Cato Institute Senior Fellow Walter Olson is available for interviews in light of President Trump withdrawing his executive order targeting the law firm Paul Weiss.

Olson passed along the following statement in reaction:

“Lawyers in a free society must be free to represent causes adverse to those in power without fear of official retaliation. Nor should they come under coercive pressure to represent clients and causes because they are favored by those authorities. Nor should authorities apply coercive pressure to get them to brand as wrongdoers a lawyer and former colleague who has not been found responsible for misconduct by any court, in this case attorney Mark Pomerantz.

It is not clear as of this writing whether Paul Weiss has actually made all the commitments Donald Trump describes the law firm as making. What is clear is that Trump himself believes that his threats have caused a prominent law firm to back down on important principles of independence, and that he has used the powers of the presidency to gratify his wish for revenge against a particular lawyer who stood up to him. This is calculated to chill and deter vigorous courtroom advocacy against Trump, and it is an abuse of presidential power that imperils the constitutional rights of all Americans. We can only hope that other litigants will press federal courts for rulings speedily vindicating those constitutional rights. ”

Olson has also written about the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting law firms that have represented his opponents in court, which you can read here and here. Olson appeared on the Cato Daily Podcast to discuss these executive orders, which you can listen to here.

If you would like to speak with Olson, please reach out to pr@​cato.​org.