‘There Are A Lot Of Fears’: Law Schools Are Getting Really Anxious About Trump’s Stranglehold On The Rule Of Law

Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.

I think [the legal community is] worried that there’s going to be a loss of independence. People worry that they won’t be able to say certain things, that lawyers won’t be able to represent certain people, that judges will be intimidated for doing certain things. There are a lot of fears.

From the outside, it looks like the administration has decided to see how far it can push the boundaries of the rule of law and see where it’s resilient and where it’s not. Law schools, in some ways, are less vulnerable than other parts of universities because they don’t get as much direct federal funding, [but] it’s still tied to money.

— Retired Judge Jeremy Fogel, who serves as executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, in comments given to Law.com, on the way that law school faculties and administrators have reacted to the Trump administration’s attacks on the legal profession and the rule of law. “No one quite knows how all these things are going to play out,” he said, going on to refer to the current situation as one that since the Civil War has been “unprecedented in our history.”

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The post ‘There Are A Lot Of Fears’: Law Schools Are Getting Really Anxious About Trump’s Stranglehold On The Rule Of Law appeared first on Above the Law.