The Trump era has dangerously politicized the courts

The January 6 and Georgia indictments are riddled with tales of criminal lawyering

The two recent indictments of Donald Trump and his cadre of enablers over their attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election raise serious concerns not only about Trump’s ability to run this country in a second term, but also about the status of the legal profession in this country. The January 6 indictment identifies 6 unnamed co-conspirators as major players in Trump’s scheme, none of whom have actually been charged yet, but all of whom appear to be lawyers— specifically, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Brois Epshteyn.

The Georgia indictment has its fair share of indicted lawyers, too— Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Rudy Giuliani.

As I explained to a brand-new class of law students at the University of Baltimore last week, this is bad news for the legal profession . . . and the rule of law. Ethics and integrity are the backbone of the legal system. Here’s why.

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