Statement on Presidential Memo Threatening Lawyers Who Challenge the Trump Administration

03.23.25 (PRESS STATEMENT) – Yesterday, President Donald Trump issued a striking Presidential Memo threatening lawyers who take legal actions against his administration. The Center for Reproductive Rights has issued a statement.

Statement from Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:

“The President’s latest assault on lawyers threatens the fundamental rights of every person in America. The courts are our last safeguard against the full-scale theft of our civil and legal protections. The President’s latest action is an attempt to intimidate lawyers with threats of financial sanctions, disbarment, and worse, simply for doing their jobs. The goal is to bully lawyers out of taking on any case that challenges the administration, leaving everyday Americans with no recourse to fight back when fundamental freedoms — including their reproductive rights — are violated. We must not let that happen.

“For more than 30 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has stood strong against attacks on reproductive freedom. We have litigated scores of cases in federal courts, including against the U.S. government, regardless of the political party in power.  We will not back down in the face of the President’s intimidation campaign — not while his administration refuses to defend women who are denied emergency abortion care; not while it condones violence at abortion clinics; and not while doctors are under threat of criminal prosecution for providing essential care. Not now and not ever.

“In the President’s 60-plus days in office, his administration has been sued more than 130 times with numerous injunctions already in place. This attempt to stop lawyers from holding the administration accountable is a direct threat to the rights and freedoms of everyone in America, as well as an affront to the justice system.  The legal profession must stand firm. With fundamental freedoms under threat, we will not back down on defending them boldly and fearlessly.”

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