As the 2026 midterm elections approach, many of the top law firms that struck deals with President Trump are largely absent from the legal fight to check his administration. Norm Eisen, a leader of the legal resistance against Mr. Trump, said that Paul Weiss, one of nine firms that reached agreements with the administration to avoid crippling executive orders, is now largely on the sidelines. Under those deals, the firms pledged nearly a billion dollars in free legal work to causes Mr. Trump champions, raising doubts about whether they would stand up to the president.
A review of public documents and interviews with democracy advocates, election lawyers and voting rights litigators found that few of the nine firms are publicly involved in major efforts to check Mr. Trump's attempts to meddle in the election. Paul Weiss's voting rights web page was taken down after its deal, along with about 30 other pages on the subject. Some firms have scrubbed their websites of past voting rights work.
The chilling effect appears to extend beyond the nine firms. Several of the top 100 firms that did not make deals have also avoided politically sensitive cases out of fear of being targeted. The Advancement Project, a longtime civil rights group, said many firms have declined to join its cases, and it has begun tracking firms that refuse to take them on. Its legal director, John Powers, said it had to file a recent suit with the N.A.A.C.P. without a private partner.
Lawyers such as Mr. Eisen argue that the legal profession remains prepared, pointing to recent court victories as evidence. Still, the absence of major firms has raised serious concerns about how the profession will respond if the administration files litigation aimed at sowing confusion about the election's outcome.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing