The White House told federal law enforcement officials to seek sanctions against attorneys or law firms that challenge President Trump’s actions in court, an escalation of the president’s attacks on those who oppose his aggressive policy changes or who have litigated against him in the past. A White House memo issued Friday night orders Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to pursue ethics challenges against lawyers who they accuse of bringing meritless cases or making arguments that are not backed up by fact, including in immigration courts, reports the Washington Post. The memo told Bondi to consider actions against law firm partners for perceived misconduct by junior attorneys and to review cases against the government from the past eight years to look for “misconduct that may warrant additional action.”
The directive comes as the Trump administration faces more than 130 lawsuits over its efforts to dismantle agencies and diversity programs, freeze spending, fire federal workers and deport immigrants without due process. Federal judges have issued about three dozen injunctions against the administration, while ruling in its favor in more than a dozen cases. A lawsuit over the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members based on the Alien Enemies Act has been a sticking point, with a federal judge calling the administration's actions “problematic and concerning.” Vanita Gupta, a DOJ official in the Obama and Biden administrations, said the memo "attacks the very foundations of our legal system by threatening and intimidating litigants who aim to hold our government accountable to the law and the Constitution.” The action follows attacks by Trump and his allies on federal judges who have ruled against him or are merely considering court challenges, the suspension of security clearances for Biden administration officials and prosecutors; and executive actions targeting three prominent law firms: Perkins Coie, Covington & Burling, and Paul Weiss.