
Bush-appointed judge torches Trump with 27 exclamation points — and a gumbo recipe — in a ruling against an executive order
'Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the founding fathers!' wrote Judge Richard Leon in Washington D.C.
Leon's colorful 73-page opinion uses 27 exclamation points — including in the very second sentence — and compares Trump's executive order against the law firm WilmerHale to a gumbo that gives him 'heartburn,' whose recipe he included.
'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting,' wrote Leon, who was appointed by George W. Bush.
'The Founding Fathers knew this! Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence,' he added.
But nearly 250 years later, 'several executive orders have been issued directly challenging these rights and that independence' within the last few months, Leon wrote.
Trump's executive orders single out individual firms that worked for prominent Democratic officials or represented causes he opposed while imposing punitive measures on the law firms like banning their employees from federal buildings and stripping their security clearances.
Several firms arranged deals with the Trump administration — including agreeing to perform millions of dollars in pro-bono work — to avoid the president's sanctions.
WilmerHale had previously employed former special counsel Robert Mueller, who returned to the firm after leading the investigation into whether Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election to boost Trump's chances of winning.
The firm also represented Democrats against Trump's 2020 election challenges, members of Congress seeking his tax records, and inspectors general who sued Trump after they were abruptly terminated at the start of his administration, among others.
In his order on March 27, Trump claimed the firm 'abandoned the profession's highest ideals and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.'
The order accuses so-called 'Big Law' firms of actions that 'threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles.'
In his order, Judge Leon slammed the administration for throwing 'a kitchen sink of severe sanctions on WilmerHale for this protected conduct!'
He added: 'Taken together, the provisions constitute a staggering punishment for the firm's protected speech! It both threatens and imposes sanctions and uses other means of coercion to suppress WilmerHale's representation of disfavored causes and clients.'
Leon said Trump's executive order is clearly 'motivated by the president's desire to retaliate against WilmerHale for its protected activity.'
This is 'not a legitimate government interest, and the order's unsupported assertion of national security will not save it!' he wrote.
In a footnote in his ruling, Leon said Trump's executive order is 'akin to a gumbo.'
Sections of the order outlining sanctions against the firm 'are the meaty ingredients—e.g., the Andouille, the okra, the tomatoes, the crab, the oysters,' Leon wrote.
'But it is the roux … which holds everything together,' he added, pointing to the president's justification for attacking the firm.
'A gumbo is served and eaten with all the ingredients together, and so too must the sections of the Order be addressed together,' Leon wrote. 'This gumbo gives the Court heartburn.'
Several federal judges in recent days have struck down similar orders.
Last week, District Judge John Bates, another Bush appointee, blocked a near-identical order targeting the firm Jenner Block after finding it was clear retaliation for the firm's employment of Andrew Weissmann, whom Trump accused of making a career out of 'weaponized government and abuse of power.'
'Like the others in the series, this order … makes no bones about why it chose its target: it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents and a lawyer Jenner once employed,' Bates wrote.
Another federal judge is currently weighing a decision in a similar case against Trump's order targeting the law firm Susman Godfrey.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump claims he's made a ‘massive' trade deal with Japan
President Donald Trump boasted Tuesday that he had made a 'massive' deal with Japan that would generate 'thousands of jobs' and billions of dollars for the U.S. The president announced the trade framework – 'perhaps the largest Deal ever made' – in a Truth Social post Tuesday, revealing that a 15 percent tax on goods imported from Japan had been agreed. In the post Trump said Japan would invest 'at my direction' $550 billion into the U.S. and would 'open' its economy to American-made vehicles as well as 'rice' and 'other things.' But further details remained scant. The 15 percent tax on imported Japanese goods is a significant drop from the 25 percent rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting on August 1. 'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,' the president posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States 'will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.' 'This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Early Wednesday in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shigera Ishiba confirmed the new trade agreement, saying it would benefit both sides and help them work together. 'The government was determined to protect national interests,' Ishiba told reporters, per the Wall Street Journal. Trump's announcement appeared to excite investors, with the benchmark Nikkei – the Tokyo stock market – climbing 2.6 percent to its highest in a year, with shares of automakers also surging. Toyota grew by more than 11 percent, with Honda and Nissan both up more than 8 percent. But American automakers were less buoyed with the deal, with concerns raised over low import levies from Japan, compared to tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico remaining at 25 percent. Matt Blunt, head of the American Automotive Policy Council, said, "Any deal that charges a lower tariff for Japanese imports with virtually no U.S. content than the tariff imposed on North American-built vehicles with high U.S. content is a bad deal for U.S. industry and U.S. auto workers.'


Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ghislaine Maxwell to make 'mafia-like' deal with Trump amid fallout over Epstein files
The Trump administration has orchestrated a high-stakes jailhouse sit down with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell amid the ongoing fallout over their handling of the Epstein files. A top Justice Department official confirmed he will personally meet with Maxwell as she serves her 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. The 'mafia-style' negotiation could mean a reprieve for Maxwell as Trump looks to put an end to the torrent of speculation surrounding his history with the billionaire pedophile. 'She's going to make a deal,' attorney and Epstein associate Alan Dershowitz told The New York Post. 'That's the way things are done. They make deals with the mafia, so I'm certain they are going to try to make a deal with her.' The onetime Epstein lawyer called Maxwell the 'Rosetta stone' of the Epstein saga, hinting that more secrets could be revealed. 'She knows everything - not just about the perpetrators but the victims,' he said. 'And she knows about the victims who became perpetrators.' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Tuesday that negotiations were already underway with Maxwell's attorneys. 'If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,' Blanche said. 'I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department. I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.' The meeting could mark the first time federal prosecutors hear Maxwell's full version of events, after years of silence and failed appeals. 'Ghislaine will always testify truthfully,' Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said. 'We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.' It remains to be seen, however, whether the Justice Department will ask Maxwell to testify and whether new evidence will yield any prosecutions. MAGA supporters have been demanding that Trump be more transparent about the Epstein files after he campaigned on making all the information public. Legal experts, including Dershowitz, have cast doubt on the usefulness of grand jury transcripts, urging the DOJ instead to release FBI interview notes from Epstein's victims. Court filings previously revealed that some of Epstein's more than 1,000 identified victims were groomed to recruit others - a chilling tactic that created a web of silence and complicity that prosecutors have struggled to untangle since Epstein's death in 2019. Maxwell's reemergence comes at a critical moment. Earlier this year, the Justice Department and FBI raided Epstein's former properties, collecting what they described as 'voluminous materials.' But just weeks later, they released a joint memo dismissing long-running conspiracy theories, stating there was 'no incriminating client list' and no evidence of blackmail. That walk-back sparked outrage among Trump's base, especially after Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously promised to release 'a lot of names' and 'a lot of flight logs.' MAGA supporters were particularly enraged that no new material was produced in the Epstein files review and that Trump's DOJ found no existence of a so-called 'client list' of high profile co-conspirators. The president even started calling the whole ordeal the 'Epstein hoax' and claimed Democrats were to blame for stoking conspiracies in an effort to divide Republicans. Now, under pressure, the administration reversed course. 'President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence,' Blanche wrote on social media, before asking a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts from both Epstein's and Maxwell's cases. The judges in charge - Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer - have ordered the DOJ to submit its arguments by July 29, and have given Maxwell, a representative of Epstein's estate, and the victims until August 5 to file their responses. Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said he supports the outreach. 'I think it would be something - sounds appropriate to do, yeah,' he told reporters. The president has called parts of the Epstein scandal a 'hoax,' and has publicly criticized his own supporters who have become fixated on the idea of a government cover-up. But he has also told Bondi and Blanche to pursue all legitimate evidence. Just last week, the DOJ opposed Maxwell's request to have the Supreme Court review her case, with her lawyers claiming she should have never been charged because of a 2008 plea deal the courts struck with Epstein. But Maxwell's team has now hinted she may be ready to cooperate now that most of her appeals have failed. Maxwell's journey from international socialite to inmate has been as dramatic as it is disturbing. Once a fixture of British high society and New York elite circles, she rubbed shoulders with royalty, billionaires, and political power players. After her father, media tycoon Robert Maxwell, died in 1991 under suspicious circumstances, Ghislaine found herself under the wing of Epstein - eventually becoming his confidante, girlfriend, and accomplice. In court, four women testified that Maxwell groomed them as teenagers for Epstein and, at times, participated in the abuse herself. She was convicted in 2021 on charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy, and transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity. She did not testify at her trial, but gave two depositions in earlier civil cases, in which she denied wrongdoing and accused Epstein's most vocal accusers of fabricating stories. Her brother, Ian Maxwell, who has publicly defended her since her 2020 arrest, claimed this week that the infamous 'client list' is a myth. 'I don't think it constitutes a list of alleged people to whom young minor girls were trafficked,' he told Piers Morgan Uncensored. 'Ghislaine's position has been: she doesn't believe such a list existed.' Ian also warned of the danger Maxwell faces behind bars. 'Prisons are very dangerous places,' he said. 'We know from Ghislaine that there are serious staff shortages and more dangerous higher-risk-category prisoners now being admitted.' Maxwell's legal team has long argued that she should never have been prosecuted, citing the 2007 non-prosecution agreement Epstein signed in Florida, which extended immunity to his co-conspirators. But federal prosecutors in New York successfully argued that the deal did not apply outside Florida, and moved forward with the case that ultimately led to her conviction.


Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
David Letterman's brutal six-word swipe at CBS over Stephen Colbert's Late Show cancellation
David Letterman used his YouTube page to make a statement in support of Stephen Colbert on Monday following his CBS cancelation. The late night legend, 78, posted a video more than 20 minutes long of him trashing the network, which he worked for from 1993 to 2015. He captioned the curated clip, 'You can't spell CBS without BS' - amid widespread speculation the move was politically-motivated. The montage showcased various jokes Letterman told about the network, with eight clips spanning two decades, from 1994-2013. Colbert on Monday returned for his first full program after last week's announcement that CBS was canceling his Late Show with some supportive late-night guests, a joke about cancel culture and an extremely pointed remark directed at President Donald Trump. 'I'm going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture's gone way too far,' Colbert said to a rambunctious audience that loudly chanted his name. CBS and parent Paramount Global said the decision to end the 'Late Show' next May was purely financial. It hasn't gone unnoticed - and was mentioned by Colbert Monday night - that the announcement came days after the comic had sharply criticized Paramount's $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview. Colbert, known for his sharp comic takedowns of the Republican president, said that 'over the weekend, it sunk in that they killed off our show. But they made one mistake. They left me alive.' Now, he said, 'I can say what I really think of Donald Trump, starting right now.' As his audience cheered him on, Colbert said, 'I don't care for him. Doesn't seem to have the skill set to be president.' He read a passage from a Trump social media message saying that he loved that the 'untalented' Colbert had been fired. 'How dare you, sir,' Colbert said. 'Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?' The show switched to a close-up camera where Colbert appeared to say, 'f—- you,' the word bleeped out and his mouth blurred. Noting CBS' explanation for his firing, Colbert said, 'how can it purely be a financial decision if the show is No. 1 in the ratings? It's confusing. A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff's parents and spouses.' With some apparent irritation, he said some news stories over the weekend reported the apparently leaked information that Late Show was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year. Ad revenue for late-night entertainment broadcasts has shrunk sharply as the audience, particularly young men, turn to streaming or other priorities. 'I could see us losing $24 million,' Colbert said. 'But where would Paramount have ever spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah.' Colbert introduced the odd duo of 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to sing Coldplay's Viva La Vida. In a sly reference to the couple caught on camera last week at a Coldplay concert, Late Show cameras panned the audience to find some supportive friends — fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver, as well as Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. On Comedy Central's The Daily Show, also owned by Paramount, Stewart delivered an impassioned defense of his friend and former co-worker and suggested it was futile to try to satisfy Trump, certainly not by taking away programs that have helped build the company's value over the years. 'This is not the moment to give in,' Stewart said. 'I'm not giving in. I'm not going anywhere. I think.' On his own show, Colbert turned serious - briefly - to address people who had expressed support for him since the announcement was made. 'Some people see this show going away as the sign of something truly dire. And while I'm a big fan of me, I don't necessarily agree with that statement,' he said, 'because we here at the 'Late Show' never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal.