Judge Steals 1 Of Trump’s Moves To Emphasize How Dumb His Executive Order Is

A certain judge isn’t going to stand for this type of nonsense anymore!!!!!!!!!

One of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, targeting law firms he doesn’t like for incredibly petty reasons, was struck down Tuesday by Richard Leon, a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia.

In addition to calling Trump’s order “unconstitutional,” Leon’s 73-page opinion utilized a specific type of punctuation that Trump frequently uses himself: a crap-load of exclamation points. 

Leon’s opinion included a total of 26 exclamation marks (plus one more in a quotation of a comment by Trump). It’s rare to see a judge make such use of the exclamation mark, an expression of strong emotion that legal writing experts discourage. Perhaps Leon’s usage was an attempt to communicate with Trump in a way the president could actually understand.

Some highlights from the opinion include Leon describing the Trump administration’s arguments in court as “absurd!” and responding to one of the government’s requests with an exasperated “Please!” 

At one point, Leon memorably writes: “The Order shouts through a bullhorn: If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished!”

Since returning to the White House, Trump has targeted several law firms that either refused to represent him or were associated with people he doesn’t like by suspending their attorneys’ security clearances and barring their employees from federal buildings.

In March, he aimed his ire at the law firm WilmerHale because it had hired former special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation. WilmerHale quickly fired back by suing the Trump administration in an attempt to block the order, stating that it is “a plainly unlawful attack on the bedrock principles of our nation’s legal system—our clients’ right to counsel and the First Amendment.”

Leon ruled in WilmerHale’s favor Tuesday, the third time this month that a federal judge in Washington has found Trump’s attacks on law firms unconstitutional. 

Leon even took the time to explain the fundamentals of democracy to Trump in his ruling — and it’s sassy!

“The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The Founding Fathers knew this! Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence. Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no Executive Order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights. Now, however, several Executive Orders have been issued directly challenging these rights and that independence. One of these Orders is the subject of this case. For the reasons set forth below, I have concluded that this Order must be struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional. Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!”