Nonpartisan civil service signatories warn that attacks on law firms and lawyers undermine the rule of law and call on the legal community to stand up for constitutional principles.

Washington, D.C. — More than 1,300 former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials—spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations—have signed a statement condemning the Trump Administration’s campaign of intimidation and retaliation against law firms and attorneys who challenge the government in court.

In the letter, the signatories call out the administration’s executive orders targeting specific law firms, politically motivated investigations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and threats against lawyers who oppose the federal government in litigation. 

These actions, they write, “are an affront to the Constitution and the rule of law.”

The letter underscores the role of lawyers and the adversarial process in upholding the US Constitution, especially the right to dissent and hold the government accountable to the rule of law, and calls on all members of the legal profession to stand against these unprecedented attacks on the democratic process.

Read the full letter here.

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Protect Democracy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group working to prevent American democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government.