➤ President Donald Trump is using his power as president to punish law firms that he sees as opposing him, and to control the way universities are run.
US President Donald Trump is using his power as president to punish law firms that he sees as opposing him, and to control the way universities are run.
Law Firms
Doing work for the government provides a lot of money for many large law firms. As president, Mr. Trump has the power to decide which law firms can work with the government and can see government secrets. Mr. Trump is using these powers against law firms that have upset him.
After Mr. Trump took office for the second time, he signed orders targeting several large law firms, preventing them from doing work with the government.
In the past, lawyers at these law firms had taken part in investigations of Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump’s orders are widely seen as revenge for these investigations. Past presidents have not used the power of the government in this way.
Law firms have responded to Mr. Trump’s orders in two ways. At least four law firms have taken Mr. Trump to court. A judge in one of these cases called Mr. Trump’s actions “chilling”.
But other law firms have made deals with Mr. Trump. The law firm Paul Weiss agreed to change the way it ran its business and to give Mr. Trump $40 million of free legal work. The leader of the law firm said that the company had to make a deal, since Mr. Trump’s order could have “destroyed our firm”.
Three other large law firms agreed to change the way they ran their businesses, and each promised Mr. Trump $100 million of free legal work. In all of these cases, Mr. Trump has demanded that the law firms stop using DEI in the way the firms hire people or run their businesses.
Many people are concerned that Mr. Trump is using his position as president to frighten law firms so that they won’t dare to oppose him in any way.
Universities
Mr. Trump has used similar methods in attacking universities.
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Last year, there were protests at many American colleges over Israel’s bombing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Now Mr. Trump is blocking government support for universities to force them to change their rules. Above, a protest supporting Palestinians at Columbia University in April, 2024.
Last year, there were protests at many American colleges over Israel’s bombing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s actions were in response to a brutal attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. But Israel’s continued bombing killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, including many civilians.
Mr. Trump, who was running for president at the time, condemned these protests. He said the protests were antisemitic because they supported Palestinians instead of Israel. He said that the colleges shouldn’t have allowed the protests.
Mr. Trump’s government is now blocking government money from certain colleges to get them to change the way they are run.
Mr. Trump blocked $400 million in government support for Columbia University, where some of the largest protests took place. Columbia quickly agreed to change its rules to meet Mr. Trump’s demands. These included changing how protests were managed, and ending DEI programs.
Mr. Trump’s government is currently “investigating” more than 50 other universities over DEI programs and the way protests are handled. These schools include Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University.
The government has already sent a letter with a list of demands to Harvard. The university could lose up to $9 billion in government support.
Many people are concerned that these efforts will limit the rights of university students and professors to speak freely. In the US, “free speech” is one of the rights guaranteed under the Constitution.