Last month, I wrote a column entitled Civil Rights and the 47th President. Though I would have preferred to return this column to our regular civil rights docket—wrongful convictions, #MeToo cases, disability abuse, Section 1983 litigation, and the like—it is much too early to return to our regularly scheduled programming. 

Because matters are now worse. It is plain, to all but the willfully blind, that the President of the United States is the single greatest threat to the rule of law in this country.

Let us briefly recap. As candidate, Donald Trump demanded the termination of the constitution. In just a couple of months as president, he has done everything possible to make that aspiration a reality. Mr. Trump and his administration flouted a court order requiring the return of airplanes deporting people to El Salvador. 

His border czar Tom Homan stated: “We are not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think.” Mr. Trump retaliated against law firm after law firm after law firm for engaging in legal advocacy. He is gutting the federal government without the approval of congress. He repeatedly called for the impeachment of judges who ruled against him.

He launched a full-scale attack on higher education. He attacked the independence of prosecutors at the Southern District of New York, as a part of a shady effort to drop the criminal prosecution of Mayor Eric Adams, over the impassioned objection of the United States Attorney for the Southern District. 

The list goes on. 

This president has an insatiable lust for power. He will apparently try anything to achieve absolute rule: targeting judges, the media, prosecutors, law firms, educators, and anyone else who might oppose him.This authoritarian playbook, unprecedented in the United

States are well-known throughout the world, in Russia, Turkey, Hungary, and elsewhere. But we are a country with a strong democratic tradition, separation of powers, and a constitution.

So what does this mean for lawyers and judges? First, to our judiciary, particularly the federal judiciary, you remain the last bulwark of the constitution. Even if a rogue republican majority in the House of Representatives manages to impeach some judge for acting like a judge, there is no chance the Senate will convict anyone. 

Do not be intimidated. In four, ten, and twenty years, you will be in robes and Mr. Trump will be a historical relic. From my perspective, the judiciary has thus far done an excellent job ruling on the facts and the law, without fear or favor. Courts cannot shy away from conflict with the administration, for if they do, we will have already lost the rule of law. Second, to every lawyer in the Department of Justice, your duty is to the country and the constitution, not to Emil Bove, Pamela Bondi, or Donald Trump. No matter the personal or professional cost, you must, like Danielle Sassoon and so many others, do justice.

The same is true for lawyers in the armed forces and in every federal agency. And if you can act with principle while remaining in your job, you will serve the country better than any replacement hired by this administration.

Third, to the law firms targeted by the president, do not be intimidated. This is not the time to waver or appease. The president’s executive orders are lawless and designed to chill and intimidate. Stand strong and your clients will respect you for doing so.

And finally, to the rest of the bar, now is the time for us to step up to the plate. We have fought too hard and too long for that more perfect union to let it all slip away because of a man like Donald Trump. We must speak out and fight every single illegal action of this president. We have special skills and abilities as lawyers and a special obligation as officers of the court to uphold and enforce the law. The country needs us. These are grim times indeed. Universities, the media, and big business are wavering or outright capitulating to the fear tactics of the president. That leaves judges and the bar. It is our job and our calling to stand strong for democracy, the rule of law, and the constitution. Because without these things, we don’t even have a United States of America. Friends and colleagues, we have work to do, together. It’s still our republic, if we can keep it. Make ourselves and our country proud.

Ilann M. Maazel is a partner at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff

Abady Ward & Maazel.