Trump’s Law Firm Deals Are Already Falling Apart In a series of letters to Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Richard Blumenthal obtained by The Bulwark, several major law firms that cut deals with the Trump administration provided details on the terms of their agreements—and it’s looking like the president may have gotten the short end of the stick. While the firms had reportedly agreed to provide millions of dollars of pro bono work for specific causes, many asserted that they had total authority over the selection of their clients. Allen Ovary Shearman Sterling LLP wrote that its agreement to provide $125 million in pro bono work “does not call for, or permit, the administration or any other person or entity to determine what clients and matters the Firm takes on, whether they be pro bono matters or otherwise.” The firm said it had simply agreed to provide free legal services across “three specified areas,” including assisting veterans, ensuring fairness in the justice system, and combatting antisemitism. The Bulwark reported that other firms’ deals had similar stakes. Latham & Watkins wrote that it “maintains its complete independence as to the clients and matters the firm takes on,” while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett wrote that their agreement with the government did not “dictate or restrict what pro bono matters we will take on moving forward.” Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft wrote that they “have not and will not restrict our pro bono activities or the positions we take on behalf of those clients.”
wow..this is..hmm...disturbing Sen. Durbin wants DOJ to probe anonymous pizza deliveries to judges Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois) asked Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel in a letter for a full accounting of how many anonymous or pseudonymous deliveries have been made to judges or their families since the beginning of the Trump administration, including the number of judges affected and the districts or circuits where the judges serve. Many of the pizzas reportedly showed up at the homes of judges presiding over cases the administration was defending. Some were made in the name of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’s son, Daniel Anderl, who was fatally shot in 2020 by an attorney who posed as a delivery person, Salas and trial attorney Paul R. Kiesel wrote last month. Durbin asked Bondi and Patel to report back to him by May 20 on whether they had identified suspects, initiated prosecutions, or found evidence that the deliveries were coordinated. He also asked them to describe what steps their agencies have taken to protect judges and their families. The deliveries began around late February, as government lawyers tried to fend off a growing list of legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s policies, and Trump and his allies lobbed near-daily attacks on judges whose rulings they disliked.
More Trump Administration winning at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and the SCOTUS: Supreme Court Issues Ruling on Trump's Transgender Military Ban Rogue federal district court judges in process of being overruled in advance of the SCOTUS backing up the DC Circuit Court of Appeals 3 rules as decided last Saturday. This time the Trump Administration Ban on transgenders serving in the military have had the lower courts stayed and the executive order upheld: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Trump administration another victory as it upheld its ban on transgender people serving in the military. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 27 prohibiting trans-identified individuals from serving in the US military. The order argued that there were serious concerns over unit cohesion, mental and physical readiness, and the impact on military efficacy. The Supreme Court’s order places a stay on a preliminary injunction that a lower court imposed against the policy. It further notes that Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the ruling. The stay will remain in effect until the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the White House’s appeal of the lower court’s order.
Judge tosses Trump order punishing the law firm WilmerHale https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/27/trump-wilmer-hale-sanctions-struck-down/
I would add that the judge who issued the order and wrote the decision was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush and is not exactly considered a liberal.
this will be interesting. Trump now going after Federalist society since the judges they recommended aren't doing what he wants them to. Why appoint judges that aren't loyal? now that MAGA is going to go scorched earth on the entirety of the judicial system will they finally fight back? Loomer wants ot cut back access to his snyaptic activity decision making process to only the most loyal magats 'Makes no sense to me': Conservative baffled by Trump inciting a MAGA civil war Donald Trump's decision to use his Truth Social account to launch a war on the Federalist Society after all they have done for him by helping to pack the courts with hardcore right-wing judges has more than a few conservatives wondering what he could be thinking. According to a report from Politico's Hailey Fuchs and Daniel Barnes, Trump's broadside –– which Politico's Josh Gerstein called "incomprehensible" –– has, to the surprise of no one, led the president's MAGA fans to join his jihad against the venerable conservative organization. According to Fuchs and Barnes, conservative gadfly and failed House candidate Laura Loomer has jumped into the fray by writing on X, " No more letting the Federalist Society recommend judges. Look at SCOTUS. Obviously the Federalist Society and Leonard Leo did a terrible job recommending judges. Why are Republicans using lawfare to obstruct President Trump’s agenda? Avoid aligning with the Federalist Society or Leonard Leo. Just another example of a vetting crisis. Too many rich people who hate President Trump have been allowed to have access to him over the years. They abuse that access to harm him. No more!"
Well Trump just declared war on Leonard Leo and the Federal Society so he just lost two plus generations of conservative lawyers.
We’ll never know what Shakespeare might have said about Trump. We do know what he said about lawyers.
Trump apparently assumed (incorrectly) that being philosophically conservative and being subservient to Trump are synonymous, Aileen Cannon the Donald's personal judge notwithstanding. Trump is discovering the meaning of the term "independent" as used in the phrase "independent judiciary" and he is also discovering that unlike his other appointees and with the possible exception of the Fed Chairman judges cannot be intimidated by him through the threat of being fired since once confirmed by the Senate they can only be removed through impeachment. I also suspect that even with a Republican majority he will have a more difficult time getting his judicial nominees confirmed than he did during his first term and if miraculously the Democrats regain a majority in the Senate following the midterms he may not get any of his nominees confirmed during his last two years in office.
I see it a bit differently. The question is who would Trump nominate if Alito decides to step down this year or next. The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are not going to rubber stamp a Kash Patel type nominee and Trump is not going to look to the Federalist Society for a recommendation. So now Alito has to question whether he wants to be on the bench for another 12+ years for the next Republican POTUS to nominate his successor. The rumor is he is ready and his wife definitely is. Word is Thomas is not looking to step down in the next two years. Scalia’s SCOTUS seat is what got a lot of Republicans who were wary of him to vote for him in ‘16. His three SCOTUS picks confirmed they were right to vote for him. Trump just told them to go attempt to have sex with themselves with that Truth. The Republican coalition that put Trump back in the White House is now starting to fracture. The non-MAGA Republicans are not happy and starting to break with him.
good to see.. 7 partners leave Willkie Farr, firm that made Trump deal, for Cooley, which fought him Seven partners at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher are leaving that business after it reached an agreement with the Trump administration and moving to Cooley, which successfully challenged the president’s actions in court. The lawyers leaving Willkie Farr include Simona Agnolucci and Benedict Hur, whom the firm had called “highly regarded rising stars” in 2019, when they came on board to help launch its San Francisco office. The moves, which were announced Friday by Cooley, add to an ongoing exodus from law firms that struck deals with President Donald Trump’s administration to avoid potentially punishing sanctions. ...................................... Firms have said these punishments threatened their ability to stay in business. Four targeted firms sued to challenge Trump’s actions in court. Judges have struck down his penalties for three of them so far, including the firm Jenner & Block, which was represented by Cooley in its lawsuit.
