Yesterday, and the American Bar Affiliation amped up their beef with President Donald Trump, adopting a resolution condemning his makes an attempt to retaliate in opposition to “legal professionals, legislation corporations, or different organizations for representing or having represented any specific consumer or trigger disfavored by the federal government.” The ABA’s decision additionally criticizes threats to question judges “based mostly solely on disagreement with the deserves of the rulings made by these judges.”
In virtually every other period, these are uncontroversial statements that do the naked minimal to defend the rule of legislation. However in fact, we reside within the hellscape of 2025, and the Trump administration has done these exact things.
So, the decision is especially pointed. However the ABA and the Trump administration have been going at it. The ABA sued Trump, et al. over the marketing campaign to bully legal professionals. The admin is threatening to strip the group of its law school accreditation function. The DOJ minimize the ABA out of the judicial vetting course of. The ABA got in scorching water over its diversity initiatives. The FTC cut ties with the group and DOJ attorneys can’t participate in ABA occasions.
One mission of the Trump II reign is to undermine the rule of legislation, with this decision the ABA is (again) signaling they’ll do their greatest to face in the best way of the authoritarian push.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Regulation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are one of the best, so please join along with her. Be at liberty to e-mail her with any suggestions, questions, or feedback and observe her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
