America’s Most Powerful Law Firms Won’t Stand Up to Trump

Opinion|They Are America’s Most Powerful Law Firms. Their Silence Is Deafening.

In his chaotic attempt to dismantle democratic governance, redefine citizenship and cast aside fundamental rights of speech and due process, President Trump has all but declared war on one of the most effective forces to stand in his way: America’s legal institutions.

He has moved to purge the Department of Justice of all but those he perceives as loyal to him personally, demanded changes to law school curriculums, called with increasing furor for the impeachment of judges with whom he disagrees, attacked by name public-interest attorneys and bar associations that oppose his policies, and inched perilously close to defying court orders outright. In recent weeks Mr. Trump has also gone after the nation’s leading law firms — Covington & Burling; Perkins Coie; Paul, Weiss; and many more — with measures meant to hobble their ability to do business.

Of all of the American legal institutions now facing sustained attack, none would seem better positioned to push back against Mr. Trump’s strongman tactics than this class of wealthy and politically connected firms, known collectively as Big Law. Counsel to the world’s most powerful corporations, they are engaged in every sector of the marketplace and central to ensuring that the United States and global economy continue to spin. Yet where many ordinary judges, law school deans and public interest attorneys of both political parties have found the courage to push back against Mr. Trump’s anti-constitutional histrionics, Big Law has largely stayed silent or worse.

These firms face a classic problem of collective action: Every individual firm has an incentive to keep quiet, but if everyone stays silent, all will lose. The problem is understandable. It is also solvable. It requires firms to find the courage to act together.

Covington & Burling, the white-shoe Washington-based firm, was first to be targeted by the president. Its offense: having provided pro bono legal work for Jack Smith, who led the federal prosecution against Mr. Trump for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. On Feb. 25, Mr. Trump issued an executive order that suspended the security clearances of Covington lawyers who had anything to do with Mr. Smith’s representation and directed federal agencies to end any business with the firm. The firm has had virtually nothing to say in response.

Perkins Coie likewise attracted Mr. Trump’s ire for having represented Hillary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign. He ordered a review for any government contracts with the firm, while also effectively barring its lawyers from federal buildings and stripping them of security clearances — potentially disabling sanctions for a firm whose clients have included major defense contractors like Boeing, Microsoft and Northrop Grumman. To its credit, Perkins Coie decided to mount a defense, and turned to Quinn Emmanuel, an equally prestigious Los Angeles-based firm, to lead it. According to a Times report, Quinn Emmanuel balked. (The firm Williams & Connolly has taken the case.) Since then, other firms have reportedly declined to sign an amicus brief on Perkins Coie’s behalf.