News
This section features curated news articles on the role of lawyers and judges in democratic decline in the U.S. and globally. It highlights how legal professionals are implicated in, impacted by, or push back against authoritarianism and democratic backsliding.
Each post includes a brief summary or commentary that connects current events to broader scholarly debates on the legal profession and the defense of democratic norms.
News Regarding Lawyers
Lawyers Against Democratic Decline
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Opposition to Todd Blanche Nomination for U.S. Attorney General
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…
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Israeli former leaders and security chiefs threaten legal action over ‘Jewish terrorism’
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 —…
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The State of American Resistance Is Stronger Than You May Think
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…
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Attacks on Judges and Judicial Independence: The International Dimension
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…
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Losing Trust in Justice Dept., Judges Call Out Its Lawyers’ Behavior
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.…
Attacks Against Legal Profession
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Serbia: Lawyer Čedomir Stojković’s trial for social media posts critical of government opens July 17th
On July 16, the IAPL Monitoring Committee reported that lawyer Čedomir Stojković’s trial was scheduled to begin on July 17 in a criminal case arising from social-media posts and online commentary critical…
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Trump Fires Court-Appointed U.S. Attorney Less Than an Hour After His Selection
On July 15, President Trump fired Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran prosecutor, less than an hour after all 17 active and senior federal judges in the Western District of Washington…
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Nicaragua Conducts a “Purge of the Legal Profession” by Revoking Lawyers’ Licenses
On July 10, the Associated Press reported that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo had removed the professional licenses of potentially hundreds or thousands of lawyers from the Supreme Court’s…
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Uganda: Enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention of lawyer Erias Lukwago
The IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers reported on July 10 on the continued detention of Erias Lukwago, a prominent lawyer, human rights defender, and opposition figure arrested on June 15…
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China: On Crackdown Anniversary, Draft Law Requires Party Loyalty for Lawyers
Marking the eleventh anniversary of the July 2015 “709 Crackdown” on rights lawyers, Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported this week on a draft amendment to China’s Lawyers Law, published by the National…
Lawyers Facilitating Democratic Decline
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Supreme Court cements Trump’s power over agencies long considered independent
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 91-year-old precedent (Humphrey’s Executor) that had barred presidents from firing members of independent federal agencies without cause. The ruling upheld President Trump’s…
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Turkey — European Parliament Adopts Damning Resolution on Türkiye (The Arrested Lawyers Initiative)
On June 17, 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the 2025 Commission report on Türkiye that delivers one of its most forceful indictments to date of the Turkish judiciary’s role…
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Georgia: Authorities Built Coordinated System To Crush Dissent and Entrench Power
In the country of Georgia, an Amnesty International report released June 15, 2026 documents how the judiciary and prosecution service have become integral to a coordinated state apparatus for suppressing dissent over…
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European Parliament to urge EU sanctions on Turkey’s justice minister: MEP
A European Parliament report set for a vote on June 17, 2026 calls on the EU to consider targeted human rights sanctions against Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek over his role in…
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Blanche says DOJ has nixed the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House Appropriations subcommittee in June 2026 that the Trump administration has scrapped its controversial $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, declaring “we are not moving forward with…
News Regarding Judges
Targets and Resistance
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Judges tour the Midwest to offer unusual warning about attacks on courts
In a July 10 report, The Washington Post described a bus tour of retired federal and state judges, dubbed “Justice in Motion,” traveling from suburban Pittsburgh through Ohio to outside Detroit to…
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UN experts urge reversal of disciplinary actions against judges applying international human rights law: Peru
UN human rights experts have called on Peru to halt disciplinary proceedings against judges who applied international human rights law in cases involving serious abuses. In a statement issued from Geneva on…
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World court judges sue Trump administration over sanctions
Three International Criminal Court judges — Kimberly Prost (Canada), Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda), and Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou (Benin) — filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court on June 24, 2026,…
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On Judicial Rascality: When Judges Defy the Court Above Them and Lawyers Who Enable Them
In this opinion piece for THISDAY, Dr Eyimofe Atake, SAN, condemns what Nigeria’s Court of Appeal recently labeled “judicial rascality”—the practice of lower-court judges deliberately ignoring orders from higher courts. The article…
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Federal judges who’ve ruled against Trump administration denounce threats against themselves, their families
In the United States, a CBS News “60 Minutes” investigation (broadcast June 7, 2026, at the edge of this reporting window) reported that federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration…
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Turkish court suspends CHP leadership, reinstates former chairman Kılıçdaroğlu
A Turkish appeals court has annulled the 2023 congress of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), removing party leader Özgür Özel and the current administration from office as an interim measure…
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Judge shot dead in Ecuador while heading to gym without her bodyguards
CBS News reports that Judge Lady Gissela Pachar Huanga of the Santa Rosa Criminal Judicial Unit was shot and killed on May 11 in Machala, Ecuador, while travelling by car to a…
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Trump flouts lower court rulings in unprecedented display of executive power, and ‘respect for the rule of law is likely to break down’
An Associated Press analysis published May 2, 2026 found that during the second Trump administration’s first 15 months, district court judges have ruled the executive branch in violation of court orders in…
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Slovakia: PM Fico Files Criminal Complaint Against Judge Pamela Zaleska
On April 29, 2026, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico publicly confirmed that he has filed a criminal complaint against Judge Pamela Zaleska of the Specialized Criminal Court over her handling of the…
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Former judges speak out on Trump admin’s immigration court purges
A CBS News Sunday Morning report by Ted Koppel examines the Trump administration’s restructuring of the U.S. immigration court system, which falls under the Department of Justice rather than the judicial branch.…
