IN TRUMP’S WORLD, I AM PROUD TO BE AN ATTORNEY

 

Lawyers are the brunt of many jokes, often deservedly so. Members of my profession tend to be brash, overconfident, and unemotional. Far too often we give advice and fail to listen. Our legal training focuses on becoming zealous advocates for our clients. Attorneys are not trained to be therapists.

I have kept my legal license but retired from the practice of law. I now introduce myself as a “recovering lawyer” and seek to recapture the more emotive qualities of my college liberal arts education. Unfortunately, my wife would argue that my personality often reverts to being an analytical advocate rather than a philosopher or poet who shares his feelings.

Despite the shortcomings of my profession, I have never been prouder to be an attorney. The judicial branch, comprised entirely of lawyers, makes up one third of our democratic government. It ensures that the laws made by Congress and implemented by the president fall within the parameters of our Constitution and its democratic principles.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has stressed the checks and balances envisioned by the Constitution to the limit. There has been a significant reduction in the traditional separation of powers. 

First, with Trump’s appointment of members to the Supreme Court, all three branches of the federal government are under the control of a single political party.

Second, at the highest level, rather than act independently, all three branches regularly appear to be coordinating activities in service to the President.

Third, Congress, and often the Supreme Court, have meekly stood by as Trump ignores his presidential oath to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” This includes the President’s adoption of questionable or illegal policies through executive orders. He is also slow to follow legal rulings that stand in the way of his illiberal goals.

With the Supreme Court’s partisan support of administration policies, why am I so proud to be a card-carrying member of the legal profession? To begin with, the sheer number of dedicated lawyers, legal advocacy groups, and federal/state judges who have called the Trump administration to task for violating the Constitution and/or violating recent court orders is astounding.

According to a review conducted by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, “Since October 2025, more than 400 federal judges have ruled at least 4,421 times that ICE is holding people illegally. Forty-four Trump-appointed judges have ruled against the administration in mass-detention cases.” In the Western District of Pennsylvania 254 habeas petitions, challenging the legality of an arrest, have been filed. This is a 2,200% increase from the same time period the prior year. 

POLITICO has reported, “Federal courts have issued increasing warnings that the new ICE policy, doesn’t just subject millions more people to detention while they fight deportation, it also bars them from being released on bond.”

In many cases, the Trump Justice Department has delayed a final resolution by appealing the adverse decisions. Thankfully, there is no reason to believe that the appellate courts will reverse the trial courts’ sound opinions.

The federal courts have also rebuked the administration’s decision to threaten the legal status of thousands of foreign students studying at American schools. This judicial pushback led the administration to reconsider its policy.

Apart from the immigration debacle and before the Iran War, thousands of lawyers have been working overtime to keep up with the onslaught of other questionable or illegal executive orders. Lawsuits have been filed against a multiplicity of Trump orders. These include his efforts to: target colleges and universities, target law firms, strip power from independent regulatory agencies, give DOGE access to government payment systems, freeze federal grant funding, and a patently unconstitutional executive order to end birthright citizenship.

In health care, legal action has been brought to prevent the rollback of health regulations and affordable drug pricing.

In education, actions have been filed against an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, against cuts to Pell Grants, and against cuts to student loan programs.

Regarding environmental issues, lawyers are fighting the sweeping rollbacks in EPA regulations, and cuts to clean energy and sustainability programs.

Lawyer advocacy groups are also fighting cuts to small business grants which disproportionately impact minorities and women.

There are other examples and a growing list of Trump’s illiberal policies that seek to dismantle our democratic institutions. Lawyers around the nation have volunteered their valuable time to provide a defense. Judges have consistently rejected Trump’s vision of authoritarian rule.

So far, no one in Trump’s administration has asserted that they have the constitutional authority to disobey court orders. However, they have been slow to comply and have often misrepresented facts in filed court documents and when arguing before a judge.

The recent Supreme Court decision finding Trump’s tariff policy illegal gives some hope that there is a red line to preserve the separation of powers, one that the justices will not cross. Now Congress needs to step up and regain its footing as an equal branch of government.

Lawyers and judges are reining in Trump until the American people can exercise true accountability in this year’s midterm elections. Unfortunately, there is not much the minority Democratic Party can do until it regains the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.

Until then, the legal profession that is often held in low regard, and the lower courts, have saved our democratic republic to fight another day.