'Implore you': Grandkids of famed judge tell firm that caved to Trump to stop using name
Two grandchildren of the partner a top law firm is named after told the CEO to keep their late grandfather's name out of his mouth.
In a letter to Brad Karp, the CEO of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Amy and Nina Rifkind said they'd watched as President Donald Trump targeted legal companies — and they're not happy about the response.
Karp agreed to give Trump $40 million in pro bono legal work for causes that Trump supports if he dismissed an executive order targeting the firm, CBS News reported last month.
ALSO READ: When mafia spoof and constitutional crises collide, things stop being funny
Judge Simon Rifkind, who passed away in 1995, served as the judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for nine years, including when the U.S. entered World War II. He was also brought in as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "special advisor" on Jewish affairs.
According to the letter obtained by the New York Times, the granddaughters implied that if Rifkind were still alive, he would have fought back against Trump.
“You traveled to Washington to surrender before you had even begun to fight," they wrote.
They recalled a 1954 statement from their grandfather prizing the "freedom, liberty and constitutional government" of America.
“It is plain to us, as it would have been to our grandfather, that taking action to stay off an enemies list does not advance the rule of law as embodied in the statement of principles, it undercuts it and emboldens those who seek to dismantle it," they added.
"Every American generation has inherited from its predecessor the memory of freedom, of liberty, and of constitutional government; but every generation if it would retain these prizes of our civilization, must reacquire them in its own lifetime," Judge Rifkind wrote.
"This day when the winds are so full of doctrines subversive of the Constitution, inimical to our liberties, is the time to redevelop muscle and determination to defend them. In their defense we shall survive."
The grandchildren urged the CEO to support any law firm willing to fight back and uphold the rule of law.
"As you face other decisions going forward, unless you prioritize your 'responsibilities both to our profession and our country' and 'redevelop muscle and determination' to protect the 'prizes of our civilization,' we request that you cease invoking our grandfather's name to justify your actions," the letter closes.
"And, finally, we implore you to support publicly the law firms that are opposing governmental attacks for the clients they advise and the attorneys they hire and to defend the erosion of the rule of law in the courts."