Ex-Prosecutor Says This Ruling Just Helped Americans ‘Connect The Dots’ On Trump
Andrew Weissmann predicted that similar decisions will be made in the courts "over and over again."
Ex-prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Friday reacted to a federal judge striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting law firm Jenner & Block because the order violated the First Amendment.
“It allows people to connect the dots,” said Weissmann, who was previously employed by the law firm and served as a prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as it investigated the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates — a George W. Bush appointee — wrote in his ruling that Trump’s order “makes no bones about why it chose its target,” adding that “it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed.”
Friday’s ruling marks the second time in a matter of weeks that a judge has foiled Trump’s attempts to retaliate against a major law firm whose work he’s not a fan of.
Several law firms have opted to kiss the president’s ring by striking deals with him in hopes of avoiding similar executive orders targeting them, leading a number of law associates as well as top partners to abandon ship as a result.
Weissmann — a legal pundit and a notable critic of the president — told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that he loves Bates’ ruling while tying the decision to the administration’s battle with Harvard University.
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from barring the university’s enrollment of foreign students.
“And what is the main ground? First Amendment violation,” said Weissmann of the Harvard ruling.
“And so you’re going to see this over and over again.”
He stressed that it’s “very important” for Americans not to see the Trump administration’s retaliatory acts as “isolated” events.
“This is sort of remarkable,” he said. “The United States government repeatedly being found to have violated the First Amendment in really significant ways — attacking a major firm, a series of major law firms and Harvard University.”
