Trump Expands Attacks on Law Firms, Singling Out Paul, Weiss

[highplainsdem]

Source: NYT

President Trump on Friday opened a third attack against a private law firm, restricting the business activities of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison just days after a federal judge ruled such measures appeared to violate the Constitution.

White House officials said the president signed an executive order to suspend security clearances held by people at the firm, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest. The order also seeks to sharply limit Paul, Weiss employees from entering government buildings, getting government jobs or receiving any money from federal contracts, according to a fact sheet provided by the Trump administration.

The text of the order was not immediately available, but a White House fact sheet said the order intended to punish the firm generally, and one of its former lawyers specifically, Mark F. Pomerantz.

Mr. Trump mentioned Mr. Pomerantz by name in an angry speech Friday at the Justice Department, where he complained about prosecutors and private lawyers who pursued cases against him, calling them “really bad people.” Mr. Trump, in the same speech, claimed he was ending the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, though his move against the firm showed he will continue using his power to exact retribution on his opponents.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-law-firm.html

[yellow dahlia]

1. After a judge has ruled that he can't do this. n/t

[Initech]

2. His growing insanity and lust for power is becoming a major concern.

[slightlv]

3. Growing concern? It's been a prime concern for some time now.

He NEVER stepped down from the presidency when Biden beat him. He just carried on as "normal (for him)" as a government-in-exile. He received world leaders, held all the secret and top secret documents in his "White House" and even decorated a room to look exactly like the Oval Office, right down to the seal which is illegal to use unless you ARE the President. With everyone around him kowtowing to him and called him Mr President, even the courts in which he was being tried used this moniker. He *should* have been severely punished for breaking the law at that point. We only have one president at a time, and he did his best to cancel out Biden's presidency. And even tho Biden accomplished quite a lot, it always took second place to what president-in-exile trump was doing. This was the best of all possible worlds for trump--people accepting him as still the reigning president of the United States, but with no official power and no way to be harmed by the office. And we let him get away with this! Well... a damned good many of us were screaming about it for four years, but those with the power to affect change kinda just turned a blind eye. It's so infuriating.

He has the power and the ability (with Musk at his side) to dig into every states voter registration list and dig out each and every one of us Democrats, to exact pain on us for the audacity of voting against him. If we don't stop him quickly now, we may not have another chance.

And I've said this in the past, but I'll say it again. Who cares what the Judicial Branch says about a law? It's the Executive Office that is tasked with enforcing the laws. When you have a lawless Executive office, who's going to enforce judges' decisions and make the Executive Office abide by the law?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Paul Weiss is a "white shoe" major law firm

I have been in a number of deals with this firms over my career. This firm has a great corporate group and some great attorneys. I was shocked when I heard that this firm was attacked by trump

Here is a gift link to the NYT article in the OP
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-law-firm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.8dnc.1DZH5ubWUIGw&smid=tw-share

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. trump is mad at Paul Weiss due to the actions of attorney who is no longer with this firm

According to the article cilted in the OP, trump is made a Mark Pomerantz who has not been at Paul Weiss since 2012.

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-law-firm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4E4.8dnc.1DZH5ubWUIGw&smid=tw-share

The order said it was intended to end “government sponsorship of harmful activity” at Paul, Weiss and specifically punish one of its former lawyers, Mark F. Pomerantz.

Mr. Trump mentioned Mr. Pomerantz by name in an angry speech Friday at the Justice Department, where he complained about prosecutors and private lawyers who pursued cases against him, calling them “really bad people.” Mr. Trump, in the same speech, claimed he was ending the “weaponization” of the Justice Department, though his move against the firm showed he will continue using his power to exact retribution on his opponents.

Mr. Pomerantz had tried to build a criminal case against Mr. Trump several years ago when he worked at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The White House announcement called Mr. Pomerantz “an unethical lawyer” who tried to “manufacture a prosecution against President Trump.”

The order also cited a case brought by a Paul, Weiss partner against pro-Trump rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the firm’s diversity policies as reasons for the restrictions.

A spokesperson for the firm said in a statement that Mr. Pomerantz retired from the firm in 2012 and had not been affiliated with it for years.

The actions cited by trump all occurred after Pomerantz had retired from the firm

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. The White House escalates its radical offensive against D.C. law firms

The problem is not just that Donald Trump keeps trying to punish prominent private law firms. The president's motivations make the problem worse.
https://bsky.app/profile/maxwineinger.bsky.social/post/3lklbbtmsyc2y

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-escalates-radical-offensive-dc-law-firms-rcna196680

The president didn’t appear to care. In fact, in an interview that was aired early last week, the Republican told Fox News that there were other law firms that he also intended to target. Evidently, he was serious. The New York Times reported:

President Trump on Friday opened a third attack against a private law firm, restricting the business activities of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison just days after a federal judge ruled such measures appeared to violate the Constitution.

According to the order, the move was motivated partly because the firm employs Mark Pomerantz, who assembled evidence against Trump years ago while working at the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and partly because a partner at the firm worked on a case involving a Jan. 6 rioter.

A Politico report noted, “Top law firms are debating whether to make a public show of support for three major firms that have come under attack by the Trump administration. ... But they’re racked by private worries they’d be targeted, too.”

In other words, the president is already retaliating against some of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C. Other firms could step up and denounce such tactics, but they know they’d likely end up soon after on the West Wing’s retaliation list.

But while it’s very easy to believe this campaign reflects Trump’s larger drive to turn his second term into an extended revenge tour, there’s another element to this that’s worth keeping in mind.

Right now, with Congress’ Republican majorities in the House and Senate acting like presidential employees, the most meaningful barrier between Trump and his goals is the judiciary — an institution where he and his policies have struggled quite a bit over the last several weeks.

With this in mind, the rationale behind the offensive against law firms becomes even more obvious: The White House likely wants to stop losing in the courts, and the surest way to prevent those defeats is to discourage nervous law firms from taking cases that Trump won’t like.

I am hoping that the large firms step up and fight trump.