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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Director Of Prestigious Skadden Fellows Program Resigns Over Firm’s Pro Bono Payola Deal With Trump
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…
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Former federal prosecutors see legal flaws in DOJ’s indictment of Southern Poverty Law Center
In an April 23, 2026 analysis, CBS News reports that multiple former federal prosecutors have identified serious legal weaknesses in the SPLC indictment that they say could lead to dismissal of some…
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China: Human Rights Lawyer Jailed Over Planned EU Meeting Must Be Truly Free After Release
In April 2026, Amnesty International led an international call for China to guarantee that human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng would be released without restrictions upon completing a three-year prison sentence imposed after…
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Attorney General Ellison demands that federal attorneys adhere to ethics standards
On April 7, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in filing a formal comment opposing a proposed DOJ rule (OAG199) that would require state bar…
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State Attorneys General Challenge Trump Mail Voting Order
A coalition of Democratic officials from 23 states, including several state attorneys general and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, has sued the Trump administration over a new executive order that seeks to impose…
Attacks Against Legal Profession
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Turkish court grants conditional release to 15 defendants in Erdoğan rival’s trial
On April 30, 2026, an Istanbul court granted conditional release to 15 of the more than 400 defendants prosecuted alongside jailed Istanbul mayor and CHP opposition figure Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has now…
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Turkey seeks prison sentence for former Erdoğan legal adviser, penal code author
On April 28, 2026, Turkish Minute reported that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking up to two years in prison for prominent legal scholar and penal code author İzzet Özgenç…
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UN Expert Raises Alarm Over Rising Threats to Human Rights Defenders in Mexico
JURIST reports in April 2026 that UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor has issued a sharp warning that Mexico continues to fail in protecting human rights defenders and the lawyers who represent them,…
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Vietnam: New Retaliatory Decree Targets Lawyers
Human Rights Watch reported on April 23, 2026 that Vietnam’s Decree 109/2026, which takes effect May 18, empowers police and commune-level officials to revoke lawyers’ licenses and impose heavy fines for vaguely…
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Justice Dept. Charges Prominent Civil Rights Group With Financial Crimes
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights organization known for tracking hate groups, on charges of wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and…
Lawyers Facilitating Democratic Decline
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Trump judicial nominees for Texas sidestep questions on 2020 election, Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Four of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, including two for the Southern District of Texas, declined under oath to answer whether Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election or whether the U.S.…
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DOJ wants to shield its lawyers from outside scrutiny. Critics worry about oversight
NPR reports that the U.S. Department of Justice has advanced a proposed rule that would let the Attorney General intervene in — and potentially delay or block — state bar investigations into…
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Justice Department Repeatedly Making Unforced Errors Under Trump
The Washington Times reported on April 12 that senior DOJ officials themselves attribute the department’s growing courtroom difficulties to three compounding factors: the sheer volume of litigation (particularly immigration cases), an unprecedented…
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Iran’s Revolutionary Courts Deploy “Maximum Elimination” Strategy Against Dissidents on Eve of New Year
On March 24, 2026 — the eve of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year — human rights organizations documented a new phase in Iran’s systematic use of judicial institutions to suppress political dissent,…
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Hungary Refuses to Enforce ICC Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu, Parliament Ratifies ICC Withdrawal
As of March 20, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was poised to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged crimes against…
News Regarding Judges
Targets and Resistance
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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.…
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Administration fires 2 immigration judges who ruled against deporting Palestinian rights advocates
The Trump administration fired two immigration judges this past weekend who had earlier dismissed deportation cases against two pro-Palestinian student activists. Judge Roopal Patel had ruled there were no grounds to deport…
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Under Trump, DOJ Makes Errors in Court, Testing Judges’ Patience
A Bloomberg Law report from April 10, 2026 highlights a troubling pattern of errors and inaccuracies by U.S. Justice Department lawyers in federal courts, raising concerns among judges about the DOJ’s credibility.…
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Sitting Federal Judges Break Their Silence on Attacks Against the Judiciary at Speak Up for Justice Forum
On March 19, sitting federal judges convened an extraordinary public forum organized by the group Speak Up for Justice, during which they read aloud profane and violent threats they had personally received…
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Chief Justice John Roberts warns personal attacks on judges have ‘got to stop’
In an unusually direct public intervention on March 17, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. declared that personal criticism of federal judges is “dangerous” and “has got to stop,” in remarks widely interpreted…
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MEDEL Conference in Rome: European Judges and Prosecutors Testify to Global Attack on Rule of Law
On March 14, 2026, MEDEL (Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés), an association of European magistrates, convened a conference in Rome titled “Europe in the context of the global attack…
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Appointment of top federal prosecutors in New Jersey was unconstitutional, judge rules
A federal judge issued a 130-page ruling on March 9 disqualifying three Justice Department officials whom Attorney General Pam Bondi had installed to jointly oversee the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey…
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Federal judges face threats after ruling against the Trump administration
A CBS News 60 Minutes investigation reports that federal judges who rule against President Trump’s agenda are increasingly facing intimidation and violent threats, including “swatting,” bomb threats, doxxing, and other harassment aimed…
