#rule-of-law

#rule-of-law

Good morning. I've spent the week talking to business leaders and policymakers who've gathered in New York for Climate Week, the UN General Assembly and assorted events on the sidelines, including our own. The mood is generally somber, with growing concern about America's commitment to free speech, science, rule of law and remaining a hub for global talent. A few themes have emerged in terms of how CEOs are shifting their strategies.

Since the start of the Trump II reign, and the attack on the rule of law that coincided with that, it's been clear that Biglaw wasn't going to be our savior. When d irectly confronted with unconstitutional Executive Orders targeting firms on Trump's list for retribution, more than twice as many major law firm were willing to promise the president nearly a billion dollars in pro bono payola for conservative causes or clients as were willing to fight the EOs in court.

Smith devoted his career to public service, as a prosecutor who took on public corruption, war crimes and ultimately the former and now current president of the United States. That last job brought threats that required around-the-clock security and hostility from Trump, who has said he wants to throw Smith in jail or deport him. (The Justice Department dropped both of Smith's criminal cases, as a matter of policy, after Trump won the 2024 election.)

As the Trump administration has fired federal employees and top officials for political reasons, blocked millions of dollars Congress appropriated and flouted legal norms, several legal outfits are providing crucial pro bono and other help to many individuals hurt by Donald Trump's authoritarian actions, say lawyers involved and ex-prosecutors. Lowell & Associates, Democracy Defenders Fund and the Washington Litigation Group, are among the leading legal groups with clients battling

President Trump told reporters that the operation happened "over the last few minutes, (we) literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat, a lot of drugs in that boat." While few may mourn the alleged 11 narco-traffickers who perished in the attack, all Americans should be concerned about how our military is being cut loose from its legal moorings by what appears to be the abandonment of the rule of law from the very top of our national chain of command.

Final arguments have concluded in the national security trial of the pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong. Government-picked judges are retiring to consider their verdict in the case, seen internationally as a crucial test of the rule of law in the city. Lai, 77, has been in prison since 2020, when he was charged with two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

"undermined the integrity of the judiciary, and we will not stand for that,"

If you follow regularly what is said by those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to what we understood...how a liberal democracy is supposed to work.

Breyer expressed optimism about holding the Trump administration accountable, suggesting that high-ranking officials could be held in criminal contempt for ignoring court orders.

The central problem with the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday night... is that it left a little bit of wiggle room. It did not actually mandate Abrego Garcia's return...

The Trump administration’s prolonged non-compliance regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation raises serious concerns about undermining the rule of law in America.