LEILA FADEL, HOST:
A new law firm opened this week to provide free legal representation to people or institutions targeted by President Trump. The Washington Litigation Group is made up of experienced attorneys like James Pearce, who was himself a target of the Trump administration. He was a career federal prosecutor and worked on cases related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He also worked with former special counsel Jack Smith to investigate allegations Trump mishandled classified documents. And days after Trump returned to office, Pearce was fired by the administration.
JAMES PEARCE: President Trump had talked about his views that the criminal justice system had been weaponized against him and that he was going to try to root it out, and I was one of those rooted out in that effort.
FADEL: The formation of this new group comes after Trump attacked several prominent law firms. He said he would cancel their government contracts, suspend security clearances and bar their employees from federal buildings. Some made deals and agreed to help Trump with various causes. I asked Pearce if he thinks his new firm already has a target on its back.
PEARCE: We certainly don't intend it in that way, and we can't control how the administration may view us. I think for us, we are just committed to providing what we think is an absolutely necessary legal service, but it's also in defending the rule of law. It's a broader statement about meeting the moment.
FADEL: Is it being politicized in this moment, the civil service?
PEARCE: I don't know exactly how the government, how this administration is hiring and looking to put people in place, but I think that's a very fair worry. And I will certainly say now being an outside observer of the federal agency I know the best, the Justice Department, to see Justice Department lawyers looking like at times they're playing fast and loose with the record, certainly courts have raised concerns about the government's forthcomingness or the candor of the attorneys that are appearing before courts. That does raise some questions for me about whether, you know, we are moving towards a government less committed to, you know, governing for the entire United States as opposed to advancing a more politicized agenda.
FADEL: If American law firms, if the country shies away from confronting what seems to be a flouting of laws and not respecting the rule of law, not taking on cases that would oppose the Trump administration, what does it mean for the country?
PEARCE: So I think there are countries that have seen this kind of decline or move away from the rule of law. And I'm not some sort of comparative political scientist, but I think...
FADEL: Right.
PEARCE: ...You look at countries like Hungary, where you've had a president come to power and basically take control of lots of the judiciary, the executive branch, and then you just see this slide into an autocratic system. And I think that that is a tremendously scary prospect. I'm not saying that's necessarily where we're headed. But I think if you don't have the kind of robust civil society and the robust practice by lawyers willing to take on these cases, I think that that is something you could be headed for.
FADEL: What risk are you taking on? What are you worried about, and how did you game out that, well, I'm going to do it anyways?
PEARCE: I suppose the trade-offs that I thought about were, on the one hand, the personal risk to me and to my family of taking on the kinds of cases that could draw the negative attention of the administration against what we spoke about a moment ago, which are the longer-term potential consequences for where our country goes if there are not people standing up in the face of very troubling attacks on the rule of law and our democratic constitutional system. And in that balance, I have decided and all of us at the Washington Litigation Group have decided that that latter piece and standing up for the rule of law is the critically important choice to make at this point.
FADEL: Are you surprised that more people haven't made the choices that you're making that the other lawyers that are part of this firm have made?
PEARCE: No. I mean, I'm never going to sit here and Monday morning quarterback...
FADEL: Yeah.
PEARCE: ...Other people's choices. This is a really challenging environment to live and work in. I've certainly spoken with Justice Department colleagues still at the Justice Department that are concerned about what they're seeing and what they're experiencing. But they have, every day, very important concerns about the health of their families and their situations. And so, you know, I think that we are all put into very challenging circumstances. And I'm not going to sit here to criticize anybody's decision to stay in the Department of Justice or, in the legal profession, to decide not to take on cases that are the types of cases that the Washington Litigation Group intends to do.
FADEL: James Pearce, senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group, thank you for joining me in studio today.
PEARCE: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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