When it comes to our legal system, we should take our cues from the Constitution, not China.
«The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.» As William Shakespeare once wrote, this is Step One in the authoritarian playbook.
Shakespeare’s insight is as true today as ever. Recently, in an effort to consolidate power, the White House has announced multiple executive orders targeting specific lawyers and specific law firms, including on the basis of the clients they choose to represent and the causes they seek to support.
These executive orders are not mere press releases. They directly interfere with the ability of these firms to practice law on behalf of their clients. Among other measures, they purport to deny entry to these firms’ attorneys to federal buildings, making it impossible for lawyers to argue a case in a federal courthouse. And worse yet, they require disclosure of confidential attorney-client relationships and threaten to cut off federal contracts to firm clients. Taken together, these and other restrictions are designed to put these law firms out of business by making clients afraid to retain them.
Equally troubling, another recent executive order threatens disciplinary action, which can include disbarment, against lawyers from any firm who make so-called «frivolous» arguments against the government—with «frivolous» of course being defined by the Executive Branch. The message here is clear: If you go against the White House, there will be a target on your back. You might even lose your ability to practice law.
This recent turn of events isn’t just a threat to lawyers. It’s a threat to the rule of law in America. In Congress, I serve as the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of America’s greatest strengths in our competition with the CCP is that we are governed by rules, while China is governed by the whims of Xi Jinping.
