During a Congressional Democrats briefing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) spoke about President Trump's executive orders against law firms.
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00:00I recognize the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Mary Gay Scanlon, who is the ranking member on the Constitution subcommittee.
00:08Thank you for convening us today, and thank you so much to our witnesses.
00:13I really am in awe of your courage and your dedication to the rule of law, which is what makes our country great.
00:23And we all really, really appreciate your willingness to stand up and be counted when it really counts.
00:28Over the past few weeks, the White House has unleashed an unprecedented attack upon lawyers and judges who serve our American justice system.
00:37With the White House attempting to suppress challenges to the lawless orders that it is issuing,
00:44they're threatening and intimidating some of the country's most accomplished lawyers, some of whom are with us here today.
00:51Congress under Republican leadership has thus far acquiesced to this lawless behavior.
00:55The courts and lawyers are acting as the primary defense against executive action and doing so successfully in the vast majority of almost 200 cases brought so far.
01:08I want to focus on the orders and sanctions issued against private law firms because that's the world I came out of.
01:15These law firms have been selected because of their relationship to attorneys who represented the president's political opponents,
01:23opposed his administration's actions, or aided efforts to hold him accountable.
01:27These firms and lawyers targeted by the administration have been the standard bearers for the highest ethical obligation of their profession
01:35to provide free legal services in the public interest, or pro bono publico.
01:40They've been willing and able to dedicate top legal talent to undertake the costly and time-consuming work of ensuring due process in difficult cases,
01:51reforming broken systems, and vindicating human and civil rights of those subject to our laws.
01:58This administration's attempt to sideline these efforts stands in stark contrast to prior administrations,
02:04which understood that our justice system only works when everyone has access to representation.
02:12And I'm thinking about 1963 President Kennedy's call to action to the most prominent law firms in our country,
02:20asking them to marshal the resources of the private bar to protect Americans' civil rights.
02:25The Trump administration has chosen instead to undertake a grotesque attack on the fundamental right of access to justice.
02:33So while the action of targeting private law firms are designed to hurt those most at risk,
02:39those who can't afford a lawyer, and specifically those with the guts to stand up to this administration's blatant violations of the Constitution,
02:49due process, and civil and human rights.
02:51Now, we've seen the administration's campaign begin to achieve its purpose,
02:57intimidating lawyers who might represent those challenging its actions.
03:00Some law firms targeted by the White House have settled with the White House.
03:05Others that have regularly participated in this kind of class action and other work in the past are declining to do so.
03:12This administration is employing the tactics used by authoritarian regimes to crack down on those who defend the rule of law.
03:19Places like lawyers, universities, civil society, and the independent media.
03:25So now is the time when all lawyers, law firms, judges, law schools, bar associations, and elected officials of every and no party
03:34have to stand up and condemn this attack.
03:37Because democracy doesn't only die in darkness, it also dies with silence or acquiescence.
03:43So I am encouraged by the growing resistance to these actions.
03:47And Ms. Cohen, whether willingly or not, you have ended up being a face of that.
03:51I understand that you participated in leading a letter that over 1,800 junior lawyers at these prestigious law firms have joined.
04:01Can you tell us a little bit about that?
04:03Absolutely. Thanks so much.
04:04As I stated in my opening testimony, it was not my first choice to resign.
04:11I adore my coworkers.
04:13I did really meaningful work, both billable and pro bono.
04:16And I also expected that firm leadership would do the right thing.
04:21Not just at my own law firm, but across the industry.
04:23And so something that was, frankly, quite scary was that all of the conversations about what the executive orders were aimed at doing and were doing,
04:34everyone agreed, across political stripes, across level of seniority, that the president was targeting private law firms in an attempt to scare lawyers broadly.
04:43But no one was willing to say anything.
04:48And so I worked with a group of a variety of other associates to put together a way that people could anonymously express their concerns about this.
04:58We modeled it off a statement that was put out by the American Bar Association, a nonpartisan association,
05:04prior to even the Perkins executive order coming out in the first place about these troubling rule of law attacks.
05:09And so that was just one of many steps that we took to not reach this point in the hopes that firms would come together and do the right thing.
05:18I do think it's really important that lawyers and law firms stand together.
05:22I mean, after all, it is through having a rules-based order that many of these law firms have been able to be so successful.
05:29And the erosion here affects everybody.
05:32So thank you.
05:33I yield back.