Trump signs order targeting law firm behind $787.5m Fox defamation suit
Order punishes Susman Godfrey, which helped Dominion Voting Systems get millions from Fox for 2020 election lies
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday punishing the law firm that helped Dominion Voting Systems obtain a $787.5m settlement from Fox for lies about the 2020 election.
The order against the firm, Susman Godfrey, marks the latest effort by the president to punish attorneys and firms who have opposed his interests.
The order seeks to harm the firm by limiting its attorneys from accessing government buildings, revoking security clearances and essentially making it impossible for it to represent anyone who has business before the federal government.
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Susman Godfrey represented Dominion Voting Systems in its lawsuit against Fox, which ended in a landmark settlement to avoid a trial. On Wednesday, a Delaware judge ruled in a separate lawsuit that the conservative outlet Newsmax Media defamed Dominion with its false reporting about a rigged 2020 election.
Trump has issued orders punishing five other firms for connections to political rivals: Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale.
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Experts say the orders are blatantly unconstitutional and violate the constitution’s guarantee of freedom of expression and the right to counsel. They also say they are an obvious anti-democratic effort by the president to intimidate lawyers from challenging his administration in court.
Scaring law firms into submissions? Using the DOJ to execute his personal vendettas?
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Bluesky fascism?
That's weird.
Hakeem Jefferson
@hakeemjefferson.bsky.social
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The executive targets his opponents w/bogus investigations. His government disappears people w/out due process and vanishes them beyond reach. He usurps legislative power, controls public funds at will, & consolidates power. Loyalty is expected — or else.
Authoritarianism isn’t coming. It’s here.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
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The executive targets his opponents w/bogus investigations. His government disappears people w/out due process and vanishes them beyond reach. He usurps legislative power, controls public funds at will, & consolidates power. Loyalty is expected — or else.
Authoritarianism isn’t coming. It’s here.
Some other poster does the same thing. why, you have to sign in to reply, anyhow. Restricted viewing???
Okay with me if you change the thread title. There's a strong case for it. IMO we're still teetering on the edge thanks only to Elon/PINO and MAGA's incompetence.
So the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Trump administration illegally deported a man to El Salvador and ordered him returned. The trump administration basically told them they're not gonna do anything.
If no consequences follow, does this mean the United States is effectively an autocracy? The entire basis of our system of governance going back to our founding is that of checks and balances. Unchecked power is anathema to the very the foundation of our republic. Are we currently crossing the rubicon?
So the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Trump administration illegally deported a man to El Salvador and ordered him returned. The trump administration basically told them they're not gonna do anything.
If no consequences follow, does this mean the United States is effectively an autocracy? The entire basis of our system of governance going back to our founding is that of checks and balances. Unchecked power is anathema to the very the foundation of our republic. Are we currently crossing the rubicon?
The wall has been breached, how long until it falls?
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
The courts don't have enforcement capabilities, it's an honor system and it's a bedrock. That wall is being breached.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
To actually enforce anything the courts need the cooperation and participation of DoJ, FBI and/or the Marshals Service. Guess who controls all three.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
To actually enforce anything the courts need the cooperation and participation of DoJ, FBI and/or the Marshals Service. Guess who controls all three.
Our "system" is much more fragile than hardly anyone imagined. Things that we took for granted, we took for granted because of belief in an honorable system. We've never known anything else.
These things are being blown up every day.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
The courts don't have enforcement capabilities, it's an honor system and it's a bedrock. That wall is being breached.
Yeah I think we've basically become an autocracy at this point. And conservatives seem to be just fine with it. I guess the mask is off. They never really cared about American values like they claimed. All this time they just wanted a daddy to worship.
Before starting contempt proceedings, a judge who believes that a party is not adhering to a court order will often reiterate the order and identify specific benchmarks the party must meet to demonstrate compliance. We have already seen an example of this process play out in 2025. After plaintiffs challenged Trump’s executive order freezing federal grants and loans, U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a temporary restraining order requiring officials to unfreeze the funds. Several days later, the plaintiffs complained that the funds remained frozen, and the government’s lawyers argued that the administration was following its reading of the court’s “ambiguous” order. McConnell ultimately determined that the Trump administration had violated the “plain language” of his “clear and unambiguous” order. He stopped short of finding the government in contempt, but he laid out in greater detail the funds that the government must restore to comply with his earlier order
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Courts also have broad disciplinary authority over attorneys and can sanction them for helping their clients deliberately defy a court order. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for example, a court can sanction attorneys who submit filings for an improper purpose, such as to cause unnecessary delay or knowingly make legally unsound arguments. The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, meanwhile, empower the appellate courts to discipline attorneys for “conduct unbecoming a member of the bar or for failure to comply with any court rule.” Penalties can include fines, but judges can also go as far as to suspend or disbar attorneys for their refusal to cooperate
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While federal judges have clear authority to order sanctions, including fines and arrest, they ultimately rely on law enforcement and federal prosecutors to enforce penalties in the face of continued noncompliance. The U.S. Marshals Service, which is part of the Justice Department, is the primary enforcement arm of the federal courts. Courts often rely on marshals to serve summonses, subpoenas, and warrants, as well as make arrests, and by law, “it is the primary role and mission of the United States Marshals Service to . . . obey, execute, and enforce all orders of” the federal courts.
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Have elected officials generally followed court orders?
Yes. Since the Civil War, presidents and other elected officials of both parties have respected their obligation to follow court decisions — even those with which they disagree. As President George W. Bush put it when the Supreme Court held that detainees in Guantanamo Bay could challenge their confinement, “We’ll abide by the Court’s decision. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with it
In an ideal world, the Republicans in Congress would be wholly against a president defying court orders and going against what's arguable one of the cornerstones of of our government - the rule of law. The only mechanism to hold the president accountable imo is removal from office. But unfortunately Republicans have showed themselves to be a bunch of cowards.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
The courts don't have enforcement capabilities, it's an honor system and it's a bedrock. That wall is being breached.
Yeah I think we've basically become an autocracy at this point. And conservatives seem to be just fine with it. I guess the mask is off. They never really cared about American values like they claimed. All this time they just wanted a daddy to worship.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
What recourse do the courts have? It would be good if they could hold accountable anyone within the entire chain that stonewalls the court decision. "Just following orders" isn't an excuse.
The courts don't have enforcement capabilities, it's an honor system and it's a bedrock. That wall is being breached.
Yeah I think we've basically become an autocracy at this point. And conservatives seem to be just fine with it. I guess the mask is off. They never really cared about American values like they claimed. All this time they just wanted a daddy to worship.
That too
I'm reminded that almost all autocratic movements eventually devour their own. America is showing itself to be a nation of cowards and bootlickers. All that tough talk about freedom and liberty was only that - talk and some made in china bumper stickers. Nothing more.
why, you have to sign in to reply, anyhow. Restricted viewing???
