ABA’s rule-of-law actions working – president
The president of the American Bar Association (ABA) says that the actions it has taken in defence of the rule of law in the US are working.
In a message to members, William Bay said that the organisation's February statement, which criticised the Trump administration’s “wide-scale affronts to the rule of law”, became one of the ABA’s “most-read and shared in years”.
“Members and non-members alike called or wrote to express their pride in the association speaking out. Some even joined the ABA for the first time,” he stated.
Lawsuit
Bay added that the association had matched its words with action, filing a lawsuit in June against the US government, more than two dozen federal departments and agencies, and the heads of those departments and agencies.
The lawsuit asked a federal court to declare unconstitutional what it described as the Trump administration’s ”ongoing unlawful policy of intimidation against lawyers and law firms” and to prevent the government from enforcing the policy.
“We’ve seen a surge in meaningful engagement – not just online, but in real conversations,” Bay wrote to ABA members.
Association ‘stronger’
“Law-school deans are organising dialogues on the issues we have highlighted; bar associations are mobilising; young lawyers are stepping forward to be part of a new and better future,” he stated.
Bay said that the lawyers’ organisation was now “a stronger, clearer, and more grounded association” than it was six months ago.
“The road ahead won’t be easy – but when lawyers speak up, the country listens,” he concluded.