U.S. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order targeting a law firm that opposed his interests. A judge has temporarily stopped the order, but some experts, including former Republican lawyer and columnist for the New York Times David French, say it’s an admission of wrongdoing.
The order targeted Perkins Coie, a law firm that represented figures like Hillary Clinton and George Soros. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell stepped in with a temporary restraining order, halting the executive action.
French discussed the situation on MSNBC. French, who has over 20 years of experience in First Amendment law, said this was unlike anything he had ever seen.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” French said of the executive order. “I practiced first amendment law for more than 20 years. I litigated countless cases. And always when you are litigating a retaliation case, the government was saying, no, no, no, we’re not retaliating, you misunderstand. And we are having to prove retaliation here.” French said before adding: “They just confessed to it.”
French explained that the order clearly shows the government was taking action against the law firm because of their political activities and protected speech.
“They said, right there, we’re doing this because of their political activities, because of their First Amendment protected expression,” he said. “It’s right there in the document.”
French warned that this could be just the beginning if such actions continue.
Watch the segment below from MSNBC:
