what have become (over more than 50 years) federal government supported/institutionalized social and economic norms—such as trade and tariff practices, energy and environmental policies, health care regulations, grant monies to universities, enforcement of Title VI regulations, civil rights enforcement practices, and instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to challenge state laws effecting regulatory control of domestic energy practices.

A few EOs signed by the president have targeted law firms. In particular EOs have been signed ordering federal agencies to “address the risks associated with ‘Big Law’ firms” by suspending active security clearances for specifically named law firms and preventing members of these law firms from entering federal buildings. EOs issued in March targeted specific firms and stated that lawyers at these firms had worked as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating the criminal activities of people who attacked the Capital on Jan. 6, 2021, or that these firms were employing people predicated upon “unlawful discrimination perpetrated in the name of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies ...”, including the use of hiring quotas, or that these law firms had represented Hillary Clinton to steal the election. And, as the result of these “illegal activities,” these EOs stripped law firms of security clearances, limited access to federal buildings and terminated existing contracts. These unprecedented directives caused two law firms (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom) to publicly “apologize” and agree to provide millions of dollars of “pro bono” work for the government on topics the government decides have merit. The initial “cave-in” by Paul Weiss was announced in an EO issued on March 21, 2025, and the wording of this EO is chilling because it acknowledges the self-serving predicate for the attack and excuses it by hiding behind the claim that it was issued to protect civil rights.