⚔️Judge Howell cites First Amendment as law firms surrender $1 billion under DOJ threats
Civic Action
Civil Rights
Constitutional Law
+1 moreA tale of two responses emerged in 2025 as Trump systematically threatened America's most powerful institutions. While tech giants, major corporations, and elite law firms capitulated to his authoritarian demands, a determined resistance fought back through the courts, grassroots organizing, and principled defiance. This unprecedented confrontation reveals the fragility of democratic norms and the courage required to preserve them.
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Why This Matters
⚔️ Institutions choose survival over principle:
When universities, hospitals, and nonprofits preemptively comply with authoritarian demands to avoid retaliation, democratic institutions surrender before battles even begin, normalizing autocratic control
💪 Resistance requires institutional courage:
A few organizations like the ACLU and certain state attorney generals are proving that institutions with legal expertise and resources can successfully challenge unconstitutional policies, creating models for effective opposition
🌊 Mass surrender enables broader authoritarianism:
When most institutions capitulate immediately, it signals to autocrats that aggressive power grabs face minimal organized resistance, accelerating the pace of democratic breakdown
🛡️ Your community services depend on institutional backbone:
Libraries, schools, hospitals, and social service organizations that cave to political pressure lose their ability to serve everyone equally, turning essential services into partisan weapons
⚖️ Legal resistance still works:
Courts are blocking many Trump policies because institutions with legal expertise are willing to fight, proving that organized resistance through proper legal channels can protect constitutional rights
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Detailed Content
1
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated how much to Trump's inauguration fund after being threatened with imprisonment?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
2
Zuckerberg ended which Meta program to appease Trump's complaints about "unfair censorship"?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
3
Paul Weiss law firm agreed to provide how much in pro bono legal services after Trump threatened to destroy them?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
5
Federal Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Trump's executive orders targeting law firms violated which constitutional amendments?
Multiple Choice
Constitutional Law
6
Target's stock dropped by what percentage after rolling back DEI programs, costing shareholders billions?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
7
Costco shareholders voted by what overwhelming margin to reject calls to end DEI programs?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
9
Which prominent defense attorney left Winston & Strawn to represent targets of Trump administration persecution?
Multiple Choice
Constitutional Law
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Federal judges appointed by which presidents have consistently blocked Trump's law firm executive orders?
Multiple Choice
Constitutional Law
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Trump personally called which tech CEO to complain about plans to show tariff costs on products?
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Government
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Microsoft dropped which law firm after it capitulated to Trump, hiring Jenner & Block instead?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
14
How many federal inspectors general did Trump fire in a single week, drawing bipartisan criticism?
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Government
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Judge Loren AliKhan described Trump's executive order targeting Susman Godfrey as what type of government action?
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Constitutional Law
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At least how many major companies shifted legal work away from firms that surrendered to Trump?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
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Congressional representatives Jamie Raskin and Richard Blumenthal called law firm responses to their oversight inquiries what?
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Constitutional Law
21
How many thousands of federal workers chose to resign rather than face Trump's mass firing threats?
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Government
23
Marc Elias, chair of Elias Law Group, vowed to continue fighting Trump's administration by refusing to negotiate about what?
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Constitutional Law
24
The total amount of pro bono legal services promised by surrendering law firms approaches what figure?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
25
Walmart's stock dropped by what percentage following its DEI rollback, contributing to investor losses?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
26
Defense attorney Mark Zaid, who Trump specifically targeted, is being represented by which newly formed resistance law firm?
Multiple Choice
Constitutional Law
29
Former Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron called the paper's non-endorsement decision what?
Multiple Choice
Constitutional Law
30
Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan resigned from the editorial board because of what decision?
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Civil Rights
31
Bipartisan Congressional representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna introduced what type of resolution to limit Trump's war powers?
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Constitutional Law
32
The NAACP broke its 116-year tradition by doing what regarding Trump?
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Civil Rights
33
Scott Galloway of NYU Stern argued that the first CEO to resist Trump publicly could reap what benefits?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures
35
The Justice Department prosecutor who resigned over the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case did so because they viewed the charges as what?
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Constitutional Law
37
RFK Jr. fired all members of which CDC advisory committee and replaced them with vaccine critics?
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Government
38
Trump proposed cutting NIH funding by what percentage, threatening research grants to universities?
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Government
39
The Ninth Circuit Court ruling on California's National Guard gave Trump what authority over state troops?
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Constitutional Law
41
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins restructured farm subsidies to favor which type of agricultural operations?
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Constitutional Law
43
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faces allegations of steering federal contracts toward what entities?
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Constitutional Law
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Multiple cabinet officials attended political fundraisers at which Trump property, raising Hatch Act violation concerns?
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Constitutional Law
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The White House changed what decades-old protocol for controlling information flow to reporters?
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Constitutional Law
48
Attorney General Pam Bondi faces criticism for allegedly using Justice Department resources to target what group?
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Constitutional Law
49
Foreign officials spending millions at Trump hotels while conducting diplomatic business raises what constitutional concern?
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Constitutional Law
50
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt elevated which type of media over traditional outlets in briefings?
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Media Literacy
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Judge Beryl Howell's 102-page opinion stated that Trump's executive orders sent what clear message to lawyers?
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Constitutional Law
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Paul Weiss alumni wrote that the firm's capitulation represented complicity in what threat to democracy?
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Constitutional Law
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The total value of all surrendering law firms' pro bono commitments creates what for Trump's political and legal battles?
Multiple Choice
Power Structures