Last night, NBC's Law & Order attacked the Trump administration for fighting back against Big Law.
The episode, "Bend the Knee," begins in a boardroom with a lawyer named Roger Wallace (Trent Stone) begging fellow attorneys to take financial loss. "So, I suggest we all consider it a pro bono opportunity for our souls," he says.
The scene then switches to a dinner speech being given by District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn)
Baxter: Now, I'd like to close with something to think about. America's civic institutions, our schools and universities that shape our kids into citizens, our hospitals that take us in no matter how broken or broke we might be. And, yes, our courts, which safeguard our rights and resolve our disputes peacefully. These institutions are the bedrock of our national conscience. And today, they face a cynical and coordinated attack.
Back in the boardroom, Wallace is still pleading with his colleagues.
Wallace: Patriotism is not obedience. Patriotism is courage.
Lamm: For God sakes, Wallace.
Qassimi: What you call courage is going to be the end of this firm. We've been here for 140 years, Roger.
Lamm: We'll lose, what, 30%, 35% of our gross revenue?
Bradley: Ok, everybody, take a breath. We're in a jam here. We're all looking for the right solution. Hear him out.
Wallace: Some things are more important than source credit and billable hours. And everyone in this room believes that because way back when, every single one of us woke up one day and decided that the American system of jurisprudence was pretty neat.
Baxter: I know I speak for every single person in this room when I say that it is an amazing thing to be a part of. And it is an institution worth defending to the bitter end.
Wallace: What I'm saying is we must hold the line.
Wallace is later found dead. His partner, Kevin Bradley (Joshua Malina), is interrogated by police. Bradley reveals that members of the firm were fighting over a deal that sounds just like one President Trump made with major law firms in real life.
Bradley: It is not untrue that it has been a very tense two weeks. Our firm does work, takes on clients that you might consider right and left and everything in between. The engine is profit, not ideology.
Det. Scott: Ok.
Bradley: Don't know if you've noticed, but the political environment in this country has gotten a little heated lately.
Det. Scott: Little bit.
Bradley: Two weeks ago, we got word certain people in Washington were not happy with some of the clients we chose to represent. The administration threatened to ban us from doing business with the federal government, a huge chunk of our revenue.
Lt. Brady: Unless?
Bradley: Unless we coughed up $80 million worth of pro bono work that was friendly to the administration.
Lt. Brady: A bribe?
Bradley: One man's bribe is another man's donation. It was like an ax came down, split our firm in two. Some partners like me wanted to make the deal. Some, like Wallace, wanted to hold the line. I liked him and I respected him. He had a lot of guts. Wasn't afraid of the repercussions. But the truth is if Roger had his way, it would cost the firm about $200 million per year in lost revenue.
In truth, many of the country's biggest law firms are one-sided ideologically and do pro bono work primarily for the left. A 2024 study published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy found that the overwhelming majority of pro-bono amicus briefs filed by Big Law to the Supreme Court were for the liberal side.
The interrogation scene and entire episode also ignore the years of lawfare against President Trump and targeted professional destruction by both the Biden Administration and blue states against Trump-allied attorneys.
As John Eastman, a Trump attorney targeted by the state of California, told The Daily Caller, “In my view, the only way to defeat the lawfare and weaponization of the last four years is to apply it on a reciprocal [basis] so that the perpetrators of that lawfare feel the heat now that the [shoe] is on the other foot."
In the leftist bubble, harmful Democratic actions are never supposed to have consequences. Republicans are only villains and Democrats victims. On network television, the weaponization of the legal system by Democrats against political opponents for the last four years never happened.
In the episode, the murderer turns out to be lawyer who is the son of a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A Justice Department official, Jack Drell, asks DA Baxter to not prosecute the murderer because it could threaten an arms deal with the UAE. Drell is an old friend of Baxter's, but he has become corrupt. He attempts witness tampering to derail the case.
Baxter's office tries to ignore the administration's pressure, but reduces the murderer's charge to manslaughter, putting him away for 12 years.
Afterwards, Drell meets with Baxter and gives him a dire warning about "the gravity of the environment we're in now."
Drell: We've known each other a long time now, Nick.
Baxter: MM. Yes, we have.
Drell: We did some good things together for this crazy world.
Baxter: I'd like to think so.
Drell: But on this one... I failed you.
Baxter: You failed yourself, Jack. Look, man. I know you were trying to be a good soldier, but I don't know what you were thinking. How did you think this was going to end?
Drell: No. No, that's not what I meant. I failed to help you understand the gravity of the environment we're in now. When I came to you, asked you to drop this case, that wasn't some friendly request from an old pal.
Baxter: I see.
Drell: This is how things work now. People get in line. People need to bend the knee, or else there are repercussions. And I think it's something for you to really think about, like, ponder, you know? Where your allegiances really are at the end of the day, whether it's really worth being your own guy in this day and age. [Tense music]
The episode ends with Baxter revealing that key donors have pulled out of his re-election campaign and the U.S. Park Service has revoked his permit for a fundraiser that night.
"Bend the Knee" is an overwrought portrayal of a sinister presidential administration. Law & Order did not make such episodes while Biden was president.
Millions of Americans continue to be fed this constant television diet of fear-mongering about Trump and his supporters. Network television thrives on pushing such toxic drivel.
