Bar Associations Amicus Brief in Support of Plaintiff

Key Excerpts

• The executive orders . . .  constitute broadscale executive interference with individual attorney-client relationships, placing lawyers in the irreconcilable position of choosing between maintaining the duty of loyalty to the client and avoiding costly presidential reprisals.
• A bar that is dependent on the President will confront a conflict between advancing clients’ interests and serving the President’s conception of the “national interest.” This conflict undermines the right to counsel. (citation omitted)
• The Order is not only blatantly illegal; it is a naked attempt to instill fear in the legal profession and intimidate lawyers into submission, thereby co-opting the bar to be subservient to the executive branch, undermining the judiciary’s ability to check executive power, and striking at the heart of the rule of law.