Donald Trump and Paul Reiber. Photos by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons and Glenn Russell/VTDiggerVermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Reiber stood before a gathering of the state’s lawyers last week and detailed his concerns with the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the rule of law. He ended his remarks to a resounding standing ovation, according to several people in attendance. “Currently, it appears there is an effort in Washington, D.C., to destroy the public’s faith in the courts, in our system of justice, in this country,” Reiber told the lawyers gathered for the Vermont Bar Association’s midyear meeting, according to a copy of his remarks provided to VTDigger by the Office of the State Court Administrator.“The president, through a series of executive orders, seeks to erect barriers to lawyers who represent clients who disagree with him,” Reiber’s remarks read. “No prior administration has taken such concerted action against the bar, an effort to erode an institutional pillar designed to check abuse of power.”Reiber spoke specifically to executive orders issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s investigation of law firms for existing diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He also noted the administration’s targeting of law firms that represent clients who have challenged executive power. Reiber said the actions “have created a sense of retaliation and intimidation.”Reiber declined a VTDigger request for an interview following his appearance at the event in Manchester.Josh Diamond, president of the Vermont Bar Association’s board of managers, said democracy can function only when there is respect for the rule of law and an independent judiciary that renders fair judgement without concerns of retaliatory threats.“I think everyone in the room was understanding the gravity of that,” Diamond said. “It was really a historic moment to have a chief justice of the Supreme Court make those public comments to the Vermont Bar about his concerns about efforts to undermine the rule of law.” Diamond said he shares the concerns, adding that administration officials have recently questioned the power of the judicial branch after a federal district court ruled that Elon Musk should not have access to Americans’ sensitive financial documents through the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Vermont Bar Association’s board of managers, in concert with the national American Bar Association and several state and local bar associations, drafted a statement affirming their support for the rule of law, which was unanimously endorsed at the Vermont Bar Association’s membership meeting, Diamond said.A group of more than a dozen lawyers in Vermont drafted another statement supporting the independence of the judiciary and outlining 15 instances of the current administration allegedly disregarding the rule of law, ranging from defying federal court orders to illegally dismantling government agencies. The statement, made public Wednesday, was signed by over 200 Vermont attorneys and elected officials, including Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark and State Treasurer Mike Pieciak. It included plans for a rally of lawyers, scheduled for May 3 in Burlington. “We, the undersigned Vermont lawyers, write to express our commitment to upholding the rule of law, and to protest and decry the current administration’s disdain for the rule of law as revealed in its actions,” the statement read. Natalie Silver, a Burlington-based attorney and recent political operative who helped to draft the statement and organize the rally, said it is notable that Vermont’s legal community is coming together to voice support for “non-partisan core values.”“It is an indicator of the moment we are in that this group of Vermont attorneys — many of whom have not spoken out publicly, who have been hesitant to do so in the past — feel compelled to not only put out a statement as a group, but to organize a rally together to essentially say both with their voices and with their physical presence, this is not something that we support as members of the legal community,” she said. Silver said the Trump administration’s deportations of individuals to a prison in El Salvador without due process, and calls for the impeachment of Judge James E. Boasberg after his judicial order to block the deportations, were among the many federal actions that have motivated her to protest. “Even if these people had committed a crime in our country, we have due process, and that is extended to everyone, and I believe it is the foundation of our democracy, and it is what separates us from authoritarian regimes,” Silver said.Her father, Bennington-based lawyer David Silver, encouraged Vermonters to participate in the planned demonstration of lawyers, which he also helped organize. He urged support for legislators and candidates who uphold the rule of law and for legal organizations taking the administration to court for unlawful actions.  “The rule of law is the bedrock and foundation of our democracy, and we are seeing that foundation being eroded every day,” he said. “What we also realize was that this foundation was a lot more vulnerable than we thought it was, and that it was going to crumble and we were going to lose our democracy unless we fought and supported the rule of law.”Scott McGee, a Norwich-based attorney who previously worked as an assistant United States attorney for Vermont, said he has held the Justice Department in high esteem, but is “frankly outraged” by the actions of the current administration. He noted the firing of career prosecutors to supplant the department with loyalists to the administration.McGee, who also had a hand in organizing the efforts, said he hopes Vermonters and the legal community across the country take inspiration from the group’s statement and planned demonstration and engage in protest of federal abuses of power and disregard for the independence of the judicial branch.“I felt we needed to start speaking out about this administration running roughshod over the rule of law,” McGee said. “Our hope is that it will galvanize public opinion to take note of what’s happening and realize it’s serious and that everyone — from all walks of life, both parties, all political persuasions — need to get involved and to be outspoken and say this is not who we are.”Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Supreme Court’s chief justice, attorneys speak out against threats to rule of law. ...read more read less