On July 13, 2026, the New York City Bar Association urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Todd Blanche’s nomination as U.S. Attorney General, ahead of his confirmation hearing scheduled for July 15. The letter, signed by City Bar President Matthew Diller and Rule of Law Task Force Chair Susan J. Kohlmann, argues that Blanche’s …
Dozens of prominent Israelis — including two former prime ministers (Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak), former heads of the country’s security services, retired judges, a Nobel laureate, and leading cultural figures — have threatened legal action against the Israeli government over what they describe as state-enabled “Jewish terrorism” in the occupied West Bank, according to …
A New York Times opinion essay by Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer argues that grassroots opposition to the Trump administration is more robust than many Americans assume. Drawing on a year of interviews with activists and dissidents worldwide, the authors contend that effective resistance to authoritarian leaders rarely hinges on a single march or election. …
This ABA Journal column by Zamira Djabarova of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights argues that attacks on U.S. courts and judges are now being measured against international human rights standards — the U.N. Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary and on the Role of Lawyers — that the United States …
Federal judges have increasingly accused Justice Department lawyers of dishonesty in court, marking a notable erosion of the longstanding “presumption of regularity” that allowed government attorneys to be taken at their word. In a series of pointed rulings in spring 2026, judges in Rhode Island, Chicago, Tennessee, and elsewhere called out department lawyers for withholding …
A New York Times analysis of federal employment data found that more than 10,000 government lawyers—roughly one in five employed at the end of 2024—have left since the start of 2025, a striking loss of legal talent that has left some agencies struggling to carry out President Trump’s agenda. While agencies hired about 3,200 lawyers …
According to The Daily Beast, Brian Morrissey, the Treasury Department’s general counsel and a Trump appointee, resigned shortly after the administration announced a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” intended to compensate individuals who claim they were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, including people charged in connection with January 6. The article frames Morrissey’s departure as …
In a May 12 speech at Southern Methodist University, reported by the Baltimore Sun on May 13, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned that political attacks on judges and the broader judicial system are “really an attack on our society,” and urged Americans to defend judicial independence. Her remarks came as President Trump publicly criticized judges …
President Trump’s legal battle to sanction four major law firms—Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale—continues after an appellate court heard arguments Thursday on whether to uphold lower-court decisions blocking the sanctions. The firms targeted attorneys who had opposed Trump or been associated with prosecutors who investigated the president. Paul Clement, representing the …
Kathleen Rubenstein, executive director of the Skadden Foundation (which administers the prestigious Skadden Fellows program), has resigned over law firm Skadden’s $100 million settlement with Trump that includes a commitment to fund at least five Skadden Fellows annually who represent a range of political views including conservative perspectives. Rubenstein stated she chose to resign rather …