Stopping Autocratic Legalism in America - Before It Is Too Late

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Source: Verfassungsblog

by Scott Cummings, 26 March 2025

President Donald Trump’s recent speech to the Department of Justice was meant as a declaration of war against lawyers. His words made clear that the most effective way to consolidate autocracy is by systematically dismantling the independent centers of power that support a healthy democracy, including the independent public prosecutor.

As the Executive Orders targeting law firms underscore: the entire legal profession is next. This is no coincidence.
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But today, America has become the world-leading incubator of a far more dangerous innovation: democratic backsliding, in which autocracies develop through law, not force. What we have learned from researching backsliding countries around the world—and what this administration has learned too—is that lawyers are the crucial ingredient for autocracy to flourish: designing, drafting, and defending legal rules that weaken independent democratic institutions and undermine resistance.

This is why, for democracy—in America and Europe—to stand a fighting chance, lawyers committed to the rule of law must take action now.

Here is the full article: https://verfassungsblog.de/stopping-autocratic-legalism-in-america-before-it-is-too-late/

I just saw this guy on Rachel. He is is the Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics at the UCLA School of Law, Guggenheim Fellow, and Director of the Program on Legal Ethics and the Profession.

[SheltieLover]

1. Kick

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2. We keep passing in the halls.