OPINION: Donald Trump channels a kindred spirit, Dick the Butcher

There has been a bit of discussion over the years as to what William Shakespeare’s character, Dick the Butcher, meant when he said: “The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Butcher made the comment in "Henry VI, Part II" while considering how to carry out a coup against King Henry VI. U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens likely hit the nail on the head when he said in a 1985 decision, “Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government.” Dick’s kindred spirit, Donald Trump, has apparently recognized that a coup against America’s democracy may not succeed without neutralizing the country’s legal profession. Thankfully, killing is not in his playbook. Rather, Trump is using blackmail and intimidation to silence our lawyers. 

Trump’s opening salvo was fired directly at Seattle-based Perkins Coie LLP (Perkins), a national law firm with a well-regarded office in Boise. Trump shocked the American legal community by releasing an unconstitutional “Executive Order” on March 6 (Order), attacking Perkins with a number of meritless, trumped-up claims. The first paragraph revealed his motive — Perkins had obviously enraged Trump by representing Hillary Clinton in her 2016 race against him and he was out for revenge.  

In a remarkable exercise in gaslighting, the Order accused Perkins of “undermining democratic elections, the integrity of the courts, and honest law enforcement.” Among other things, Trump ordered that Perkins lawyers have any security clearances suspended, that their access to federal buildings be limited and that agencies refrain from hiring them. Two provisions are designed to scare current and prospective clients away from Perkins — requiring government contractors “to disclose any business they do with Perkins” and requiring agencies to review all contracts “with entities that disclose doing business with Perkins.” As obviously intended, those provisions have already driven business away from Perkins. 

The Order is violative of several provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including the First, Fifth and Sixth amendments. Perkins filed suit to enjoin enforcement of the Order and have it declared unconstitutional, correctly asserting that the “retaliatory aim of the Order is intentionally obvious to the general public and the press because the very goal is to chill future lawyers from representing particular clients” and “to deter both government officials and private sector workers from participating in new inquiries into [Trump’s] conduct.”  

A federal judge heard the case March 12 and issued an order temporarily prohibiting the enforcement of the most obnoxious provisions of the Order. She found the Order to be motivated by Trump’s “retaliatory animus” and designed to carry out a “personal vendetta.” The judge observed that the entire Order was “invalid.”  

Instead of taking the judge’s hint to behave like a law-abiding president, Trump doubled down two days later by issuing a similar aggrievance-filled Executive Order targeting another prominent law firm, Paul Weiss, that Trump had petty grievances against. Unfortunately, that firm could not summon the courage to challenge Trump’s order, meekly acquiescing like a whipped pup. 

Having beaten the cowardly Paul Weiss firm into submission, Trump has tried to intimidate the rest of the legal profession into silence. On March 22, he issued an unhinged “Presidential Memoranda” threatening lawyers with sanctions and penalties for pressing fraudulent and meritless claims. That type of litigation is Trump’s stock in trade, so not many lawyers will be frightened by that document. The great number of court cases Trump has lost since taking office speaks for itself. 

Trump has targeted several other large law firms, two of which have sued him and gotten temporary relief and one of which has buckled like Paul Weiss. I believe the legal profession will rally against Trump’s concerted effort to intimidate America’s lawyers. When the dust settles, the firms that submitted to Trump’s unconstitutional intimidation may rue the day they gave in without a fight. Most Americans, regardless of political leanings, want lawyers who will vigorously and fearlessly protect them when faced with government overreach. If any government tried to take their rights, their guns, their livelihoods, their speech rights or their freedom, they would not hire cowardly lawyers. They would hire lawyers like Perkins, who will stand up and fight for their rights. 

Just like Dick the Butcher, Trump will fail to neutralize the lawyers who stand against a totalitarian form of government. America’s dedication to the rule of law is too ingrained in our DNA for the country to succumb to the whims of a dictator.

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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho attorney general (1983-1991) and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). His columns are collected at JJCommonTater.com.

LINKS: 

In a 1985 decision: 

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/06/28/Stevens-No-lets-not-kill-all-the-lawyers/1571488779200/ 

Unconstitutional Executive Order: 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/addressing-risks-from-perkins-coie-llp/ 

Trump sued Clinton, Perkins: 

https://casetext.com/case/trump-v-clinton-3 

Perkins filed suit: 

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/67cf71f1f27ef68a8f5c5c70/67d098cae5905f455b133083_PerkinsCoieFiling1.pdf 

Issued an order: 

https://www.lawdork.com/p/perkins-coie-trump-order-tro 

Issued a similar grievance-filled Executive Order: 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/addressing-risks-from-paul-weiss/ 

Meekly acquiescing: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/paul-weiss-deal-trump-executive-order-withdrawn.html 

Presidential Memorandum: 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/preventing-abuses-of-the-legal-system-and-the-federal-court/ 

Court cases Trump has lost: 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/us/trump-administration-lawsuits.html 

Trump has targeted: 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5221041-trump-targets-major-law-firms/?email=43ac54936c