You know that joke: What do lawyers wear to court?
Lawsuits!
Those “suits” were on display Saturday in Burlington, but they weren’t racking up billable hours.
More than 300 attorneys from Bennington to Bellows Falls marched down Church Street to defend the rule of law and give the proverbial middle finger to President Donald J. Trump’s assault on democratic norms.
Part pep rally, part outrage fest, the Vermont Lawyers March was the first time in living memory that attorneys in the state have demonstrated en masse to support the the rule of law. And, despite the ad hoc bongo and drum corps leading the way, this was no lefty assembly. The event was about as mainstream as it gets, with headliner Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark and an endorsement from the Vermont Bar Association. The demonstration included corporate, environmental, civil liberties, criminal, immigration and government lawyers.
The demonstration was against the backdrop of U.S. District Court. The attorneys decried the president’s retaliation against law firms, defiance of court orders, deportation of immigrants without due process and the dismantling of the federal government.
David Silver, a defense attorney from Bennington, shouted into the mic as rain fell steadily on the participants encircling the small speakers tent.
“The foundation of our democracy is more fragile and vulnerable than we ever thought it was,” Silver said. “This is not a partisan political issue. We’re not here as Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or progressives. We’re here as Americans and lawyers … [who] care deeply about defending the Constitution, due process of law and the rule of law.”
Silver highlighted the cases of students Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysa Ozturk, who were detained by the Trump administration and held in Vermont because they “expressed opinions the government didn’t like.” Both students have been represented by the Vermont ACLU. Mahdawi was released last week.
“We’re in a crisis, and if we wait to take action until it affects us personally, then it’s going to be too late,” Silver said, to rousing applause.
The Vermont Lawyers March followed a nationwide protest on Thursday, which included a demonstration of 1,500 lawyers in New York City who castigated the Trump administration for effectively stripping the right of major law firms to petition the federal government on behalf of clients.
In Vermont, no firms have been directly threatened by executive orders. Big Law, as it’s known, isn’t a presence here.
But the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, noncitizen visa holders, and a signature state climate law have had a direct impact on Vermont. Last month, ICE arrested eight migrant workers on one of the biggest farms in the state. That sweep has had a chilling effect on Vermont’s $5.4 billion dairy industry, which relies on 850 migrant workers.
At the rally, Harrison Stark, an attorney for the Vermont ACLU, emphasized the “precarity” of this moment in the nation’s history. “Barely 100 days into this presidency, we have seen this administration take a chainsaw not only to federal programs, but to the rule of law itself,” he said.
The Trump administration, Stark said, envisions a nation without immigrants, reproductive autonomy or gender affirming care — in short, he said, “a country and a Vermont that is unrecognizable from the one that we cherish.”
The administration wants to “squeeze our institutions into complying voluntarily with their unlawful directives,” he said.
It’s critical for lawyers to fight back, Stark said. He cited a recent ACLU and National Education Association lawsuit that halted a Trump administration effort to “outlaw” diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility in public schools.
“This administration says they are coming for us,” Stark said. “The only way we are getting through this is collectively, together holding the line.”
Vermont Attorney General Clark, who with other Democratic attorneys general sued the federal government 12 times since the president took office on January 20, said Trump’s actions are designed to consolidate power in the executive branch.
“But this is America. We believe in the rule of law … in the separation of power because no man is a king,” Clark said. “That’s kind of one of our major brands, right? It’s freedom. It’s a melting pot of immigrants, and it’s no kings. The only queen we have is Beyonce. That’s it.”
Clark’s latest lawsuit, filed this week, challenges the dismantling of AmeriCorps, a volunteer program with 32,000 members that supports nonprofits nationwide. In addition, she has challenged the president’s “emergency” tariffs, mass layoffs of federal workers, proof of citizenship requirements for voters, threats to withhold education funding and an executive order to end birthright citizenship.
Clark urged attorneys to join efforts to rebuff illegal detentions and other forms of presidential overreach. “Our country needs you more than ever to stand up for the rule of law,” she said.
At the end of the rally, the lawyers raised their right hands and solemnly retook their oath to uphold the Constitution.