President Donald Trump has been targeting American law firms with executive orders that threaten to destroy them.
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00:00President Trump has been targeting America's most elite law firms with
00:04executive orders that threaten to destroy them. Since Donald Trump became
00:07president for the second time, he has been trying to settle a lot of old
00:11scores. A lot of these scores have been against law firms that were affiliated
00:15with lawyers who investigated and prosecuted him, that gave pro bono
00:19assistance or or even paid help to his enemies. And one of the ways he's been
00:23doing that is by signing these executive orders that have basically said these
00:28firms are racist. These firms might pose a threat to American national security.
00:32We got to stop them. We got to look into them. A few of those firms have been
00:35fighting back. So far, all four firms that have sued the government about these
00:39executive orders have won. In a lot of cases, judges have been openly, extremely
00:45skeptical of what the White House is setting for. The law firms, for the most
00:49part, have advanced, you know, a robust litany of defenses. They say this
00:53interferes with the First Amendment. This is retaliation. This interferes with, you
00:56know, the lawyer-client relationships that's at, you know, the bedrock of, you
01:01know, the American rule of law system. And judges have been pretty receptive to
01:04that argument. There's also a bunch of firms that have decided to settle with
01:07Trump. The firms that made deals with the president have generally agreed to a
01:10few things. One, they're going to hire based on merit. One of President Trump's
01:14favorite punching bags has been DEI and the idea that, you know, promoting
01:20diversity, equity, and inclusion is something that, you know, undermines
01:23merit-based hiring. He has also wanted them to commit pro bono time. A third
01:30thing these firms agreed to is that they're going to be nonpartisan and
01:34neutral. These firms that have cut deals have dealt with a lot of internal dissent.
01:38There have been letters circulating within firms, and there's been around a dozen at
01:42this point, somewhat high-profile resignations. For the most part,
01:45associates. These executive orders sort of shook the entire legal industry by its
01:49shoulders. Perhaps more will be coming on the way.