Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back.
Trump’s DOJ is giving him a helping hand with his election fraud conspiracy
You may have noticed that Attorney General Pam Bondi is perfectly happy to let President Donald Trump treat the Department of Justice like his own personal law firm/attack dog. So now the DOJ is mobilizing to help Trump continue his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
The DOJ has demanded an enormous amount of voter data from Colorado, a request that could be read to include voter registration materials. They want all records from the 2024 election, and that any records remaining from 2020 be preserved as well. Terrific.
To the best of anyone’s knowledge, this has never happened. Not just never happened in Colorado. Like, never ever happened. The request for 2024 election data, versus only 2020, is unnerving, as it suggests that the administration is looking for additional ways to undermine election integrity, rather than being limited to trying to prove the lie that Trump won in 2020.
Colorado is a Trump fixation because of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk and Big Lie believer. Last year, Peters was convicted in Mesa County state court after giving another weirdo conspiracy theorist access to county voting machines to find voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Although Peters was convicted in state court, Trump has called for the Department of Justice to attempt to free her anyway, which is about as big a violation of federalism as you can get. The federal government is not supposed to reach down into states and tell them what to do about their own state laws. Of course, they also aren’t supposed to be helping Trump pursue his personal vendettas, but that ship has long sailed.
Treat time for Trump at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
A three-judge panel composed entirely of Trump appointees stayed the lower court deadline requiring the administration to explain what due process it will provide to the deportees in CECOT, the horrific El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center prison. Judge James Boasberg issued the order on June 4, requiring the administration to provide an answer by June 11. Instead, the administration did nothing and went to the appellate court on June 10. Since the stay was granted, the administration doesn’t have to do anything while the appeal proceeds.
Boasberg’s order didn’t even require the government to return the deportees and extend them due process here. But according to the administration, even being required to provide due process is too much to ask. It’s an absolutely specious argument, but luckily, Trump drew a panel of judges extremely inclined to entertain his most dubious allegations.
Meanwhile, the immigrants sent to CECOT in violation of Boasberg’s March 15 order have been held in El Salvador for nearly three months with no relief in sight. They are victims not just of the executive branch that sent them there, but also the Trump appointees of the judicial branch.
Big Law firm fires attorneys to please Trump
Kirkland & Ellis is one of the Big Law firms that bent the knee to Trump before even being targeted with an executive order. In fact, they were so hyped for the deal that they agreed to bribe Trump with $125 million in free pro bono services instead of the customary $100 million.
But Kirkland isn’t going to stop there. They’ve got to make sure they stay in Trump’s good graces, and that’s a constant project. Last month, the firm’s chair joined Trump for his whirlwind griftathon through the Middle East.
This week, the firm slashed its DEI staff, which is bad enough, but then Kirkland insisted that, oh, no, it’s just a total coincidence that they cut the people doing the exact thing targeted by Trump, after doing a bunch of other things to please Trump. And, as Above the Law notes, Kirkland made $8.8 billion in gross revenue last year, so it isn’t like it’s credible to say this was a financial necessity.
Big Law firm helps Trump hurt other Big Law firms
A Big Law two-fer this week!
Robert Giuffra is one of Trump’s personal lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell. That’s the firm representing Trump in his bid to move his New York state criminal conviction to federal court. In other words, Giuffra’s law firm is employed by Trump in his personal capacity, not as president.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP was the first Big Law firm to cut a deal with the administration after Trump targeted them with an executive order. When the terms of that deal were announced, it was a shell shock: $40 million in free pro bono labor, elimination of diversity policies, and an agreement to represent any client, regardless of political affiliation.
Related | Big Law bends the knee and DOGE plays stupid games
And making that agreement has hurt Paul Weiss. Last week, Damian Williams, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, left the firm because of the Trump deal, and clients have been considering pulling their business.
It turns out that Trump, in his role as president, called Giuffra, his personal lawyer, to help negotiate the deal. Basically, Trump handed Giuffra an opportunity to harm an industry rival and do so under the auspices of government action. We’d say it’s an unprecedented level of corruption, but what isn’t these days.
DOJ will keep the world safe from coffeeshops that support Palestinians
The DOJ just sued a California coffee shop which allegedly sells coffee drinks that seem to reference Hamas and the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in a positive light. Fun fact: that is not illegal. Indeed, it’s the exact opposite, what with the whole First Amendment and all. The DOJ’s allegation is that the coffee shop discriminates against Jewish customers.
To be fair, there are some allegations in the complaint that would definitely rise to the level of discrimination, such as refusing to serve people wearing hats with a Star of David. But that’s lumped in with complaints about coffee drinks and an inverted red triangle symbol on the coffee shop’s exterior wall, assailing protected free speech by tucking it in with the discrimination allegations. Also, let’s be frank: there is no reason to extend a presumption of good faith to this administration and pretend that they’ve carefully assembled enough evidence to do this.
This is a shot across the bow, the DOJ flexing and showing that there’s nothing small enough to escape their notice, nothing to stop them from bringing the might of the government to bear.