Roughly 100 attorneys and judges gathered Tuesday in Foley Square for a rally to protect the rule of law under the Trump administration, and a handful of New York bar associations pushed legal professionals to step up to take on pro-bono work defending immigrants, federal workers and voting rights.
Surrounded by Manhattan’s federal, Supreme Criminal and Supreme Civil Courts, New York bar association leaders, high-profile attorneys and judges urged the city’s legal corps to sign up to work for legal aid groups offering pro-bono counsel to those who need it and to push back against the Trump administration’s attacks on federal judges and legal precedent.
“We really want lawyers to use their skills and experience to help fight back against the incursions on the rule of law,” said Ronald Minkoff, the president of the New York County Lawyers Association. “We want lawyers not just to stand and listen and say ‘It can’t happen here.’ We want them to get working, to get involved, to make their voices heard, and use their skills in a positive way. It’s the lawyers that are actually fighting back.”
Minkoff in Foley Square.Photo by Ramy Mahmou
Minkoff’s organization held the event alongside the New York City Bar Association, the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, and the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, who collectively welcomed a range of speakers to encourage attorneys to lend their skills to the fight to keep the rule of law alive.
“Look around. Something is not right in our country right now,” said Asha Smith, the treasurer for the New York County Lawyers Association. “The rules we thought were solid feel like they’re shifting under our feet. People are scared, scared to speak up, scared of what comes next.”
Attorneys re-take the attorney’s oath in Foley Square Tuesday at the rule of law rally.
She encouraged attorneys to remember that the country was founded on attorneys pushing the law forward to create a more just world by taking on difficult and dangerous cases, such as those in the Jim Crow South.
“This country has never moved forward because things were easy. It moved forward because somebody decided they’d rather be brave than comfortable, and that job lands on lawyers in a special way,” Smith said. “When the powerful want to bend the rules, lawyers are the ones who stand in the doorway and say No, not like this.’ When somebody’s rights are getting trampled, lawyers are the ones who know the words to fight back.”
Juval Scott, the executive director of Bronx Defenders, speaks to a crowd.Ramy Mahmoud
Former U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin highlighted the important role judges are playing in the fight, urging attorneys to push back against the death threats federal judges who don’t bend to the Trump administration’s whims have been receiving.
“Judges have been about the only guardrails constraining the many illegal and unconstitutional actions from this administration, but judges are under attack. They are threatened with impeachment. They are called traitors, left-wing lunatics, wild-eyed radicals, crooked monsters, USA-hating,” Scheindlin said. “This is totally unacceptable. Make no mistake, it is meant to intimidate judges.”
Scheindlin encourages attorneys to use their skills to stand up for the rule of law.Ramy Mahmoud
Many speakers concluded by saying attacks the Trump administration has levied against the rule of law, such as threatening and firing federal judges who rule against it, issuing executive orders compelling firms to provide the administration with pro-bono counsel, and violating precedent by detaining immigrants in courthouses who are showing up to their hearings, are typical actions of fascist administrations that need to be pushed back against.
Lawyers stand together in support of the rule of law.Ramy Mahmoud
“We’ve seen the playbook before. We’ve seen how this happens overseas,” said Steven Cash, a former national security official and executive director of the rule of law advocacy group Steady State. “The attack on democracy by a rising autocrat always plays out the same. Play number one is attack on the rule of law, and most importantly, an attack on the lawyers. You embody that rule of law, and because of that, you are what an autocrat fears. You resist the attacks.”
“We have seen the transformation of the justice systems into instruments of fear, and we have seen what happens when the public shrugs and says it can’t happen here,” Cash continued. “It can happen here, and that is why this moment matters.”
Steven Cash encourages attorneys to take attacks on the rule of law seriously.Ramy Mahmoud
New York City Bar Association President Matthew Diller echoed Cash’s calls for attorneys to take what’s going on seriously.
“We are not in normal times. This is an emergency, and we need to be out here on the streets getting our message out that the rule of law in this country will stand and we will defend it,” Diller said. “Dictators know that the way to consolidate power is to pick out vulnerable groups and to present them as less than human, and that is precisely what is going on in our country as the Trump administration has singled out immigrants and deprived them of their rights, one right after another.”
Amreeta Mathai, a New York Civil Liberties Union attorney, speaks in Foley Square.Ramy Mahmoud
“This cannot stand,” he continued. “We stand for the rule of law, and we lawyers need to stand up and make sure that our country continues to be governed by the constitutional principles that got us here and that will protect us tomorrow.”