Lawyers in Boston protest Trump administration on National Law Day

More than 200 lawyers and advocates protested attacks on law firms and the norms of due process by the Trump administration on Boston Common Thursday.

“The rule of law is not abstract,” said Matthew McTygue, president of the Boston Bar Association. “It’s the backbone of civil society.”

In 40 cities across the country, legal professionals and advocates rallied against the administration’s unprecedented orders against law firms and its deportation actions against lawful U.S. residents, including students, at times without due process.

Since 1958, May 1 has been recognized as National Law Day. This year, in response to the Trump administration’s targeting of law firms, the Lawyers for Good Government organization sponsored a nonpartisan “National Law Day of Action.”

Scott Harshbarger, a former Massachusetts attorney general and chairman of Lawyers Defending American Democracy, called the administration’s actions against law firms “extortion.” Harshbarger told WBUR last week his biggest concern is that “these major, major law firms bent the knee, obeyed in advance, sacrificed their tradition and honor” in order to avoid conflict with Trump.

In Boston, 10 bar associations from around the state sponsored the rally held at the Parkman Bandstand.

Tara Dunn Jackson, president of the Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys association, said in a speech that individual lawyers still have responsibility to uphold the law, even if their firms have cut deals with Trump.

“You’re not off the hook because some of your law firms are putting their heads in the sand,” Jackson said to the crowd, “because you took the oath to protect democracy.”

All speakers echoed the same general message: due process must be upheld. The crowd of legal professionals was responsive — quick to whistle, hiss, boo or crack a joke at each statement.

Cynthia Granata waved a cardboard sign painted with the Doge meme dog and the words “BAD DOGE GET PUT DOWN,” referring to Trump’s cost-cutting unit led by billionaire Elon Musk. Granata is a lawyer, and so is her daughter.

“We’re watching an evisceration of the Constitution,” Granata said. “There seems to be an arrogation of power in one branch of a three-branch government.”

Maura Doyle, the recently retired Supreme Judicial Court clerk for Suffolk County, was met with whistles and applause as she took the megaphone to close out the rally.

She asked the Massachusetts lawyers in the crowd to raise their right hand, and repeat after her to renew their oaths to the state and national constitutions.

A sea of voices responded, including Joan Ruttenberg, who jokingly referred to herself as a “recovering lawyer.” A graduate of Harvard Law, she is now a government and public interest career advisor at the school. She said renewing the oath was moving.

“It felt very, very meaningful,” Ruttenberg said. “I could really listen to the words this time. They really mean a lot in this environment and in this moment. And I felt very proud to swear the oath again.”

This story is part of a partnership between WBUR and the Boston University Department of Journalism.