Donald Trump’s war on the nation’s big law firms drew the ire of the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board, which accused the president of abusing executive power and highlighted a stunning string of courtroom defeats.
In a blistering editorial titled, “Big Law Firm 3, Trump 0,” the Journal’s board slammed the MAGA leader’s series of executive orders targeting liberal-leaning law firms as “an abuse of executive power that isn’t justified under any fair reading of the Constitution.”
“The rulings against the EOs are powerful enough, and the Administration’s arguments in defense are flimsy enough, that we suspect the firms will prevail again if the White House appeals,” the board concluded Wednesday as it spotlighted three recent rulings knocking Trump’s actions by three judges “across the political spectrum.”
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“The latest forceful rebuke came Tuesday from federal Judge Richard Leon, a conservative nominated by George W. Bush,” according to the editorial board. “His 73-page opinion is a scorcher concluding that Mr. Trump’s EO against the WilmerHale law firm ‘must be struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional. Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!’”
The strongly worded ruling left the board to conclude: “It’s hard to imagine a more thorough takedown of a presidential order.”
“Judge Leon says the Trump EO violates the First Amendment as retaliation for protected speech, as viewpoint discrimination, and as violations of the right to free association and to petition the government,” the Journal’s board told readers. “He says the EO also violates the constitutional rights to counsel and due process, as well as the separation of powers.”
The editorial board ended Wednesday by warning Trump that continuing the legal fight may backfire.
“Mr. Trump doesn’t like to lose, but in these cases he would be wise to cut his losses before he goes zero for nine at the Supreme Court,” the board concluded.
