This Is the Moment
The legal profession is under attack in ways we’ve never seen before. We believe the integrity of our justice system cannot be preserved through silence. That is why, on June 16, the American Bar Association filed suit against the current administration and more than two dozen federal agencies. This lawsuit against the administration evidences our commitment to uphold the rule of law and the values our profession and the ABA have stood in support of since its founding.
The lawsuit challenges the government’s unconstitutional campaign to pressure law firms and attorneys into silence. Through executive orders, blacklists, canceled contracts and inflammatory public statements, the administration has tried to turn the justice system into an instrument of partisan loyalty. The message is clear: Take on the wrong client or sue the government, and the lawyer and the law firm may suffer the consequences.
This isn’t a partisan issue. And it isn’t the ordinary friction between law and politics. This is something more corrosive. Lawyers are being targeted for doing their jobs. Entire firms are weighing whether defending someone’s rights might cost them government work—or worse, their reputations. Increasingly, attorneys are declining to take such cases involving clients or causes that the current administration may disfavor—not because the law doesn’t support filing those cases, but because the political risks are too high.
This is not theoretical. It is happening now. And the result is real damage to the rule of law.
Why has the ABA decided to file this lawsuit now? Our view is that justice delayed is justice denied—not just for the lawyers chilled into silence, but also for the clients who can no longer find someone willing to represent them. Every day that we don’t act is another day the erosion continues.
A phrase I often return to is this: There is never a wrong time to stand up for what is right. And parents know this all too well. My wife and I raised three children. There were many nights we agonized over the day. Had we said the right thing to our kids? Should we have spoken up when we were silent?
But whatever we did one day never meant we forfeited the right—or the need—to speak the next. Like every parent, we understood that the next day was always another opportunity to do what was right and necessary for our family.
For our professional family, today is the next day. We must stand for what is right. That means no more threats against judges, lawyers, law firms or bar associations. No more tolerance for efforts that punish legal professionals for fulfilling their oaths.
We choose this day because it is the right one.
The ABA represents the broadest cross-section of the legal profession in the U.S. Our members don’t all practice in the same field or vote the same way. But we are united by the belief that lawyers, no matter their personal beliefs or those of their clients, must be free to serve clients without fear of punishment. That freedom is not a courtesy; it is a constitutional necessity.
Throughout the history of our country and the nearly 150-year history of the ABA, there is ample precedent for lawyers stepping forward in moments of crisis. Times when lawyers took principled stands in defense of our system of justice itself. This is one of those times.
Today, our government is engaging in unprecedented and unconstitutional restrictions on legal representation. That’s why the ABA has gone to court. The administration’s actions violate the First Amendment: punishing free speech, discouraging association and denying people access to legal counsel. If successful, it would turn our courts from a forum for justice into a tool of fear.
We are asking the courts to affirm something that has never been in doubt: that the government cannot penalize lawyers when they represent unpopular clients or causes. That’s not just a professional standard—it’s also a constitutional safeguard. The Constitution establishes courts as the bulwark to protect against overreach by the other branches of government, but courts cannot act unless lawyers first pursue such cases.
This isn’t about any one firm or case. It’s about whether the legal profession can function freely in a democratic society. If fear becomes the deciding factor in whether someone receives legal representation, then the system has already failed.
The ABA does not bring this lawsuit lightly. But we bring it with resolve.
The rule of law does not defend itself. Lawyers do. And when those lawyers are under threat, defending them becomes more than professional duty. It becomes a defense of the promise that justice in America is available to all, not just the powerful or politically favored.
There may never be a perfect time to do something difficult. But there is never a wrong time to do what is right.
Sometimes history draws a line. A moment arrives when what you do next matters more than what’s come before. This is that moment.
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