Delaware News

AG Jennings pens open letter to legal community regarding law firm capitulations to Trump’s unconstitutional threats

Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Newsroom | Date Posted: Thursday, May 1, 2025


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Attorney General Kathy Jennings is leading a coalition of state attorneys general in an open letter to the legal community supporting law firms that have fought back against President Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to target law firms for advocacy the Trump Administration disfavors, and expressing the coalition’s profound disappointment that several of the country’s largest law firms have capitulated in the face of these dangerous attacks on the rule of law.
The open letter to the legal community comes as President Trump has issued unconstitutional executive orders targeting several law firms for their advocacy, and as some of the nation’s largest law firms have struck deals committing to provide free legal services to support the Trump Administration’s priorities.
“Lawyers dedicate their lives to the study and defense of the Constitution and the rule of law,” said AG Jennings. “It should be clear to all of us that the Trump Administration’s actions are flatly unconstitutional and an insult to our oaths, to the law, and to the country. There is a reason that lawyers and journalists are the only private occupations named in the Constitution; it is the very reason those professions are now being attacked. We cannot afford to capitulate to injustice. We must stand firm and defend our democracy.”
In the letter published today, the coalition of attorneys general explains that President Trump’s executive orders plainly violate the Constitution. The executive orders retaliate against lawyers based on protected speech and association, and they discriminate based on viewpoint. The orders are also inconsistent with the right to effective counsel, offend basic principles of due process, and undermine bedrock rule-of-law principles. The letter points out that these unconstitutional attacks on the legal profession are an attack on our justice system and pave the way towards authoritarianism.
In the letter, the coalition highlights that four law firms – Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey – have filed suit against the Trump Administration for the President’s illegal actions and have succeeded in obtaining court orders temporarily blocking these orders.
The letter calls upon other law firms and lawyers to join the four law firms who have fought back against these unconstitutional executive orders, along with their counsel, current and former General Counsel of leading companies, former judges, law professors, and the more than 800 other law firms that have joined amicus briefs in those cases. The letter urges other law firms and lawyers to reject the path taken by the firms that have capitulated to President Trump, and it invites law firms to stand together with the coalition of attorneys general in preserving the integrity of our legal system.
The coalition was led by AG Jennings and the attorneys general of New Jersey, Colorado, and Illinois. Joining them in signing the open letter were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia
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AG Jennings pens open letter to legal community regarding law firm capitulations to Trump’s unconstitutional threats

Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Newsroom | Date Posted: Thursday, May 1, 2025


Navy blue background featuring the Delaware state seal in the center
Attorney General Kathy Jennings is leading a coalition of state attorneys general in an open letter to the legal community supporting law firms that have fought back against President Trump’s unconstitutional attempts to target law firms for advocacy the Trump Administration disfavors, and expressing the coalition’s profound disappointment that several of the country’s largest law firms have capitulated in the face of these dangerous attacks on the rule of law.
The open letter to the legal community comes as President Trump has issued unconstitutional executive orders targeting several law firms for their advocacy, and as some of the nation’s largest law firms have struck deals committing to provide free legal services to support the Trump Administration’s priorities.
“Lawyers dedicate their lives to the study and defense of the Constitution and the rule of law,” said AG Jennings. “It should be clear to all of us that the Trump Administration’s actions are flatly unconstitutional and an insult to our oaths, to the law, and to the country. There is a reason that lawyers and journalists are the only private occupations named in the Constitution; it is the very reason those professions are now being attacked. We cannot afford to capitulate to injustice. We must stand firm and defend our democracy.”
In the letter published today, the coalition of attorneys general explains that President Trump’s executive orders plainly violate the Constitution. The executive orders retaliate against lawyers based on protected speech and association, and they discriminate based on viewpoint. The orders are also inconsistent with the right to effective counsel, offend basic principles of due process, and undermine bedrock rule-of-law principles. The letter points out that these unconstitutional attacks on the legal profession are an attack on our justice system and pave the way towards authoritarianism.
In the letter, the coalition highlights that four law firms – Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey – have filed suit against the Trump Administration for the President’s illegal actions and have succeeded in obtaining court orders temporarily blocking these orders.
The letter calls upon other law firms and lawyers to join the four law firms who have fought back against these unconstitutional executive orders, along with their counsel, current and former General Counsel of leading companies, former judges, law professors, and the more than 800 other law firms that have joined amicus briefs in those cases. The letter urges other law firms and lawyers to reject the path taken by the firms that have capitulated to President Trump, and it invites law firms to stand together with the coalition of attorneys general in preserving the integrity of our legal system.
The coalition was led by AG Jennings and the attorneys general of New Jersey, Colorado, and Illinois. Joining them in signing the open letter were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia
image_printPrint

Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.